• by Karl Greenberg , March 6, 2009

It's official: Consumers are keeping their cars longer, as if you couldn't guess. A new report from auto insight firm R. L. Polk shows that the median age for passenger cars reached 9.4 years last year, breaking the previous record of 9.2 years.

Bad news for OEMs, but good for the auto-maintenance sector of the aftermarket business, which are shifting toward durability messages. Shell recently reformulated its gasoline products with nitrogen and is touting the fuel's salubrious effects on powertrain durability. On Friday morning, the company debuted the new fuel by offering free fill-ups as part of "Shell Nitrogen Enriched Gasoline Spring Clean-up Giveaways" in New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Houston, Jacksonville, Fla., and Cincinnati.

Sibling motor-oil brand Quaker State has also just relaunched its brand to promote its motor oils as engine-life extenders with an integrated ad campaign engaging a topic that has long been taboo in auto advertising: the commute from hell.

The effort, using real people and their self-made videos, also encompasses Quaker State's sponsorship of NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports and centers on a video contest, "The World's Worst Commute" with the winner getting to be chauffeured by three-time Hendrick driver Jimmie Johnson. One spot has a Seattle resident talking about what he has to go through to get to school--over bridges and across tollways. Other spots feature Atlanta and L.A. residents. Tag: "Real. Durable. Oil."

Another TV spot, "The Miracle of Darlington," aimed at motorsports enthusiasts, recounts Jeff Gordon's win at the racetrack in spite of the fact that he was running on an overheated engine. Chris Hayek, who was appointed global Quaker State brand manager early this year, said the spot is focused on NASCAR media Speed Channel. The effort includes a grassroots marketing tour to NASCAR races and filming of fans talking about their commutes; the films are posted online.

Hayek says the repositioning isn't a radical one for Quaker State (which has, in past campaigns, emphasized "Protection beyond 3,000 miles"), but one of emphasis on a unifying principle for the brand.

He notes that in 2005, the brand created a second channel, "Q," an enthusiast brand for performance and high-horsepower machines. "Going into this year we saw that it was tough to have those two [brand attributes]." The brand encompasses four products: Advanced Durability, Higher Mileage Engine, Enhanced Durability, a synthetic blend, and Ultimate Durability.

Hayek says the timing is right because during the worsening recession, consumers are actually spending more on auto maintenance. "Repair and maintenance work at garages is picking up significantly," he says.

The National Automobile Dealers Association has reported that dealership service departments expect to see a 3% gain in revenue this year, and in an Automotive Service Association survey 60% of respondents reported sales up last year over the previous year, while 14% reported a decline. In the survey, 76% say they expect more work. Hayek says the next phase of the Quaker State campaign will focus on viral marketing.