Calgary-based Petro-Canada Products has surprised the industry by choosing creative agency Geoffrey B. Roche & Partners Advertising, and media buying firm David Cairns & Company to handle the English-language portion of its $8-million account over front-runner Chiat/Day.

Since the review to replace bbdo began in January of this year, Chiat/Day appeared to have the upper hand when it was awarded promotional and point-of-sale projects for PetroCan’s credit card business this past summer.

A third contender, D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, was eliminated this fall.

Keith Turner, PetroCan’s director of marketing research and communications, says of Roche and Cairns, ‘We like their size and their style.

‘We had a strong desire to get clear site lines around media, and to split that apart to concentrate on creative, which has been a chase for us for a long time,’ Turner says.

Television advertising on air now carries PetroCan’s new brand positioning line, ‘Canada’s Gas Station.’

The work comes from its French-language agency, pnmd of Montreal, and will fulfill the current advertising commitments of PetroCan, which is primarily on televised figure skating programs.

New work from Geoffrey B. Roche is expected in the first quarter of the new year.