Back in the '80s, a popular tongue-in-cheek ad campaign proclaimed that "Motor oil is motor oil." Despite the slogan, the ad went on to assert that engine-oil brands do indeed have important differentiators. Now, some 40 years later, the tagline has mostly stuck, but the campaign's intent has apparently slid out of our collective subconscious like hot transmission fluid from a cracked tranny case. And therein lay the rub – or perhaps the third-gear grind – for the marketing team at Chevron Lubricants (a division of Chevron U.S.A. Inc.).

Current-day consumers and business-to-business prospects often view engine oil as a commodity, and choosing between competing lubricants is like debating brands of canned corn. The purchasing decision frequently hinges on immediate availability, price variations, and what's positioned at eye level on the shelf. Not surprisingly, then, Chevron has been waging war against perceived lubricant uniformity, and historically, its most effective weapon has been educating its target audience.

Years back, the company's marketers determined that the smoothest and fastest route to distinction ran straight down Education Lane, which was lined with factoids, charts, and illustrations about how lubricants foster engine longevity and performance. "Modern engine design has changed significantly from what it used to be," says James Booth, Chevron's North America commercial sector manager. "With government requirements on emissions and safety regulations as well as the use of modern technology, engines require an engine oil and coolant that can keep up. Helping fleet owners to understand using products that are specifically engineered for their trucks' or equipment's engines is the best way to keep their business moving forward."

So for the past 20 years, Chevron has hosted various educational road-show experiences. While the target audience for the mobile tours has morphed along the way, a critical market of late has been Delo-brand oil distributors and their customers, the latter of which operate heavy-duty diesel-engine fleets in industries ranging from trucking and construction to agriculture and mining. But rolling into 2019, Chevron marketers wanted to reinvent the proverbial wheel – or at least pump some fresh air into the weary tires.

Chevron sought to ratchet up the tour's educational components to generate more attendee engagement and infuse the learning stations with additional technology. They also wanted to develop a mechanism to track attendance, trace interactions and time spent inside the truck, and monitor oil purchases resulting from each event.

Launching just after midyear, the road show would make stops at a handful of trade shows – e.g., the Big Iron Farm Show, the Great American Trucking Show, etc. – to educate both fleet owners and distributors. It would also make appearances at a couple of truck stops to generate awareness among truck drivers. (One such stop was at a Love's station in Charlotte, NC, where the tour would pit at the same time as a NASCAR race nearby.) However, the road show's prime focus would be scheduled appointments at distributor facilities. Here, Chevron could reach existing Delo-brand customers as well as prospects. For customers, the aim was to reinforce brand loyalty and prompt purchases of complementary Delo products, such as coolant, grease, and gear lube. Meanwhile, distributors could attempt to lure away fleet-owner prospects from competitors and wean current customers off other, perhaps less-expensive, products and steer them toward the premium Delo brand.

Fueling Innovation
Chevron marketers handed this convoy of demands to Deckel & Moneypenny Inc., an experiential marketing agency in Louisville, KY. But rather than jumping behind the wheel to design an upgraded tour vehicle, the firm's principal, Steve Deckel, wanted everyone to first fuel up on education and inspiration.

"My team and I prepared a two-day field trip with the Chevron team at multiple museums in Chicago, including the Museum of Science and Industry, The Field Museum, The Art Institute, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, analyzing how best to engage people in an enclosed educational environment," Deckel says. "Previously, the tour's learning components weren't very engaging, so we needed to create interactive, on-brand activities that would pull people into the experience much the way museums exhibits attract and educate visitors."

The group explored augmented- and virtual-reality activities and envisioned ways they could prove useful for the tour. For example, VR could help visitors "step inside" an engine and witness lubricants at work, and AR could perhaps teach participants about engine components and help differentiate the brand.

In the end, the team rolled out of the Windy City with a host of ideas. And somewhere en route, they identified a key measurement tactic that would provide the pre-, at-, and post-tour metrics Chevron's marketers craved. By assigning each visitor a unique Quick Response (QR) code and offering scanning stations inside the vehicle, they could track actual attendance and collect lead data. Plus, they could gather info on each participant's product preferences and the type and quantity of vehicles owned. What's more, by implementing a post-event rebate program and linking it to the QR codes, Chevron could track sales made as a direct result of the tour. "The use of the QR code was also critical for encouraging exhibit engagements, continuing communication with attendees after the event, and measuring our return on investment," says Kerri McDonald, trade show and event manager with Chevron.

With a route mapped out, Chevron finalized its trade show participation and truck-stop details and reached out to distributors to schedule tour stops. "We sent them a date range of when we planned to have the vehicle in their areas, and then they selected a specific date for their stop," says Sarah Mawhinney, project manager at Deckel & Moneypenny.

