Save the 76 Ball - design

Ray Pedersen To Get A Ball (also, you)

kim — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 10:35:39 -0800

76 Ball designer Ray Pedersen has been informed by ConocoPhillips that they wish to honor his contribution to the brand's history by presenting him with one of the classic orange and blue 76 Ball gas station signs for his personal collection. Ray is trying to find the best place to store this large and lovely artifact, and we hope to report back to you soon with additional details. Kudos to CP for recognizing Ray with this generous and gracious offer!

In recognition of this cool news, Ray Pedersen has kindly agreed to personaly autograph a very limited number of 76 Ball antenna toppers, which we are making available to his fans. If you would like one, just click.

Save the 76 Ball Campaign In Autoweek Magazine

kim — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 15:53:29 -0700

NY Times: Condition Orange

kim — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 22:03:25 -0700

High Beams: Condition Orange

By PHIL PATTON

Published: July 16, 2006

ONCE, viewed from those movie-star houses high in the Hollywood Hills, the orange ball-shaped signs of Union 76 service stations floated like glowing citrus across the Los Angeles basin. At dusk, the slowly rotating balls looked like pushpins on a map of the city.

Now the orange spheres are winking out, one by one. A corporate image-changing program by ConocoPhillips, which owns the Union 76, Phillips 66 and Conoco brands, is replacing the balls with flat signs as part of a new standardized design for Union 76 service stations.

The 7.5-foot polycarbonate ball, created for the Union 76 exhibit at the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962, was designed by Ray Pedersen of the Young & Rubicam advertising agency.

Two California design buffs, Kim Cooper and Nathan Marsak, have created a Web site (savethe76ball.com) to push for preservation of the orange icon and have begun a petition campaign to save some of the signs.

Mr. Pedersen, 80, who heard Ms. Cooper speaking on a radio program, has joined the effort. Michael Madsen, the actor best known for his role in the film “Reservoir Dogs,” supports their cause, as does the Society for Commercial Archaeology, an organization devoted to roadside architecture.

“We are trying to engage them in dialogue to save a few,” Ms. Cooper said in an e-mail message. “But from our observations, it seems like the remaining Hawaiian balls have been switched off, while a small percentage of the U.S. balls continue spinning, especially along the La Brea Boulevard corridor.” She said there were once about 400 Union 76 balls in the Los Angeles area.

Smaller versions of the orange ball are still available — the ones that attach to automobile radio antennas. Union 76 gas stations began handing out the mini-spheres in 1967, and they can still be bought online at happyballs.com.

(New York Times)

Society for Commercial Archeology features the 76 Ball

kim — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 08:24:09 -0700

When I wrote this little text about our campaign for the preservation journal of the SCA some months back, I didn't think they were going to put it on the cover of Road Notes!

I also didn't think the Hermon ball, beloved by Nathan and myself and featured in the photo we sent along, would be GONE by the time it was printed. But so it is.

Walking west on the Sunset Strip last night, I saw a terrible sight, perhaps an omen. A handsome backlit 76 ball on the North side of the street between Fairfax and Crescent Heights was suddenly shut off as my friends and I were enjoying it. It was as if the very sun had gone out.

Save the 76 Ball. It's not too late.

L.A.'s 76 Balls in their natural habitat

kim — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 09:28:56 -0700

Here are five more 76 Ball short films from the camera of Earl Ma, these from his recent trip to Southern California. Compared to the Oahu spheres posted earlier, you'll note that the SoCal stations aren't using the rotating motors, thus weakening the power of this extraordinary sign. Is this a cost-saving move, or just another symbol of corporate neglect?

Studio City Union 76 service station, 12863 Ventura Boulevard, Studio City, CA, April 2006

Gregory Union 76 service station, 5436 W. 6th Street, Los Angeles, CA, April 2006

Tommy's Union 76 service station, 5890 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, April 2006

Jack Colkers Union 76 station, 427 N. Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills, CA, April 2006

Norm's Union 76 service station, 7979 W. Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, April 2006

PR Week feature: Cooper has a ball in effort to save brand icon

kim — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 10:28:23 -0700

Cooper has a ball in effort to save brand icon
by Randi Schmelzer - 5 Jun 2006 10:53

Burma-Shave rhyme signs, Howard Johnson's orange roofs, KFC's revolving chicken buckets: all pieces of modern Americana that today exist mostly in memory alone. Now, the iconic orange-and-blue Union 76 gas-station ball is on its way to joining them - unless Kim Cooper can stop it.

Cooper, 39, is a native Angelino and self-proclaimed "ultimate dilettante." From editing and publishing Scram, a journal of un- popular culture, to co-hosting the "1947project," a blog and bus-tour series highlighting LA's off-the-beaten-path crime sites, "my job is rescuing the underdog from neglect and destruction," she says.

The underdog this time is the 76 ball, the 45-year-old victim of a quiet marketing shift that began just after the 2002 merger of gas giants Conoco and Phillips.

