The history of group logos
On March 18, 1924, a handful of bankers, industrialists and representatives of the State met in Paris for the first constitutive assembly (the second will be held on March 28) of the Compagnie Française des Pétroles (CFP), the ancestor of the current Total group.
But it was at the beginning of the 1950s that the leaders of the CFP and the CFR (Compagnie Française de Raffinage) decided to create their own distribution network and, for that, to have a brand. In 1954, the new TOTAL brand and its logo (a red flame symbolizing energy crossing a blue circle representing the integration of activities) were adopted. Claude Le Coeur testifies to the genesis of this first logo.
At the dawn of the 1960s, the TOTAL brand began to make its way into the minds of the public. It now applies to a wide range of products: fuels and super-fuels, automobiles, motor oils, jetfuels for airplanes, etc. In order to attract motorists, service stations want to be attractive, displaying brands and logos… Thus the logo, always tricolor, is redrawn with more bold characters over time, to confirm the stability of the company. In addition to white, blue and red, new colors appear.
In 1970, the logo was still tricolor but redesigned with bold characters to express more stability than conquest. Note also the appearance of the color gold in addition to blue, white and red from previous versions. The diagonal bands convey dynamism. The orange color softens the logo by making it warmer.
In 1982, Total rethought its visual identity by definitively adopting red, the color of vigor, and a new, more pronounced typography, symbol of power.
After the acquisitions of PetroFina and Elf Aquitaine in 1998 and 2000, Total became TOTALFINAELF and then took the name Total in 2003, with a new logo. The latter represents the Earth and the energy of the Earth, the movement and the crossing of energies, of all the people of the world. The colors - yellow, blue, red - evoke the diversity, dynamism and colors of the original companies. Laurent Vincenti tells us about the birth of this logo, which is still that of the brand to this day.
