Not surprising, motor oil isn’t on the top of the holiday hot list. On top of the typical seasonal sales plateau, 2020 layered on a pandemic that pumped the brakes on national auto travel. Mobil 1 sales took a sharp decline as remote work replaced commuter traffic and road trips and getaways were cancelled.

Without a clear forecast as to when shoppers would be back on the road, Mobil 1 needed to evolve their Q4 plan to the landscape and get back in the game. Our goal was to leverage the emerging trends and shopper mindsets of the pandemic to determine new targeting opportunities and team up with an MVP of a partner for an omnichannel shopper program at Walmart, measuring success by impressions of the program, engagement post-purchase through a promotional offer, and, of course, a sales lift that would be a true comeback for the ages.

Though engine protection is important, car care takes a back seat to seasonal spending, especially with many holiday traditions and gatherings going virtual due to COVID.

That’s why we put Mobil 1 center court of a shopper’s mindset by partnering with NBA 2K21. With purchase of Mobil 1 motor oil at Walmart, shoppers will receive a 50-game MyPLAYER Defensive Boost, enhancing players’ stealing and blocking skills, helping them protect their court like Mobil 1 protects their engines. But an MVP isn’t just a star on the court. Activations extended to ultimate omnichannel scale; from in-game branding, to livestream events on Twitch, to cross-category messaging and signage placement that bring a whole new audience through the purchase journey, landing on Mobil 1.

By leveraging existing partnerships and agreements and bringing in breakaway activations, Mobil 1 is driving down the court to bring a slam dunk to Q4 sales at Walmart.

Demographic studies showed DIY shoppers index high with playing sports video games, and that they are 39% more likely than average shoppers to notice brand names within video games**. By integrating our brand into NBA 2K21 and bringing a promotional offer to retail, we would be opening our messaging to a receptive audience in a way that Mobil 1 had never explored.

Getting in front of our shoppers where they were (which wasn’t the garage) and giving them an offer that they would find appealing was vital, and it became apparent in our research that there was a huge opportunity to leverage our existing sponsorship as the Official Motor Oil of the NBA to integrate the brand into an NBA 2K21 promotion. NBA 2K20’s launch had already broken sales records six months prior, and projections for NBA 2K21’s success (paired with next-gen console releases) were expected to be even bigger.

Starting in September, tactics provided gamers a clear path to purchase:

• In-Game activations:

o “Mobil 1 Block of the Game” within every game

o Mobil 1 neighborhood garage

o Mobil 1 “endorsement” billboards awarded those who proved mastery of defensive plays

o 2K21 featured spots communicating retail offer

• To move gamers down the funnel, several activations were linked to landing page that hosted our National Sweeps-to-win signed Anthony Davis apparel along with information on gift-with-purchase promotion at Walmart.

o Twitch livestream event: Anthony Davis playing the Mobil 1 Grand Prix event

o Hulu ads with Walmart locator

o Anthony Davis media tour mention on landing page

• Retail executions:

o Automotive: Half pallet display, in-aisle shelf blade, wobbler

o Auto Care Center: Window cling, table tent

o Electronics: Retail offer signage near NBA 2K21 SKU

o Walmart.com media led to custom shelf page featuring participating Mobil 1 SKUs

Engagement was at an all-time high, with redemptions of the offer exceeding 400 times the previous Mobil 1 holiday promotions at Walmart and over 400 million total impressions and over 15 million engagements across the full campaign.

From a sales standpoint, Mobil 1 faced a strong turnaround with the strongest increase at shelf, outpacing category recovery by 400 basis points during the promotion period. Final results also shattered projections, coming in at +15% sales increase across all three channels (in store, online, and at the Auto Care Center). With final reporting still coming in, the ROI for the program over 3x.

Mobil 1 also gained new fans from this untapped audience. Over 40% of Mobil 1 purchasers during November and December 2020 were new to the brand, and survey participants said they were over 2 times more likely to recommend Mobil 1 after seeing the brand in-game.