AGIP was established in Rome in 1926 on the initiative of the Italian government for the research, exploitation and distribution of resources of the Italian subsoil. The acronym, acronym of “Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli”, began to appear on petrol stations in the 1930s inscribed in a circle with the colors of the Italian flag.
In 1952, when oil was discovered in Cortemaggiore (Piacenza), Enrico Mattei decided to baptize the petrol marketed by the Italian state with the name of “Supercortemaggiore” and to add a symbol to this word. Therefore, a competition promoted by Domus magazine was launched in which the following was requested: the design of advertising billboards for the “Supercortemaggiore” and “Agipgas” products, the related two logos and the original coloring of a petrol station. The Agipgas billboard, designed by Federico Seneca, depicted a cat emitting a red flame from its tail and the slogan “the liquid gas of the Italian subsoil”; Alfredo Lalia won the competition for the Agipgas logo. The Supercortemaggiore billboard depicted a black dog on a yellow background, with six legs, with an elongated shape and a large red flame from the mouth; There was also the Supercortemaggiore logo and the slogan “the powerful Italian gasoline”. For this billboard, the prize was awarded to Giuseppe Guzzi, the occasional figurehead of the famous artist Luigi Broggini who considered it degrading to participate in a competition for advertising. For the Supercortemaggiore logo, however, Carlo Dradi won who presented the design of a probe next to a letter “S” on a black background. But the logo, despite the jury’s decision, did not please Enrico Mattei who preferred the diabolical six-legged dog protagonist of Broggini’s winning poster.
In 1953, AGIP became part of ENI and, since then, several things have changed: a new Agip logo was designed and, starting in 1957, the dog was combined with it, transforming it from a product brand to a corporate logo; in fact it appeared in a yellow trapezoid which served as a sign for the service stations. The references that contributed to the success of the logo were evident: futurism, mythological evocation, everyday life, even the “domesticity” of the dog; but certainly its visual representation was the winning element. The dog was then a free sign, not strictly related to the company name and used without a fixed combination.
Since the first redesign commissioned by Eni, in 1972, the Unimark studio confirmed its image except for the intervention aimed at a geometrization of the dog: the rounding of the eye, the shortening of the trunk and the insertion of the whole in a square frame with rounded corners. In the lettering there was a median line, a clear reference to the white median line; this alphabet was also used for associated companies, despite changing business sectors, giving an unmistakable unitary image.
For a second redesign, commissioned only by “AGIP SpA” in 1988, the Chisesi studio aimed to consolidate its identity through a new rationalization. The construction was completely revised, the flame cleaned, the eye marked, the ribcage strengthened, the legs re-proportioned in order to correct the perception that in the two previous versions attributed the first and last paw to the left side of the animal and the four more on the right side. In essence, Chisesi’s proposal aimed at strengthening the animal’s grit and restoring that more fantastic and less domestic identity that it seemed to have in Broggini’s version.
In 2000, the privatization and listing of ENI on the stock exchange necessarily led to a change in the group’s communication strategies and a further slight restyling of the logo created by Unimark. Therefore, all the elements have been confirmed with the exception of the rounded frame that encloses the dog: a square with sharp edges has been eliminated and in its place, a sign of modernity, in which logo and logotype acquire a different value in a more harmonious coexistence . Even the dog has undergone a small change: since the first restyling in 1972 its length has decreased but has maintained the same visual impact by acquiring more aggression.
To adapt the image of the logo to the new market realities, in 2009 the management commissioned the agency Inarea for the restyling: the graphic intervention is aimed at bringing out half of the emblematic six-legged dog with a yellow background, this time with the rounded edges, together with the adoption of a new institutional font, all tiny and cut at the bottom, reminiscent of the previous one for the central fillet.
In 2024 the restyling with the six-legged dog that ideally walks on the horizon of contemporaneity with confidence and pride; all this is revealed with the traditional yellow color, now with a warmer tone.
