As Gulf Oil India is strengthening its consumer-centric marketing strategy, Aarthy Sridhar, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Gulf Oil India has emphasised the importance of a mindset shift, stating that prioritising the consumer ultimately benefits all stakeholders.
She highlighted the company’s commitment to enhancing consumer engagement, noting that a true consumer-first approach eliminates the notion of a divide between consumers and other stakeholders.
As the newly appointed CMO of Gulf Oil, Sridhar shared her vision for steering the brand’s marketing strategy, emphasising, “Looking at Gulf Oil, I see a brand with a rich legacy of innovation, performance, and trust. In the last decade, the team has done a fantastic job in making it a credible challenger brand among private players, reaching number two among private players in both market share and consumer awareness.”
“As we look ahead, significant shifts are happening in this category. Vehicles are becoming more premium, and consumers are more engaged and knowledgeable about how they maintain their investments. Simultaneously, we’re witnessing a rapid transformation in the media landscape. Our vision is to maintain the challenger DNA that Gulf has built while propelling the brand into the future to build the next decade of growth. This breaks down into four key areas,” she said.
Furthermore, she went on to say that first, bringing consumer-first thinking into their marketing as they see increased consumer engagement with the brand. Second, focusing on category-specific marketing strategies. While they have built a strong master brand, they operate across multiple categories – motorcycles, cars, trucks, tractors – each with very different consumers.
“Third, driving premiumisation with a strong focus on product superiority. Gulf has historically been a pioneer in innovations like long drain intervals, and we want to bring that DNA front and center again. Finally, implementing data-driven digital marketing approaches. We communicate with very targeted consumer segments in each category, creating opportunities for sharply targeted digital strategies,” Sridhar said.
When asked how her extensive FMCG experience will influence Gulf Oil’s marketing and whether the transition is a significant shift, she elaborated that it’s definitely a shift in terms of industry dynamics, but there are several perspectives from FMCG that she believes will be valuable here.
FMCG instills a strong consumer-first DNA – the belief that when you make business decisions in service of the consumer, the whole ecosystem benefits. In this lubricants category, that ecosystem includes mechanics, retailers, employees, and investors. Bringing this mindset will be hugely beneficial given how the category is evolving.
“Second, FMCG brings a strong future-facing outlook – looking at how things will be 5-10 years from now and building brands for that future today, which aligns with our thrust on premiumisation,” Sridhar said.
“Further, I see an opportunity to look at lubricants not just as functional products but in service of consumers’ lives through emotional storytelling, which is a core part of FMCG. Mobility touches everyone, we all move from point A to point B, and I believe there’s a significant role emotional storytelling can play while maintaining our product superiority as the core,” she added.
Gulf Oil has been advancing its consumer-centric marketing strategy, and Sridhar outlined the steps being taken to enhance consumer engagement.
She highlighted that it starts with the mindset shift and the strong belief that when you focus on the consumer, all stakeholders benefit. You don’t think in terms of consumer versus other stakeholders.
“Second, we recognise we’re not dealing with a single consumer type. A two-wheeler consumer, four-wheeler consumer, trucker, and tractor owner are completely different segments. The way Gulf speaks, interacts, and remains present in the lives of these consumers must be tailored accordingly, which is why we’re adopting a category-specific approach,” she said.
“We’ve also identified specific growth segments, like premium biking, where we can implement experiential marketing and community building. We’ve already begun these initiatives but plan to significantly scale them up, incorporating digital and influencer marketing strategies as well,” she added.
When asked about the impact of Gulf Oil’s sustainability agenda on its marketing strategies, Sridhar highlighted that at the Gulf, they believe in doing before saying. Sustainability has been front and center in the brand strategy, evident in their entry into AdBlue, shift toward EV products, partnerships in that space, and acquisitions and investments in sustainable solutions.
“We’ve been proactive in establishing dedicated teams focused on sustainability initiatives. Our focus is on taking action in this space before talking extensively about it. You’ll see our sustainability conversation centered around category expansion and concrete activities. As consumers witness these actions, it builds our heritage as a brand that walks the talk when it comes to sustainability,” she added.
She also shared their strategy to connect with younger consumers who may not typically be Gulf Oil’s primary audience, saying that their strategy of becoming more digital-first and their premiumisation initiatives stem from understanding what today’s young consumer wants.
“These consumers are clear about why they buy what they buy – everything is well thought out, and they demand performance. Our focus on product superiority and shift toward synthetic products serves this consumer segment, aligning with the premium vehicles they’re investing in,” Sridhar said.
For these consumers, digital is not optional – it’s their life. So, Gulf Oil’s engagement strategy is adapting accordingly, from social media to influencer marketing.
Furthermore, she added, “Lastly, experiences matter. We’ve been investing in properties like India Bike Week and Chai Pakoda Ride, engagement and experiential marketing initiatives targeting micro-communities. These have been quite successful for us in building our Syntrack brand, a range of synthetics for this segment. Experiential marketing will remain a big focus area for connecting with younger audiences.”
Sridhar also highlighted that while they have reached the number two position over the last decade, there’s still a significant distance between them and the market leader.
“Our agenda is to continue growing at 2-3x the market rate, as we have traditionally done. Even with our current size and scale, in the next decade, we want to bridge the gap to the market leader. While we remain a challenger brand, we aim to become a credible player and eventually achieve market leadership. We see good headroom for growth across all our categories and significant potential to maintain our accelerated growth rate while continuing our premiumisation strategy,” she added.
When asked about Gulf Oil’s long-standing and impactful association with Chennai Super Kings for the Indian Premier League (IPL), Sridhar shared insights into how this collaboration began and the key factors behind its success.
“Our association with both CSK and MS Dhoni has been in place for 12-14 years now. What works well is that it began with values that reflect Gulf’s DNA, high performance, consistency, and trust. Both CSK and Dhoni exemplify these qualities for us,” she mentioned.
“Over the years, the association has evolved beyond a professional relationship. It’s become integral to our marketing approach. When you speak to any stakeholder in our ecosystem, from consumers to mechanics, they immediately associate Gulf with Dhoni and CSK. The immediate connection to high performance, CSK being one of the highest-performing teams in IPL, seamlessly transfers to our brand. It’s become a significant differentiator for us,” she added.
She also emphasised that this partnership absolutely helps with consumer engagement by building clear associations in consumers’ minds, particularly with high performance and consistency.
“Looking ahead, we have a major relaunch of our flagship brand, Gulf Pride, which is our primary brand in the motorcycle segment. We have a new campaign featuring MS Dhoni that’s about to launch, and you’ll see significant activation around this campaign during the IPL as well,” she added.