Start Your Engine
Come August of 2019, the tour, dubbed the Chevron Delo Traveling Technology Lab, hit the road via a 78-foot tractor-trailer setup. Initially it would visit the West Coast, but during the rest of the year it would motor across the United States and parts of Canada. While the truck would make multiday appearances at four major trade shows and pit for one or two days at truck stops, most of the distributor events would each occur between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on a single day.

Weeks before each event, Chevron collected customer and prospect data from each distributor and then sent customized email invites on its behalf. The invitations promoted the educational content as well as opportunities for participants to test their own coolants, formulate oil, select the best products for their vehicles, and more. Missives also encouraged recipients to register for the event, after which they each received a unique QR code (which could be sent to their smartphones) that served as an admission ticket.

As the invites went out, Chevron selected and trained staff. Among them was a tour manager responsible for driving and maintaining the vehicle, setting up the environs on site, and troubleshooting along the way. The bulk of the activation staff, however, comprised distributor employees from each location, a logical choice as they'd already established relationships with most guests. Chevron marketers began training staff a few weeks prior to their respective events. Finally, they also selected a Chevron employee to represent the firm at most stops and answer questions beyond the scope of distributor employees.

On the Road Again
Tour-stop attendees first discovered the tractor-trailer combo – covered in Delo's rich, royal-blue hue and bearing the Delo and Chevron logos – parked in a highly visible locale on each distributor's premises. The setup comprised a Peterbilt-brand tractor and a highly customized 53-foot trailer with a 7-by-38-foot bump-out. Exterior trailer graphics included an image of a headset-clad man engrossed in a VR experience seemingly inside an engine, along with text inviting viewers to "Experience the Journey." The trailer offered a double-door entrance point at the rear and an exit at the front. Chevron also erected branded tents and chairs outside the truck to expand the footprint. In addition, most distributors hosted lunch on site, some brought in related partner vendors as ancillary attractions, and a handful provided tours of their own facilities to extend the experience.
Attendees arriving with QR codes in hand simply announced their presence at a registration desk in front of the trailer. Those that hadn't previously registered could do so on site via iPads. Next, staff explained that while the trailer stations were laid out in a linear fashion, visitors could meander as needed but should scan their codes at each activity to earn points. At the end of their journeys they could redeem their points for a gift in the truck's "vending machine." The more points they accrued (i.e., the more education stations they visited), the more valuable their premium selection would be.

Before fleet owners entered the trailer, however, they perused two key interactives positioned outside. "In years past, all of the action was inside," Deckel says. "But Chevron missed an opportunity to generate engagement the moment visitors checked in. This year, we hooked them at the starting line." Guided by staff, attendees encountered the Maintenance Shop activity on a table near the registration desk. "We wanted to start the tour with an interactive experience that suggested that Chevron offers both products and education," Mawhinney says. "Here, we explained that on average it costs $1 a minute to run a vehicle-maintenance shop, and certain elements are needed to ensure the shop is as cost effective and safe as possible."

To that end, designers crafted a magnetic dollhouse of sorts that represented an empty shop. Visitors then had one minute to select metal items representing shop components, such as various types of fans, tool chests, etc., and attach them to the shop mock-up. Each piece had a point value based on its appropriateness. For example, if someone selected a ceiling fan, which is critical to proper ventilation, he or she earned 10 points. If a floor-based fan was chosen, only one point was given, as floor models are less effective than their overhead counterparts. Staff tallied and recorded each participant's score, and those with the top five point totals each day were entered into a raffle to win a Big Ass Fans-brand shop fan. (Top scoring trade show and truck stop participants were also entered in the raffle, and one name was drawn in December.)

Next, visitors maneuvered to the Bumper to Bumper activity, which enlisted the trailer exterior and the tractor, whose hood had been removed to reveal the engine. Staff armed participants with AR-appointed iPads and directed them to aim the tablets at AR targets on the tractor-trailer. Once a target registered, the iPad showed a 3-D image of the component, and a red glow indicated the location of the lubricant within it. Text identified each engine or trailer part and explained why and when it needed lubrication.

Truck Stops
Primed by the outdoor activities, attendees walked up the stairs at the tail end of the trailer and began the official tour experience inside. Here, a roughly 63-by-78-inch curved LED screen offered a short orientation video on the products needed to maintain heavy-duty engines. Staff also reminded participants to visit all nine stations and scan their codes via station-embedded sensors.

While most attendees proceeded straight down the line of engagements, others meandered to whatever activities caught their eyes. Among them was a VR experience that seemingly placed visitors in the heart of an engine. Two people at a time each donned a VR headset for what Mawhinney calls a "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" experience. "During the five-minute encounter, participants went 'inside' an engine and followed the path oil takes throughout it," she says. "They learned how lubricants interact with parts and how Delo products protect better than basic oils." The experience also included a game where players used a controller to "capture" free radicals. "They aimed at and captured the simulated elements to prevent them from contaminating the engine," Mawhinney says. While the participants were fully immersed in the action, other visitors could track their journey via two 49-inch screens attached to the trailer wall.