According to its 2004 annual report, ConocoPhillips, which operates Conoco and Phillips gas stations, as well as 76, that year initiated a project to streamline the three brands' marketing efforts. So while its Web site refers to the 76 logo as "a long-trusted symbol [that] means something special to our customers," its most recent graphic-standards manual calls for a brand-consistent red-and-blue color scheme, rather than the historic, eye-popping orange.

"They began knocking down the 76 balls," Cooper recalls. These omnipresent symbols for gasoline in many parts of the US were methodically being substituted with ground-level "monuments" or taller, disc-shaped signage. Many of the LA area's 400 spheres have already been replaced, including the one that rose above Dodger Stadium for decades.

Cooper teamed with LA author Nathan Marsak in January to launch www.savethe76ball.com, a Web site dedicated to preserving the 76 balls "for generations to come." Featuring 76 sphere-related news, history, photos, and discussion, the site includes downloadable "I love your 76 ball" calling cards and a link to an online petition urging ball lovers to boycott ConocoPhillips-brand outlets if the company "does not demonstrate greater respect for the history and good will associated with the 76 ball."

Orb enthusiasts have responded in droves. The petition has 2,100-plus signatures, many accompanied by wistful, ball-inspired recollections and pledges to pump at Exxon or Shell. |

Cooper's endeavor has been showcased by media outlets from the LA Times to the BBC. Actor Michael Madsen even offered to help out, then asked where he could get his hands on a retired sphere. And following a Seattle radio interview, Cooper was contacted by former Young & Rubicam art director Ray Pederson - the man who designed the original ball as signage for a Union Oil Co.-sponsored sky-tram ride at the 1962 World's Fair - who offered his enthusiastic support.

Although ConocoPhillips has issued a statement thanking 76 ball junkies for their patronage, the company has yet to discontinue its icon-devastating, brand-continuity effort. But "the fact that people feel as strongly as they do about the balls," Cooper says, is a testament to their resonance.

"Children look for the 76 pumpkin every Halloween, and it makes them happy," she says. And the company's ubiquitous car-antenna mini-balls, introduced in 1967, became both a promotional coup and a still-strong fad: By the late 1990s, 76 was dolling out 4 million toppers every year.

Cooper admits that on some level, the effort is prank-like and "silly." She says she's "been attacked by people for putting my energies into this rather frivolous and highly charged campaign."

But saving the 76 sphere is about more than a gas-station sign. "If you don't look at what's around you, it's very easy to not care if things get knocked down and destroyed, things that actually reflect the culture, history, and changes of your place," she explains. "I think it's a tragedy."

Kim Cooper

2005-present
Cofounder, Explosive PR/Dumplingfeed media consultancy

1995-2000
Exhibition coordinator and librarian, LA Museum of Contemporary Art

1991-1992
Researcher, The Oakland Museum of California

Copyright © 2005 PRWeek

photo by Ricardo DeAratanha, LA Times

L.A. Business Journal article on the 76 Ball Petition

kim — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 14:35:18 -0800

Having a Ball
Bloggers launch campaign to save 76 insignia
By KATE BERRY
Los Angeles Business Journal Staff

The ball is back in ConocoPhillips’ court.

Two Los Angeles bloggers with a fondness for vintage California signs have launched a Web campaign to save the rotating orange and blue Union 76 balls that were for decades that oil company’s identifying symbol.

The orange globes, often referred to as “meatballs,” have turned into Southern California pop culture icons largely because of their longevity – they’ve been around for 59 years.

Since ConocoPhillips bounced the balls from its ad campaign last year, they have started disappearing from West Coast highways and corner gas stations. At their peak in the 1960s, the 76 balls could be found on as many as 4,000 Union 76 gas stations from Seattle to San Diego. By some counts, the number of balls has dwindled to less than 300.

When Kim Cooper and Nathan Marsak realized that their local gas station had carted off its giant 76 ball, they created a Web site – savethe76ball.com – featuring a tongue-in-cheek petition asking consumers to urge the Texas oil giant to stop dropping the ball.

On the site, the bloggers claim ConocoPhillips is guilty of “design terrorism” for throwing out the “goodwill” associated with the 76 balls. Visitors can sign the petition and print a card urging remaining gas station owners to keep their balls.

A spokeswoman for ConocoPhillips refused to comment.

After Cooper launched the Web site last month, she was contacted by Ray Pedersen, who redesigned the orange logo in 1955 for Union Oil. Pedersen, who is well known in the advertising industry, also designed Yoplait’s distinctive yogurt containers.

He conceived the orange ball as a futuristic globe that was to adorn a Union Oil ride at the Seattle World’s Fair. With that as the inspiration, he designed a “Spirit of 76” ad campaign.

In 1967, when the company had become Unocal Corp., it launched a wildly popular promotion in which millions of small plastic balls were distributed at its gas stations to be attached to cars’ radio antennae. Today, a classic 76 antenna ball can be purchased on eBay for roughly $1.50.

