ABOUT

The relaunch of Shell's Helix (car), Rimula (truck) and Advance (motorcycle) brands was Shell's largest ever design program. The engine lubricant range alone consists of 650 million packs across 30 formats, totaling 4000 SKUs. It was a Goliath effort to give such a vast product portfolio global consistency.

New ergonomic structures, requiring 11% less plastic to manufacture, offer improved handling and anti-glug functionality. The packs proved extremely cost effective, saving Shell £150 million in the first year alone.

In addition to packaging, the project included an architecture reconfiguration of the entire lubricants portfolio, which extended to gear oil, brake fluid, industrials and car care products. Each brand now works off a performance-based tiering system better communicated through clear on-pack descriptors.

The result is improvement on a massive scale. Shell lubricants grew 12% in volume in the year following launch, and achieved its global cost-saving target after having been introduced in only 70% of its global remit.