PETRONAS Lubricants International (PLI)

Industrial Lubricants Toolbox – The first cross-industry app for lubrication.

PETRONAS Lubricants International (PLI)

Industrial Lubricants Toolbox – The first cross-industry app for lubrication.

The challenge.

Oil is oil, isn’t it? Not so. Lubricants produced to meet the specific demands of an industrial application – mining machinery, say, or PowerGen turbines – ensure equipment is better protected, lasts longer, and avoids costly breakdowns.

For global petrochemical company, PETRONAS Lubricants International (PLI), technology like apps and online tools would help them educate their customer base about the importance of using a specifically developed formula of lubricant. It would allow customers to increase efficiency, improve their competitive edge and deliver mutual success.

PLI Green #21A19C
PLI Grey #403C39
PLI Secondary Green #CAF2EE

The first app of its kind.

The idea behind the app was to engage with a very wide customer base – by providing free tools and insights to improve knowledge and understanding of PLI’s product range. The app would also serve as a USP – an interactive and comprehensive customer-focused application, worthy of a market leader.

No one at PLI had undertaken anything like this before (neither had any other supplier in the industrial space). This was a first for everyone.

We needed to create a single app, but for very different audiences. Primarily, the internal PLI audience and sales people who could use it to enhance their proposition in front of clients – through quick and easy access to product comparison tools, lube selector workflows and demand calculators. We also needed to create an app usable by end customers who’d never heard of PLI. So it needed to be simple, navigable – and certainly not overly technical.

Working closely with the Head of the PLI business and his Global Marketing team, our UX/UI team developed features and content in Ionic, a platform that allowed use of the app on both Apple and Android devices. Three months later, after successful testing, the PETRONAS Lubricants Toolbox was ready for launch. To help it on its way, we devised a landing page, smart QR code (that could detect the type of device and whether it’s Apple or Android), and a host of email footers and organic social content.

I have gone through every single tab of the app and I am delighted. I even did a search on the App Store to see if there is anything that comes close to what we are giving and I can see nothing. I cannot believe we truly are, on this occasion, going to have a first and best. Never before in my career have I been able to say that.