BP's Sunflower Seed Campaign

So I feel like I have to comment on this cause I think it's a pretty brilliant marketing campaign in terms of changing my perception of BP Amoco, although we'll talk about whether it actually gets me to convert to using BP is in a second.

My girlfriend Mara comes to me the other day with a bunch of seeds she got at BP Amoco. She said she was all excited because when she went to pay they gave her a bunch of seeds there. I said cool I'll plant them today. Here's why I think this was such a brilliant move:

• It fits perfectly with their "sunflower" logo that they're using everywhere.
• Related to this, it really supports the "trying to be green" equity that they're pushing so hard these days. My friend Gigi commented very smartly on this, she said it's not like they're saying "we're greener than we used to be", they're just saying "we're TRYING". Cause it's the thought that counts right?
• Sunflower seeds must be cheaper than even bottled water. So with just a few cents per customer, their campaign will likely have a huge impact on perception. I mean, these are probably the same seeds that you can buy at the supermarket from the David's brand! They even said "please don't eat" in the little envelope they came in.
  
• I was of course excited and went home right away to plant the seeds. And everyone knows I probably am as far away from having a "green thumb" as anyone could be. But the seeds were super easy to plant, and so I've been watching them excitedly every day to see if they're coming up. Lo and behold on Saturday morning I actually started seeing some of the green leaves break through the ground, which of course to a non-green thumb person like me is exciting to no end, and every time I look at the little plants coming up I'm reminded of where I got them from. Another brilliant move from BP; the opportunity to reinforce brand awareness in other touchpoints throughout their consumers' lives.
  

Here's the catch -- as brilliant and "feel good" as the campaign is, just like with everything that has to do with the environment, I think people are always going to be thinking about the impact of being "green" in their wallet, which is why I continue to fill my tank up at Kroger, in order to get the 10 cents off every gallon from my Kroger shopping rewards card. And maybe they're OK with that. Maybe BP is OK with just having my PERCEPTION of them change, and they're thinking that somewhere down the line they'll actually get my trial. But I think cost will still have to play a huge part of that trial. AND I even worked at Amoco for 2 summer internships so you would think that if anyone would be partisan to their products it would be me. But alas, Kroger has got my loyalty for now thanks to their loyalty card.

Oh, and I wonder what impact on my carbon footprint will be to use RoundUp around the sunflowers to kill the weeds that are threatening to take over my home...