Agip Rebrands as Eni Powers Ahead in North America
Agip has recently rebranded as Eni, while simultaneously announcing plans to increase penetration of its lubricant brands in North America across all industries. Gianfranco Mosconi (above) President and CEO of Eni USA R&M Co., shares the vision behind the strategy.
Gianfranco Mosconi, with a Bachelor in Civil Engineering and a Master’s in Hydraulic Engineering, has been working for Eni since 1984. He started in charge of the Logistics Department; transferring to the Lubricants Business Unit were he has been in charge for Production Department and then the Supply and Sales Departments. For the past three years he has served as the President and CEO of Eni USA R&M Co. Inc., the company that produces and sells lubricants in the North America market.
On September 28, eni held an event in Laguna Seca (Monterey, Ca), with the focus to launch the new eni lubricants product lines to its U.S. and Canadian Distributors. (Laguna Seca is a Superbike motorcycle race, and eni is a title sponsor.) The new product lines are eni i-Sint (passenger cars lubes) eni i-Sigma (heavy duty lubes) and eni i-Ride (motor bike lubes already launched in 2012). “All Agip product names have been replaced with eni the new international brand name,” said Mosconi.
While Mosconi reports good reaction to the change, complete with a moden appearance and the new eni i-Sigma product, he stressed staying committed to the company’s past success. “Naturally, our legendary six-legged dog and our company colors continue to be our logo,” Mosconi said. “The dog standing proud and strong, supporting the successful brand change from Agip to eni.”
The challenge to further penetrate North America lies in building stronger relationships with distributors and national accounts, Mosconi reckons. “In addition to our new products eni i-Sint and eni i-Sigma with OEM’s specs, we offer our distributors other products that cover all market applications: marine oil, compressor oil, hydraulic oil, cutting oil along all conventional and semi-synthetic engine oil. Let me emphasize once more that our distributors are our partners, to whom we provide any support they need, from technical assistance, dedicated training to product literature in order to increase sales. This perfectly fits with eni’s global lubricant strategy to build on local partners to be closer to the market. The unique values of eni, the local market knowledge and network of our distributors are the special ingredients to succeed in North America.”
(As published in the November 2013 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News - www.marinelink.com)