Graphic Design | Advertising | Software Marketing

 

Working with Petroleum Experts (PETEX) was one of the most fulfilling experiences in the loft’s short history. Petroleum Experts are a successful engineering and software company with an international client base that includes some of the biggest oil and gas production companies in the world. They have offices in multiple countries, an award-winning set of solutions and their founder Hamid Guedroudj had recently been given the prestigious ‘Entrepreneur Of The Year Award’ from The Entrepreneurial Exchange. They had a unique outlook in their industry, a distinct culture and had never used a creative agency to help them communicate their solutions in 25 years. The loft would be the first.

One of the biggest challenges Petroleum Experts face in winning new businesses is that their software advocates a more integrated approach and they have to win over hearts and minds from many different stakeholders with the oil and gas production companies they work with – this includes engineers, project managers, financial staff, management teams, etc. We were asked to come up with ‘a visual representation that an engineer in Timbuktu could understand’ for their Digital Oil Field (DOF Suite.)

This is Petroleum Experts, Engineering Simplicity.

 

Creating a visual that would help communicate the beautiful simplicity of Petex’s Digital Oil Field to as wide a range of stakeholders as possible was the brief we were given and this was our response. Two print advertisements showing a user observing their oil field asset through the prisms of 5 different lenses. These were shared in engineering magazines worldwide and was the main outcome of our work with Petroleum Experts. 

 

 

The stunningly informative advert was used in a very wide range of places for Petroleum Experts – on the front of their website, with company presentations, in magazines and we forecast a range of other ways it could be used including as an advert in airports of cities where there is a significant Oil & Gas community such as Aberdeen, Texas or Abu Dhabi.

The reference image we co-created was even re-produced in glass for this very special monument to celebrate PETEX’s 25th Anniversary. 

And spawned new ideas – oversized 3D-printed telescopic lens for a true real-life demo anyone? Another idea that was presented to Petroleum Experts as part of our collaboration. This is how we arrived at the final visual… 

 

 

 

The project essentially started by spending quality time with the engineers, software developers and even the management team at PETEX in their Edinburgh head-office. We wanted to get a very firm grip on what was special about the software and how we could communicate this to a variety of different people. Finding a visual metaphor to summarise the intelligence of the Digital Oil Field Solution required a lot of thorough research. Considerable time was spent learning about the intricacies, benefits and smartness of the software. Here is just a tiny glimpse into some of the images that we explored as part of that research. 

 

 

 

We moved into sketches very quickly. Early concepts were exploratory, abstract and primitive. As you can see, we made widespread use of pencil sketches to communicate ideas. 

 

 

 

We went through several phases of concept presentation before sending the presentation above. The 6 sketches above showcase the final concepts that we presented to them. Each one finding a unique way to showcase the value of their software solutions to others. We explored several messages and interpretations of those messages. 

 

 

 

A decision was made to use the ‘telescope lens’ theme. The DOF suite had 5 layers – each layer giving a user a more accurate representation of the commercial potential of the oil-field asset. 

 

 

 

Much development work went into the design of individual lens details.

Final advertisements were prepared for both desert and ocean scenarios. 

 

 

 

As mentioned above, the stunningly informative advert was used in a very wide range of places. 

 

We explored further ideas to assist PETEX, which includes creating a simple jigsaw puzzle for the boardroom table – taking people through the idea that all of the various elements of an oil-field must fit together – ‘An integrated Solution.’

 

 

 

And new brochure ideas too – in this case also showcasing the importance of an integrated solution.  

 

 

 

Working with Petroleum Experts was one of the most enjoyable experiences in the loft’s short history. 

 

If you are interested to hear more about our collaboration with Petroleum Experts or would like to speak to us about a similar project. Please don’t hesitate to drop us a line.

Thanks for reading. The loft team.