Marathon Petroleum Deploys Fuel Discount Program

FINDLAY, Ohio — Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC) is ready to roll out Cents Off Marathon, an instant cents-off-per-gallon discount program on fuel purchases throughout its Marathon-branded marketing network.

Nearly 80 percent of Marathon's independent jobbers and dealers have enrolled in the program, which uses technology developed by Drop Tank. The program will be made available through deployment and installation, which will occur over the next 12 months.

"We're excited about this program and what it offers our customers," said Bill McCleave, MPC's brand marketing director. "This unique discount program is a step beyond the traditional gift card as it will instantly discount the price at the pump. In addition to attracting more customers to Marathon-brand locations, these instant discounts and the platform that makes it possible will present unique opportunities for strategic third-party partnerships."

In an enhancement to traditional gift cards, Cents Off Marathon uses Drop Tank's proprietary technology to enable instant price discounts at the pump via prepaid cards. The Cents Off Marathon cards will be available in a variety of cents-off-per-gallon denominations and will discount a total of 100 gallons over multiple fueling transactions.

In addition, Cents Off Marathon promotional cards provide similar cents-off-per-gallon discounts for use on a single fill-up of up to 20 gallons, according to MPC.

The Cents Off Marathon cards can also be co-branded with logos from other organizations and businesses, allowing them to leverage the program's cents-off currency as part of their own customer loyalty or rewards programs.

As MPC announced earlier this year, deployment was scheduled to begin following the voluntary enrollment of a majority of the company's branded marketing network, made up of approximately 5,400 independently owned and operated locations.

Through its partnership with Drop Tank, MPC is the first anchor company in Drop Tank's own discount program, Cents Off America, which will soon be available nationwide. With the combined deployment of these programs, participating Marathon-brand locations will be able to redeem both Cents Off Marathon and Cents Off America discounts.

Findlay-based MPC is the nation's fourth-largest refiner. Marathon-brand gasoline is sold through approximately 5,400 independently owned retail outlets across 19 states. In addition, Speedway LLC, an MPC subsidiary, owns and operates the nation's fourth-largest convenience store chain with approximately 2,740 convenience stores in 22 states.