When you think of cars, a few elements come to mind:

The brand.

The look, the feel.

The experience.

The engine and horsepower.

Even fuel the consumption.

But what never comes to mind, is the engine oil you use. (85% of drivers don't know the oil brand they are using)

And actually, why would it.

Car ads don’t show the engine oil.

The adventures you capture with your phone show the car without the oil.

And when you sit in your car, you don’t think about what oil is running my engine.

Whilst there was no shortage of ways to increase awareness for our product, none of them were really taking the product out of the realm of claims into a personal relationship.

So we gave ourselves a challenge.

How can people see the engine oil behind every car, every experience, every adventure, every driver.

Castrol Magnatec Oil Paintings

Merging commerce and art we commissioned one of the regions most talented car painter to surprise our workshop customers with a unique painting, crafted with their car’s own engine oil.

As art is synonymous with appreciation we finally found a stage for our invisible product to shine on its own.

We deployed an in-depth CRM analysis and identified 3 customers, who’s engine oil change was due in the upcoming weeks and surprised them with a live oil painting.

Whilst their oil was being replaced, the artist created meaningful stories inspired by their passions and lifestyles with a special blend of their engine oil and oil colours.

For years, marketeers and agency specialists have tirelessly worked on giving a purpose to engine oil beyond the superiority functional claims.

And it is a hard nut to crack.

Because within the context of the car care category, so many things take precedence.

Things that you can see, touch, experience, show off with. And yes. Engine oil isn’t one of them.

And that’s when the strategy came to us. Maybe we are trying to glorify our product in the wrong category. Because within the car category, engine oil is un-engageable.

So we searched for a category where people not only see the oil, but they appreciate it and it stands front and center.

Art.

We invited a world-class car painter to create a live iteration of their individual passions and stories whilst they were waiting for their check-up to be completed.

We then turned the art into posters and placed it in every Castrol service center across the Emirates, recreating a gallery-like experience by adding a small plaque with title, year, author (Magnatec) and technique.

A QR code was added on the poster so that any visitor can scan and discover the story behind.

The communication was also placed on MUPI's in the busiest family communities across the city, showing them the closest Castrol Workshops.

In parallel the posters were turned into social media content, priming new consumers to consider Castrol Magnatec as their choice by discovering the stories and their unique execution.

3 Oil paintings

45 workshops across the Emirates became free media space for our painted posters

60% increase in emotional attachment to the brand - “A brand that understands me”

45k impressions based on the MUPI's penetration and reach/month

4500 QR scans of the posters inspired new consumers to see engine oil with different eyes