EDMONTON -- Alberta's oil and gas "war room" has rolled out a replacement after it pulled a logo that was nearly identical to a U.S. data company's.
Earlier this week, Twitter users pointed out that the logo used by the Canadian Energy Centre (CEC) on its website and social media channels was the same as the logo used by Progress, a publicly held data connectivity company, in all but colour.
That prompted the CEC to announce it was looking into why the logo, produced by marketing agency Lead & Anchor, was used.
“This is an unfortunate situation but we are committed to making the necessary corrections to our visual identity,” said Tom Olsen, CEC CEO and managing director. “We understand this was a mistake and we are in discussions with our agency to determine how it happened.”
The CEC's former logo is shown on the left, while the logo for software company Progress is shown on the right.
On Friday, the CEC updated its website and social media with the new logo: a stylized red circle connected to the outline of a maple leaf.
"It is an alternate logo that was prepared as part of the Government of Alberta's initial planning for the Canadian Energy Centre," said a CEC spokesman.
CEC said the new logo "represents Canadian energy and the vital role it plays in our country and around the world."
Lead & Anchor will be billed for costs associated with replacing the old logo, the CEC said.
The $30-million war room, officially launched last week, is a private entity owned by the Government of Alberta.
Premier Jason Kenney has said it will take a fact-based approach to countering "misinformation" about Alberta's energy industry.
