The Campaign

There’s nowhere you can turn in Southeast Asia without seeing hordes of scooters. More than 80% of households own one and they fill the chaotic, hot roads. Scooter riders are typically younger and less affluent than car drivers. They rely on their trusty steed for years, accepting the relentless assault of tough road conditions. Shell Advance’s scooter-specific oil reduces fuel consumption, provides longer engine life and a smoother, safer ride in challenging conditions. In short, buying it is a no brainer. But riders in Southeast Asia had no idea that special scooter oil existed! Speaking to scooter drivers in Manila, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Hanoi, it quickly became clear the only bespoke oils they knew about were for glamorous global motorcycle icons like Harley Davidsons and Triumphs – not for humble scooters. They simply didn’t know or care there was something proactive they could do to protect their precious ride!

Creative Execution

To fuel our strategy, we layered strategic regional partnerships for scalable reach with credible, local content to ensure reliability. Regionally, we partnered leading video platforms Tube Mogul and Innovid to distribute an interactive video unit. This educated our audiences about how scooters are different to motorbikes and therefore need distinct protection. We also partnered with Unruly to distribute a native ‘social’ video unit. The extensively shared creative was specially designed to promote social engagement. We minimized wastage across these partnerships by targeting scooterists – not the usual generic ‘auto’ segments. Locally, we engaged relevant influencers and motorbike sites to start the social conversation. We activated branded fan pages celebrating scooter drivers in Thailand, high affinity sports sponsorships in the Philippines and online biker community engagement in Indonesia. With our global brand scale, regional efficiencies and local nuances, we brought scooter oil into our audience’s world, making it relatable and valuable.

Our emphasis on relatability changed how oil was marketed with awesome results. +38.5% YoY sales volume growth, smashing our +25% target. +93% uplift in unaided awareness, far exceeding our +30% target. +16% increase in purchase intent, well over the +10% objective +2000 new trade partnerships in ONE market alone – our target for the whole region! Scooter Mechanics became proud to stock Shell Advance. Our media also massively outdid targets. The pan-regional video partnerships delivered a completion rate of +230% versus benchmarks and +16% views than planned. “The innovative, consumer focused, localized, targeted approach exceeded our expectations on business results, brand health and media metrics. Seeing the results, several other Shell Advance markets wanted to launch the Scooter Campaign … in 2017” (Global Brand Manager, Shell Advance). Our gear-change in oil communications finally made the category relatable and ensured Southeast Asia’s humble scooters are protected in the toughest road conditions.

This entry is for a media campaign that ran across Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and later Malaysia).

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

To combat this apathy and low awareness, our strategy was to bring the product closer to everyday Southeast Asian scooter riding experiences. We’d give the oil category a change of gear by making it relatable to 2 key audiences: 1. Passionate Scooterists: Those fanatical about the freedom and mobility their ride gives them. They are more likely to convert to trial on a premium product and become brand evangelists. 2. Scooter Mechanics: People didn’t know or understand our product, so we made sure the trade knew our solution was the best in the market. For the first time, we’d specifically reach scooter drivers rather than motorcyclists. By speaking like a brand that knows what scooterists need, we’d drive authentic conversation about this low-involvement category amongst influencers, riders and trade. We’d only activate highly localized content and assets that confidently heroed humble Asian scooterists, instead of the usual famous European motorcyclists.