The six-legged dog was designed by Luigi Broggini (famous sculptor, designer and painter) in its original form, in 1952. Symbolic meaning of the trademark was disputed a lot, but according to the official explanation of the company, six legs of the imaginary animal are references to an automobile's four wheels and the driver's two legs, while flame coming out from its mouth represents the energy itself. This modern centaur reminds us to legendary figures of the Nibelungen, or to imaginary-real animals of African mythology, with more than the normal number of legs of them signify uncommon strength. Special modifications were made in the symbol later, including recent typeface of the company name: it is a kind of association of ideas related to road, with the two black lanes separated by the white dividing line. The dragon-like dog represents strength, energy and speed in Italy and all over the world.
The Trademark Today
Eni, in its natural evolution, has for some time now been an all-round "energy- company".
It is therefore natural and indispensable that there is also an evolution in the image with which it presents itself in the more than 70 countries in which it operates.
The privatisation process, first of all, and an increasingly competitive market system, have made this change even more necessary and obliged the company to reconsider itself as a single entity that while operating in a range of sectors, speaks with one voice and one brand.
After a process of analysis to identify the elements the best distinguish and define the system of values on which the company itself is based, two essential needs emerged that were to prove key in the construction of the new identity:
- to unify markets and the different contexts in which Eni operates through a single voice and a single name
- to make visible in a graphic sense Eni's dynamic nature, closeness, openness and integration.
The analysis involved all of the subjects with whom Eni interacts on a daily basis, from stakeholders and opinion leaders, to consumers and employees.
All of the research carried out to date has confirmed the greater effectiveness of a single brand and the need for greater consistency in communications.
The new solution is a profile of the company as a listener, responding to the needs of the territory and open to continuously changing markets.
Eni is now more than ever, a company that is close, open and dynamic. It key values are sustainability, culture, partnership, innovation and efficiency.
In line with these values, Eni has developed a logo that maintains the elements that have characterised it in the past, while exalting the entrepreneurial spirit of a continuously evolving and integrated company that is attentive to its territorial obligations and relationships with all its interlocutors.
The new logo is a brand in movement. It keeps the strong elements that have always been a part of Eni, such as the six-legged dog, the yellow box and the outlined lettering, but includes also innovative elements. The six-legged dog comes out of the box, it moves and is projected towards a new corporate reality. The typeface is featured in an original manner, cut off at the bottom and all lower case, to underline the closeness and the equal relationship that Eni wants to establish with its stakeholders. The logo thus, for the first time becomes interactive and can be broken down to better underline the corporate character: open, dynamic, integrated.
(source: www.eni.it)