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See also: Exxon, Mobil and ExxonMobil
Founded 1912; 103 years ago (1912)
Headquarters Irving, Texas, U.S.
Products Oil, Fuel
Parent ExxonMobil

Esso /ˈɛs/ is an international trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies. The name is a phonetic version of the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil (SO = Esso),[1] and as such became the focus of much litigation and regulatory restriction in the United States. In 1972 it was largely replaced in the U.S. by the Exxon brand after it bought Humble Oil, while Esso remained widely used elsewhere. In most of the world, the Esso brand and the Mobil brand are the primary brand names of ExxonMobil, with the Exxon brand name still in use only in the United States alongside Mobil.

An Esso station in Stabekk, Norway (2006)
The Esso sign in 1940, used until 1966


In 1911, Standard Oil was broken up into 34 companies, some of which were named "Standard Oil" and had the rights to that brand in certain states (the other companies had no territorial rights). Standard Oil of New Jersey ("Jersey Standard") had the rights in that state, plus in Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia. By 1941, it had also acquired the rights in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Louisiana. In those states, it marketed its products under the brand "Esso", the phonetic pronunciation of the letters "S" and "O".

It also used the Esso brand in New York and the six New England states, where the Standard Oil Company of New York (Socony - Vacuum, later Socony - Mobil) had the rights, but did not object to the New Jersey company's use of the trademark[citation needed] (the two companies did not merge until November 1999). However, in the other states, the other Standard Oil companies objected and forced Jersey Standard to use other brand names. In most states the company used the trademark Enco ("Energy Company"), and in a few "Humble".


During the years of racial segregation in the United States, certain Esso franchises gave out "The Negro Motorist Green Book: An International Travel Guide".[3] In 1973, Standard Oil of New Jersey renamed itself as the Exxon Corporation, and adopted that trademark throughout the country. It maintained the rights to "Standard" and "Esso" in the states where it held those rights, by a token effort, by selling "Esso Diesel" in those states at stations that sell diesel fuel, thus preventing the trademark from being declared abandoned.


The Enco brand name was still used on locations in the Midwest until 1977 when they were sold to Cheker Oil Co. (now part of Marathon Petroleum subsidiary Speedway LLC[5]); Exxon continues to have a presence in Southern Ohio today (as it does throughout much of Appalachia in general), though Mobil is the company's primary brand in the Midwest.

United Kingdom[edit]

An Esso service station in Wetherby, West Yorkshire (2010)

In 1888, the Anglo American Oil company opened its head office in London, which eventually became a part of Esso.[6] In August 1998, Tesco announced a partnership with Esso, opening chains of Tesco Express stores located within forecourts, which continues today.[7] In February 2000, the two companies were opening one new store a month, creating 4,000 jobs.[8]

In Tampere, Finland (2007)

Esso Blue[edit]

Esso Blue was the brand name of Esso's paraffin oil (kerosene) for domestic heaters in countries such as the United Kingdom. Their television advertising song from the 1950s, through to the 1970s, was the famous "Bom, Bom, Bom, Bom, Esso Blue!" A later campaign used the well-known song tune of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" cleverly reworded as:[9]"They asked me how I knew, it was Esso Blue, I of course replied, with lower grades one buys, smoke gets in your eyes. The non-smoking paraffin". The track was released as a flexi disk which was given away free in hardware stores.[10]


In the 1930s Esso acquired Cleveland, an independent company based in North East England. The name comes from the fact that the founder and principal shareholder, Norman Davis, spent some of WWI with his brother Manuel in Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland's products included a benzole blend and an alcohol blend called Discol. Both the Esso and Cleveland names continued in use until 1973, when the Cleveland filling stations were re-branded as Esso.

Northern Ireland[edit]


Euro Garages[edit]


Shop and Drive[edit]




Main article: Imperial Oil



Main article: Esso Australia




Advertising campaigns[edit]

In the 1960s, campaigns featuring heavy spending in different mass media channels became more prominent. Esso spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a brand awareness campaign built around the simple and alliterative[11] theme Put a Tiger in Your Tank.[12] Psychologist Ernest Dichter[13] and DDB Worldwide copywriter Sandy Sulcer[14] learned that motorists desired both power and play while driving, and chose the tiger as an easy-to-remember symbol to communicate those feelings. The North American and later European campaign featured extensive television and radio and magazine ads, including photos with tiger tails supposedly emerging from car gas tanks, promotional events featuring real tigers, billboards, and in Europe station pump hoses "wrapped in tiger stripes" as well as pop music songs.[12] Tiger imagery can still be seen on the pumps of successor firm ExxonMobil.


  1. ^ ExxonMobil: History of Esso in the UK
  3. ^ McGee, Celia (August 22, 2010). "The Open Road Wasn’t Quite Open to All". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-04-25. Although Victor Green’s initial edition only encompassed metropolitan New York, the Green Book soon expanded .... The 15,000 copies Green eventually printed each year were sold as a marketing tool not just to black-owned businesses but to the white marketplace, implying that it made good economic sense to take advantage of the growing affluence and mobility of African Americans. Esso stations, unusual in franchising to African Americans, were a popular place to pick one up. 
  4. ^ Lett, Christine (March 11, 2008). "Total Petroleum to take over Esso's fuel business in V.I.". The Virgin Islands Daily News. Archived from the original on Mar 13, 2008. Retrieved 11 June 2010. 
  5. ^
  6. ^ "Our early days in Europe". About us. Exxon Mobil Corporation. Retrieved 17 January 2014. 
  9. ^ the great blue singer — Esso Blue flexi disk recording, Juzp 
  10. ^ "The Great Blue Singer " at Discogs

External links[edit]