According to the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC), Kansas, Michigan, Illinois, South Dakota, Nebraska, Arkansas, and Ohio have now officially approved labels that incorporate the 'e' brand to mark pumps that dispense E10.

EPIC director of operations, Robert White, said they are pleased with the progress made in just a few short months: "The branding program is literally going state by state and the consistency is the 'e' logo, or the brand, and the variation of the label just depends on state rules and regs."  White also added that 25 additional statesare working toward approving the 'e' labels.

The ethanol branding program has benefits for everyone, says White, including individual retailers who might be making less than a penny a gallon on gasoline sales: "This is something that’s free to them – the labels, the shipping, point of sale materials and our national program – all tie consumers back to their individual station and their individual pumps."

After the labels are approved by the states with the right size and shape requirements, getting retailers to put them on their pumps becomes a grassroots effort, the Illinois Corn Marketing Board's Mark Lambert: "We’re going to start changing out those stickers in the next month or so.  Over the summer months, it’s going to be a great project for county Farm Bureaus and corn grower organizations. They’re going to go out to their local stations and get these on the pumps."

Lambert says interest in ethanol is extremely high right now and having a consistent brand at fueling stations will help raise the visibility of the fuel with consumers: "Right now every state has different regulations, the stickers all look different – that’s just bad marketing.  The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council had a wonderful idea and very simple – let’s get the same sticker everywhere, make it easy for consumers, and promote our product."

EPIC’s goal is to have the branding program approved in at least half of the states by the end of this year