Our campaign objectives over the past two years have been to raise awareness of VLS, increase engagement with users and encourage additional members to join VLS. The target audience for our promotion has been trade users including lubricants manufacturers & marketers initially, and secondly intermediate users such as fleet operators, garage owners & mechanics for both passenger & commercial vehicles.
Having launched the advertising campaign and supplemented this with regular appearances at the Automechanika exhibition in Birmingham in both 2017 and 2018, we have built on developing relationships with the media. We have secured a regular presence in key trade media consistently over the past two years, reaching a potential audience of over 150,000 every quarter for VLS.
Typical of the trade press we have engaged are: Commercial Vehicle Workshop magazine, Lubes’N’Greases, CAT magazine, FACTS magazine, Professional Motor Mechanic, Transport Engineer, Car Mechanics magazine, Commercial Fleet online, our own Lube magazine, and Professional Motor Factor magazine. All editorial and advertising coverage we receive is communicated to members regularly in our
VLS receives 61st case
The Verification of Lubricant Specifications (VLS) has received its 61st case. A complaint was submitted regarding a 10W30 Transmission Oil and is currently being investigated by the Technical Review Panel.
This case is the seventh case received over the past 12 months and is the first case VLS has investigated regarding a transmission oil. VLS independently verifies the specifications of all types of lubricants including engine oils, gear oils, hydraulic fluids and transmission fluids. Its reach extends to both passenger and commercial vehicles, as well as marine and industrial uses. The majority of cases VLS has investigated have related to passenger vehicle engine oils however this is to be expected as this sector accounts for the majority of market volume.
Most of the cases VLS has investigated so far have related to misleading or incorrect marketing claims,
including compliance with ACEA specifications. VLS has also successfully investigated complaints relating to cold weather properties, including an engine gear oil which was found to turn solid at -40°C.
Whilst the temperature overall in the country rarely stays below freezing for a sustained length of time, in some parts extreme temperatures are not uncommon. To be within specification, lubricants must be able to perform even in these extreme conditions to avoid accelerated wear to gears and bearings during low temperature operation and start-up conditions.
VLS works with the companies involved with complaints to ensure that the necessary steps are taken to bring products into compliance, including involving Trading Standards if required.
monthly newsletter and posted, where possible, to the VLS website at
www.ukla
vls.org.uk.
It doesn’t just stop with the trade press. We have also developed a social media presence on both Twitter and Linked ln. On Twitter we have built our following to 502 followers, delivering 12,200 impressions in a single month and averaging 437 impressions per day. On LinkedIn, we have a following of 251 and receive regular shares and likes of our posts, from across our industry.
For the immediate future, our public relations programme continues to raise the profile of VLS within the industry, with advertising adding weight to our continued campaigns. We strongly believe there is still significant scope to achieve more coverage for VLS in other associated sectors such as the automotive fleet market. Advertising still represents further opportunities for us to grow the presence of VLS and reach new audiences, in order that we can continue to serve the interests of our members and meet the needs of our end users.
LINK
www.ukla-vls.org.uk
LUBE MAGAZINE NO.151 JUNE 2019
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