Another attraction was the Formulation Station, which comprised a wall-mounted monitor and graphics that asked "Can your formulation pass the test?" Here, on-screen content allowed visitors to attempt to formulate their own oil, a chore Chevron scientists typically perform in a lab. After some educational content, the touchscreen showed several scientific beakers representing additives, and participants could choose whether they wanted to add the maximum or minimum amount of each. Finally, the screen revealed whether their selections resulted in a safe formula for engines. "Out of more than 250 outcomes, only 20 percent were passing formulas," Deckel says. "The idea was to demonstrate just how difficult it is for anyone without a scientific background to formulate oil – and to highlight Chevron's capabilities."

Across the trailer was another attention-getter, the Go Further Guaranteed experience. This touchscreen-based activation educated people about the value of high-quality engine oil and the ability to use one Delo formulation across multiple vehicle types. Near the end of the experience, visitors input the type and number of vehicles in their fleets (valuable data Chevron subsequently leveraged for sales communications), and the screen illustrated how much money they could save and the improved mileage they could expect from Delo-brand products.

Armed with a better understanding of the issues plaguing engines and the advantages Delo's offerings exert over lower-quality oils, almost all attendees made a stop at the Product Selector to diagnose exactly which products matched their needs. Once attendees input info about their vehicles, the station's software spit out customized lubricant recommendations, which participants could also email to themselves for future reference.

All told, visitors could choose among nine stations. When they were ready to depart, they made their way to the Vending Machine, an automated-storage construct with 30 doors that held gold-, silver-, and bronze-level gifts corresponding to the number of points accrued. After scanning their QR codes, which relayed their point totals to the software, attendees each opened a door pertaining to his or her score and selected a giveaway, which ranged from branded Post-it-style notes (bronze level); to a tech pen that also functioned as a stylus, flashlight, and cellphone holder (silver); to a Delo-branded multitool (gold). And with that, their short haul through the Chevron experience was complete, and visitors were free to talk with staff, grab some lunch (at most tour stops), or simply hit the road back to their offices.

Soon after tour participants arrived home, Chevron emailed each of them a rebate offer for Delo products purchased through his or her host distributor. Via an online system implemented by Unified Resources Inc., fleet owners could input the number associated with their unique QR codes to obtain their $2.50-per-gallon rebates.

Smooth Operation
While the tour was fueled by education, it was driven by measurement, a factor Corporate Event Awards judges overwhelmingly appreciated. "The amount of data and metrics that Chevron produced was astounding," one judge said. "This knowledge will undoubtedly help them fine-tune their events in the future." From the moment people registered through the final purchase process, Chevron gathered and tracked their data, effectively creating a sizable record for each participant. Marketers obtained everything from basic contact information and insight into the type and size of each person's fleet to product preferences and tour-related purchasing.

Not surprisingly, Chevron also measured the effectiveness of the tour itself and established some pretty impressive metrics. "In the last year of the previous-generation road show, we saw an average attendance of 45 people," McDonald says. "We set the ambitious target of 75 people per stop, and through the 2019 tour, we averaged 92 attendees per event." On average, the trade show portion of the tour also scored 30 attendees per hour, compared to Chevron's goal of 10. Across both avenues, participants spent an average of 15 minutes engrossed in the tour experience, which is up from an estimated 10 minutes in the tour's previous iteration.

The tour also resulted in the sale of 34,000 gallons of lubricant (valued at approximately $510,000), which was dead-on with marketers' goals. And as a related benefit, the tour accrued savings over customary exhibiting costs. That is, by using the truck as an exhibit and simply rolling into a space on the show floor, Chevron saved an estimated $119,800 compared to traditional costs for exhibit rental and production, transportation, drayage, and installation and dismantle.

What's more, while on the road, the tractor-trailer netted 2.3 million impressions worth almost $130,000, according to Chevron's measurements. Chevron has further leveraged the vehicle, employing it to educate distributors and employees about its products and to anchor employee-recognition events.

As an ancillary benefit, the QR code tracking system also aided long-term effectiveness. "We used scan metrics from each station to determine what areas needed refinement, which were underperforming, and which could be replaced," McDonald says. And as judges predicted, the company plans to roll out an even better educational experience once COVID-19 concerns abate.

While Chevron has a history of using mobile marketing to drive sales, the 2019 tour put the pedal to the metal. Formulating a mix of technology, education, and data collection, Chevron slammed its results into overdrive. E