Chevron to Roll Out New Marketing Campaign for Techron
SAN RAMON, Calif. — Just in time for the summer driving season, Chevron Products Co. unveiled a new marketing campaign for Chevron with Techron and Texaco with Techron fuels. The new creative comes as the fuels add proven "unbeatable mileage" to their resume.
According to Carrie Holt, brand manager at Chevron Products Co., the company increased the treat rate (concentration of additives) in its fuels two years ago. In doing so, engine testing indicated there might be the opportunity to combine Chevron's unbeatable mileage, or unsurpassable mileage, with a mileage claim. Parallel to the treat-rate increase, the company tested its fuels with Techron against leading competitors.
"What the findings indicated from the mileage testing is that, in addition to our cleaning power, our fuels with Techron now also provide unbeatable mileage," Holt said.
The message was then tested with consumers and three key points emerged:
- Claims that focus solely on cleaning are becoming less powerful in consumers' minds. "Techron equals clean and we are not going to walk away from our equity in clean," Holt explained. "But what it did suggest is that we need to connect clean with key benefits."
- Claims related to mileage benefits consistently rank highest. "That's probably not surprising, but what may be surprising is mileage over fuel economy from a wording standpoint," she said.
- Claims that include an assurance of proof resonate with consumers.
"When you bundled all that up, how we are going to market with this claim for Chevron is that it's proven no gas gets better mileage than Chevron with Techron. For Texaco, it's proven unbeatable mileage," Holt said.
Campaign Details
Chevron is now preparing to roll out the new marketing campaign to its nearly 8,000 Chevron- and Texaco-branded stations across the United States.
The latest effort will feature similar elements to its last Techron campaign, "Now With Even More Cleaning Power," such as 3x3s, pumptoppers, yard flags and bollards.
In addition, Chevron is providing "special boxes" to its sites, Holt explained. These boxes include Chevron- and Texaco-branded caps that promote "Unbeatable Mileage"; a sell sheet; cards that give talking points about the new claim; and an "Unbeatable Mileage" counter mat.
The cards also provide information on a promotion running with the new campaign: Every day during the month of June, the company will give away a year's worth of free gas. According to Holt, a customer can enter the first time from anywhere; however, customers need to be at either a Chevron or Texaco location for subsequent engagements.
"As you can imagine, there is a huge communication plan that includes training along with it," she noted.
From a consumer-facing standpoint, there are two elements that will continue to define the company's approach to market: amplify and intensify.
"From an amplification standpoint, we are doing more to drive consumers to our retail sites," Holt said.
That strategy includes using hyperlocal mobile, banners and videos to target consumers when they are within a four- or five-mile radius of a Chevron station. In addition, the company will continue its four-year relationship with the Waze app in support of the approach, she added.
"We are executing, in terms of amplification, with a mobile-first sensibility. It's not surprising; it's the device we have with us at all times. Call it the third arm," Holt said.
"All of our media is optimized for mobile, including creative," she added, noting that Chevron will leverage streaming audio like Pandora, mobile video like YouTube and Hulu, some social aspects, as well as unique ad formats like vertical video.
Chevron is also testing six-second execution. "Why six-second execution? Because attention spans are decreasing, not increasing. When you look at Gen Z behind millennials, they have a 2.7-second attention span," Holt said. "It's critical that we get smart in shorter unit lengths."
From an intensification standpoint, Chevron is "going to launch in a big way," according to the brand manager. The first couple of weeks of the new campaign will contain multiple features like incremental media waves, as well as live reads as part of the company's spot radio effort.
Spot television and outdoor elements will extend the campaign's reach, she stated.
Chevron has also doubled its investment in online and mobile search. "That is the moment of truth. You just got to be there," Holt said. "We doubled our investment in search so when someone is searching 'gas station near me,' we pop to the top."
Media for the campaign will begin May 26 to coincide with Memorial Day weekend. The point-of-purchase materials will go up June 1.