Valvoline has adopted a primarily digital marketing strategy: MD Sandeep Kalia

Founded in 1866 by Dr. John Ellis when he discovered the lubricating properties of distilled crude oil, Valvoline Oil – the world’s first petroleum-based lubricant was officially registered in 1873. With such a historic legacy, Valvoline has been a key part of the global landscape since then and this role is central to its latest “Original Motor Oil” campaign.

Valvoline Cummins Pvt Ltd (VCPL) recently launched its TVC, ‘Baccho Jaisa Junoon’, conceptualized by Leo Burnett, to celebrate his childlike passion to stay original, innovate and stay one step ahead while retaining its old heritage. 150 years old. .

IndianTelevision’s Anupama Sajeet had a long conversation with the Managing Director of Valvoline Cummins Pvt Ltd, Sandeep Kalia, who ran the company from its early days in India in the 1990s. Kalia explained how the marketing strategy and media mix of the motor oil company suffered a nearly 360-degree reversal during the pandemic and went digital first. Not being known as a “consumer-oriented category,” the brand now targets its customers widely through digital marketing and social media, with the aim of connecting directly with them.

Edited excerpts:

On Valvoline India’s aggressive marketing strategy during the pandemic

Valvoline Cummins has always focused more on its long-term vision. Over the past year, all of our teams and channels’ efforts have been focused on how to reach our customers during such a difficult time. It wasn’t just about doing business, but about understanding their needs and well-being. We have run several small digital campaigns on safety and how to maintain their vehicles during closures, as vehicles have typically been stationary for months. We gave advice to our consumers, who drove CV vehicles, or trucks, tractors, cars or bicycles, to ensure their proper maintenance. We connected with them much more rigorously via video calls, voice interactions checking their well-being, while educating them, all to ensure that the connection with our customers is long term.

So when the markets opened around October 2020, we saw many rewarding customers coming to us. And that’s when we thought it would be a good time to launch a new campaign. This is how the two campaigns were born. For the latter, we absolutely wanted to start all over again, so we started with the global campaign on “Genuine engine oil – stay original” and launched the “”Baccho Jaisa Juno‘ countryside.

On the management of multiple waves of Covid

In both waves, the industry was hit hard by the recession, not just ours but every other industry. We have seen profits plummet because vehicles weren’t running, almost everywhere in the lubricants industry. Looking back, the recovery was quite strong after the first wave of Covid, around last October, which continued until March of this year, although there were losses in income. But the second wave hit closer: Our distribution partners, employees and customers were all affected and cash management was tighter because people wanted to keep money with them. This was the main difference between wave one and wave two. Today, even as markets are opening up, especially in areas where restrictions have eased, they still have not reached pre-pandemic levels. However, it can be said that about 80 to 85 percent of the recovery has occurred.

-On the last campaign ‘Baccho Jaisa Juno‘

The brief given to Leo Burnett was simple: how to best convey the brand’s more than 150-year heritage, while emphasizing our passion for constant innovation. Thus, the concept ‘Baccho Jaisa Junoon’ corresponded very well to the theme we were talking about – that Valvoline does not hesitate to get their hands dirty, being innovative and full of curiosity. Whether it is a company that has stood tall for the past fifteen decades, and our backbone of success has been this passion or passion for continuous innovation in each and every employee that we have at Valvoline .

– On the brand’s marketing strategy and media mix

If you look at our industry, it’s not a category of consumers – we have a lot of retailers that sell parts stores and mechanics who are the big influencers in the industry. And finally, consumers. Our research has revealed that TV news channels and GECs are an integral part of the listening habits of retailers and mechanics, so we’ll definitely continue with that. The print wasn’t in the mix much earlier as well, as there wasn’t a lot of feedback on it.

But, now that we want to reach more consumers and tell them about our heritage and our vision, we need to go digital. Over the next few weeks, we will be focusing on digital platforms in line with our stronger focus on the light-duty vehicle category, such as motorcycles and cars, versus the heavy-duty category comprising trucks and cars. tractors.

-On the impact of the pandemic on the brand’s media plan

Mainly the difference between the pre and post pandemic strategy is that now we are trying to use more and more platforms to go digital. with them, how to ensure good content that has meaning for the brand as well as for consumers who see value in it. Until last year, our ad spend was 60% on TV and 30-40% on digital. This year, with a focus on digital, it looks like it will be the other way around.

Valvoline has adopted a digital first strategy both in terms of content creation and media mix with a view to continuous engagement. Today our consumers across the chain are connected across various digital platforms via smartphones, so it becomes imperative for us to have a robust digital approach. Our contribution of digital media to the global media pie is 1.5x to 2x that of our competitors.

However, from a global media mix point of view, TV plus Digital and retail visibility remain our linchpins. The pandemic has certainly skewed our digital investments a bit more, and our efforts on our social and research platforms have increased compared to the pre-pandemic period. For new campaigns, of course, television continues to be the biggest reach generator.