How do you market products that consumers can’t see, like lubricants, which are essential to the smooth operation of a car but are completely swallowed up in the operation of the engine? That’s a question for Sara Smith to answer as Shell International Petroleum Company’s General Manager of Consumer Road Marketing, Global Lubricants.
“Lubricants tend to be a bit of an invisible business,” she tells The CEO Magazine.
For Smith, one of the main paths to visibility is through partnerships.
“Sometimes you don’t necessarily see the product, but you can still feel and see the benefits of the product,” she explains.
Invisible to visible
In particular, she can achieve this by harnessing the brand’s motorsport partners to bring the product to life and make it more tangible. And when your partners are the likes of BMW, Ducati, Hyundai and Ferrari, the latter describing Shell as its oil of choice, end consumers sit up and take notice.
“Motorsports is the ultimate testing ground,” she continues. “Innovation is literally transferred from track to road.”
The company is involved with the spectrum of racing championships, from Formula One to the World Endurance Championship and the World Rally Championship. For a decade, products like Shell Helix and Shell EV Plus have powered BMW M Motorsport, a partnership that was renewed for another 10 years in March 2025.
“With the premium products we have been co-developing together with BMW M Motorsport, like Shell Helix Ultra engine oils, we ensure that the cars perform at the highest level at all times, whether it’s sprint racing or endurance racing like the 24 Hours of Le Mans,” says Smith’s colleague, Head of Global Marketing – Passenger Car Key Accounts, Katrin Mummert.
“With 24 hours at high speed, everything has to work right. You have to start first to finish first.”
After using the racetrack as a testing ground to push the boundaries of the product, all the data that is collected is then used to make products suitable for the consumer market.
“The track-to-road story is really powerful for consumers, even if they don’t drive a motorsports car,” Mummert says. “They appreciate that our engine oils have been proven in the fastest, most powerful and responsive vehicles on the road.”
The partner of choice
In Mummert’s role, partnerships are also front and center. She works with many of the world’s top original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to shape their full aftermarket strategies, product positionings and long-term growth plans across oils, transmission fluids, e-fluids and new and emerging technologies. In the past 12 years, she estimates that she has worked on the inside of 14 of the top 20 OEMs.
“We build strategic partnerships with the OEMs that are based on trust, insights and performance,” she says.
She considers these relationships, which she started from scratch, some of her greatest achievements, having been nurtured over time into trusting and successful relationships that are both right for Shell and for its partners.
Being the partner of choice is also what guides Shell Lubricants every day.
“We live that as part of our culture,” Mummert says. “We’ve been the number one global supplier of finished lubricants for 18 years running.”
That longevity, Smith adds, demonstrates Shell’s competitive advantage.
“Shell is customer-focused but solution-forward,” she says. “We have a customer-centric approach and leverage that mindset. We have technology leadership and are very proud of what we’ve been able to deliver from a product portfolio perspective and bring those products to life.”
Then there’s the secret formula when it comes to its culture.
“It’s a culture of innovation, sustainability and continued excellence,” Smith explains.
Products to power the energy transition are a current core focus, with lubricants set to play a key role in Shell achieving its 2050 net zero emissions targets.
Sure of Shell
As the product line innovates to reflect a greater shift to hybrids and electric mobility, Smith says Shell is preparing for the different facets of future mobility while still providing product enhancements to customers with vehicles running on current engines.
Whatever the future holds, one thing is clear: “You can be sure of Shell. That’s something I’ve been hearing from our OEMs, and I love that,” says Smith. “There’s a confidence, a commitment and a credibility associated with that.”
It’s also the greatest endorsement of the value of Shell as a partner.
