Lubricant brands using new age tools to give fresh impetus to old community

Over the past few years, having used technology to rethink its marketing strategies for its b2b partners, companies such as Shell, Gulf Oil, Castrol among others are using a bunch of new age tools to engage with the end customer: the truck, auto and bike driver. With community based apps and data-led targeting methods, lubricants brands are hoping to take the technological trail forward. While such initiatives are paying back with greater recall and visibility, marketing experts are skeptical. Many see it as pulling out new tricks from an old hat that is well past its sell-by date. 

Consider some of the on-the-ground brand activities being undertaken: Castrol India organised a ‘super mechanic for bikes’ contest this year, much like some of its past measures that were conducted via a network of dealers and garages. The difference this time around is that the contest was digital. The initial round that is usually meant to net in a vast universe of participants used to be a taxing exercise that involved several rounds of persuasion and follow-up from the company’s team of marketing agents in the past. Now with the mobile phone serves as the delivery platform and social media to disseminate the message, the task is much simpler. Castrol in a press statement said this contest saw more than one lakh bike and car mechanics register. 

Shell, in 2016, had asked truckers to upload images and stories of some of the real-life destinations that they were travelling to. A short list of stories was rewarded and aired on radio. The idea is to use technology to build a community and a sense of pride in their work.

Apart from inculcating a sense of achievement among truckers who spend long hours on the road and are prone to bouts of depression, lubes companies are also keen to promote a sense of well-being. Castrol India, for instance has introduced a yoga regimen for the trucking community, for drivers suffering on account of the long hours they spend behind a wheel.

It is an old and well-known trick in the Indian marketer’s handbook to reach out to truckers and retailers with direct promotions even while spending on TV commercials. It helps keep the edge in a highly competitive market. Industry officials peg India’s lubricants market growth at 2 to 3 per cent annually and market leaders such as Castrol India say they are focused on retaining their position in a low-to-modest-growth scenario. Hinduja Group’s Gulf Oil Lubricants says it is going to be aggressive about increasing market share. 

 

In the automotive segment in 2017, Castrol had a total market share of 19.6 per cent, marginally higher from its 19.3 per cent in 2015. Gulf Oil, according to company officials, has three per cent share in the organised market and eight per cent in the bazaar market. Overall, the Indian lubricant market, the world’s third-largest, is estimated to be worth $4.5 billion, at about 2,500 million litres.

Ambi Parameswaran, CEO of Brand-Building.com says, “Lubricant makers have been trying to reach the truck driver population through unique media for a long time. In the past they used to distribute audio cassettes with film songs that could be used by truckers on their long drives. These cassettes used to have jingles interspersed with popular songs. Later they used radio as a critical medium.”

Currently environment, ecology and health are popular narratives in brand communication. In June Castrol India unveiled a marketing campaign titled ‘Beach’. The ads revolve around a bunch of young bikers undertaking a beach-cleaning drive. Castrol also, in partnership with Kantar IMRB, has looked into the health issues that truckers face. As a result of this study, “Castrol also commissioned experts from The Yoga Institute in Mumbai to come up with some easy health tips for truckers on the go. The result is a series of yoga asanas especially developed for truckers,” the company said in its statement.

Parameswaran says that way back in the 1990s Castrol had figured out that nothing works better than TV, to reach truck owners (who may be buying the lubricants) and truck drivers. “So I am a little surprised that lubricant brands are back to giving back rub to truck drivers. Given the move towards large fleets, consolidated go-downs and warehouses, we should be seeing lubricants being sold more on a B2B basis and not in the bazaar,” he adds.

Castrol is not the only brand on the truckers’ trail. Gulf Oil has steadily increased spend on on-the-ground branding in India. According to company officials, about eight years back, the company spent three percent of its topline on such initiatives. Today, this percentage has risen to seven.

The investments have paid off according to Gulf Oil. “In the market if you take feedback, in the last three to five years, you will hear "Abhi Gulf ka aadmi dikhta hai (We see Gulf Oil representative now)," says Ravi Chawla, managing director for Gulf Oil, explaining how the company improved its on ground visibility. Among its many community outreach initiatives, the company even offers truckers a head massage. “The idea is to convey the ‘Gulf on, toh tension gone’,” Chawla added. “These trucker inducement moves may be just a way of keeping the truck drivers engaged with the brand. I am not sure if these will result in any return on marketing investments,” Parameswaran says.