The world of lubricant advertising is populated with dreamy driving shots or hardcore product benefits. When Shell Advance launched their new global positioning: Outride Anything, the creative task was to help us stand out in a highly saturated market. We had to talk about the real benefit of the lubricant and not just cold numbers.

Our brief was: “Evolve the ‘Outride Anything’ brand positioning of Shell Advance to create an emotional connection with our audiences, to create local relevance, and to increase sales - beyond the media budget.”

It is important to note here that the reality of biking in Asia is far removed from the typical wind-in-your-hair imagery. So, that’s what we latched on to and crafted a campaign that made a simple engine oil more empathic in a crowded market like Asia.

While most motor lubricants in the market focus on the product benefit or celebrity endorsements to influence the audience, we decided to get our hands dirty. The idea was to relate to the everyday bikers of Asia while keeping with the brand positioning of Outride Anything.

To do this, we found real inspiring bikers who ride for a higher purpose. Then, we went where they were to lend a hand. In Vietnam, we partnered with SOS Saigon by providing them with toolkits, medical kits, mechanical training and a large supply of engine oil. We then went to Indonesia and provided Mansetus Balawala with free bikes, toolkits, mechanical training and free engine oil as well.

Their stories, along with the story of our partnership with them, were then shared through social media influencers – helping us bring their cause as well as our brand into the limelight.

The target audience for the campaign was the regular bikers in each country, which basically means almost everyone in Asia. This is an audience that doesn’t really care about their motor oil. To them it is just another literal cog in the machine that takes them from point A to point B. The challenge was to get them to think about Shell Advance when they don’t even think about engine oil in general.

To do this, we created a two-pronged influencer approach. The first being what we call Type A influencers – genuine people a real cause that we can support in a very tangible way. The second was Type B – the typical digital celebrity who we can leverage to get the story of the Type A influencers out to the world.

The campaign started in Vietnam where we partnered with SOS Saigon – a group of young volunteers who patrol the accident-prone streets of Ho Chi Minh City. We provided them with toolkits, medical kits, mechanical training and medical training. Their story was then shared online through influencers, gathering them much needed attention and support from across the country.

We then went to Larantuka, a remote island of Indonesia with very little infrastructure. Here we partnered with Mansetus Balawala – a garage owner who lends bikes to doctors and midwives for free so that they can provide much needed care for the distant villages. We provided him with new bikes, toolkits, mechanical training and financial support to further his cause. We continued the campaign by launching a drive to bring volunteers to Larantuka, spearheaded by Rio Dewanto – an Indonesian film star.

In Vietnam, YoY vol. increased by 31% (YTD May 2018 vs May 2019) with C3 increase by 61%. It is worthy to note that the campaign helped shift Premium vols. by 26% and an increase in C3 of 35% YoY too. Brand sentiments were largely positive, evident from the audience reactions and comments as seen on our Type B Influencer’s propagated content.

In Vietnam, we tripled the Unique Reach from 5mil (planned) to 16mil, beyond the media spend in just 1 month of launch, and the videos resonated with our audiences, almost doubling our completed views from 6mil (planned) to 19mil. In Indonesia, we have quadrupled Impressions beyond the KPIs - 12.7mil vs 3.4mil in the 1st month. All results proving that the emotion we have elicited is helping to maximise the work beyond paid media.