“The 76 balls are very urban and visually stunning,” said Cooper, who with Marsak writes for 1947project.blogspot, a day-by-day account of Los Angeles crime history from the era of the Black Dahlia. Marsak is author of “Los Angeles Neon,” and has developed an interest in vintage signs.

“Gasoline is one of the hardest things to create a brand for because it’s all identical,” said Cooper. “Yet here is one of the most visible images in the market and they’re just throwing the balls away.”

Nathan Marsak says "Save the 76 Ball!"

rss — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 16:19:53 -0800

Nathan Marsak, author of the book “Los Angeles Neon” and co-author of the Save The 76 Ball Petition, delivers an impassioned podcast plea that the remaining 76 Balls be kept safe from harm.

stay in touch! subscribe to the channel.

Ray Pedersen Says: Save My Ball!

kim — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 22:41:29 -0800

A couple of days ago, I was interviewed on Dori Monson's KIRO Seattle radio show about the Save The 76 Ball petition campaign. Hundreds of Dori's listeners have rallied to sign the petition, including Dori himself (thanks!). But the most extraordinary thing to come from this interview was an email I received from Ray Pedersen, a man with a very personal relationship to the 76 Ball. Well, let's let him tell you about it himself:

Kim: It's a small world. A friend of mine and fellow alumni of The Art Center School of Pasadena told me you were on a program the other day and sent me this info on you. I am the guy who was creative director in 1955 on the Union Oil account for Young and Rubican Advertising in L.A. I designed the ball for the Seattle World Fair (their SkyRide) and it was so stunning that Fred Hartley wanted it done for all Union Oil Stations. He called it "Pedersen's Balls." It was much fun. I had a small one made so it would just fit in my Beechcraft Bonanza and we went all over the country shooting beautiful scenes and put the ball up on a pole and what do you know?.... a gas station in front of the magnificent Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, San Francisco Bay Bridge, etc.

Here is a snap of me getting the ball ready at the Grand Canyon location.

Save my ball! (have a housefull plus a basketball with the logo)

Regards,
Ray Pedersen

Stay tuned for more from Ray, who is still creatively active at 80, and off to Iceland to brand glacial water for Icelandia PLC!

Press Release - Car Owners and California History Buffs Cry: Save the Union 76 Ball!

kim — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 04:42:34 -0800

Car Owners and California History Buffs Cry: Save the Union 76 Ball!

February 8, 2006 - For immediate release

Click to view petition.

LOS ANGELES- In 2005, ConocoPhillips, the Texas-based energy company that took over the historic California Unocal refineries and gas stations in 2002, commenced a campaign of design terrorism, ripping down the hugely popular orange and blue "76" branded ball signs in favor of a generic flattened red and blue disk.

To give the public a chance to be heard, an online petition has been launched by the authors of L.A.'s 1947project crime history blog. Signers are declaring their intention to boycott if ConocoPhillips doesn't reverse their redesign policy and show proper respect for the beloved 76 ball brand.

Petition co-writer Nathan Marsak, author of "Los Angeles Neon," says "Our urban fabric will lose a groovy, sexy element of its attraction with the disappearance of this turning orb‹an orb that still speaks "progress!" and "fun!" as opposed to its replacement, which resembles some sort of giant tombstone."

The 76 Ball is one of the 20th Century's most successful and enduring design icons. It has its origins in 1932's "Spirit of 76" advertising campaign promoting Union Oil's 76 octane fuel. The orange globe first appeared in 1947, with the familiar version of the design launched in 1962, with the Seattle World's Fair design by Ray Pedersen. In 1967, Unocal launched their wildly popular car antenna ball promotion, distributing 2,500,000 million of the miniature 76 balls in 1993 alone, and creating an antenna-top marketing revolution.

Here's what some of the petition's signers are saying: "I actually buy 76 gas because of their historic branding and am proud to have a 76 ball on my vintage 1963 car." (Mary-Margaret Stratton). . . "I used to buy from a 76 station only 2 blocks from my house. The day ConocoPhillips changed it to red and blue, I stopped patronizing it." (Guy Kudlemyer) . . . "It's like McDonald's dumping the arches. Just wrong!" (Sean Russ). . . "How can you destroy such a trusted icon?" (Kyle Barnes). . . "Please stop destroying American history." (Steve Tepperman).

Petition co-writer Kim Cooper muses, "If ConocoPhillips' intention was to lose any goodwill their customers feel towards the 76 brand, they're off to a great start. In 2004 they withdrew fuel sponsorship of NASCAR--killing off the longest such relationship in the history of the organization--and in late 2005 began chopping down the big orange pumpkin balls that cheer our urban landscape. Since my local station had its orange ball removed, I've started filling my tank elsewhere, and from our petition it sounds like many others are doing the same."

Petition authors Kim Cooper and Nathan Marsak are available for interviews.

See the petition here.