• by Karl Greenberg , May 3, 2007

Jiffy Lube International, the leading quick-lube service chain and a division of Shell, is launching its largest promotional campaign to date with another Shell division, Pennzoil-Quaker State.

The effort is timed to the driving season, which runs from spring through summer, and offers a free oil change with Pennzoil or Quaker State products to consumers who visit Jiffy Lube and get a "Signature Service" oil change through June 4 with a specialty or synthetic Pennzoil or Quaker State product.

Jiffy Lube, which has more than 2,200 locations throughout North America, is promoting the effort through an integrated effort with Pennzoil-Quaker State.

Lisa Carlson, global director of marketing at the Houston, Texas-based company, says the 28-year-old Jiffy Lube brand has engaged Pennzoil and Quaker state in cross-promotional campaigns in the past, but that this is the biggest in terms of the depth of the offer. "We have had a long association with the two brands -- they were primary suppliers, and over the course of the years we have worked on various promotions together."

She adds that Pennzoil and Quaker State--under Shell's Lubricants division--handled the production of the broadcast campaign for TV and radio and the media buy.

Jiffy Lube augmented it with POS material, curb sleeves, web banners, media banners, call outs on jiffylube.com, and e-mail reminders and a direct mail push about the buy-one-get-one-free offer, which includes notices to lapsed consumers, to "give them an incentive to come back in," she says. "We see that a lot of consumers forget about preventive maintenance, and this is a way to give them an incentive to bring their car in and get an oil change."

The effort features a 30-second spot in which a guy pulling into a Jiffy Lube is met by an extremely cheerful attendant who begins an incredibly fast recitation of the terms of the Jiffy Lube/ Pennzoil-Quaker State deal, complete with sound effects for all of the specifics covered in the Signature Service.

When he's finished, the camera shows the driver of the car, who is dressed in a TGI Friday's type restaurant service staff uniform complete with suspenders, vest, hat and flair (one button reads, "Ask me about corn"). He says "Gee. You've got talent." The ad is via WPP unit New York-based G2 Branding & Design.