World over, homes keep WD-40 handy, why not India?
the situation
WD-40 is a household name in the US and Europe, with a single can used for thousands of fixes. In India, it had been around for three decades, but only in workshops and service centres. Mechanics trusted it, but households barely knew it. Pidilite saw an opportunity to expand beyond industrial and auto segments and build relevance in homes. To grow, WD-40 had to shift from a B2B product that arrives with the mechanic to a brand that’s already in the home.
Angle of inquiry
How do Indians actually deal with everyday jams?
When does a small nuisance become urgent enough to fix?
What makes someone try a solution instead of ignoring or replacing the problem?
From small apartments to larger homes across Mumbai and Delhi, we saw how people of every income bracket handled daily fixes, and spoke with the mechanics, dealers, and sales teams who see these problems up close.
What we found
Household fixes don’t start out as urgent. People live with small problems- rusty hinges, squeaky doors, jammed locks, until they stop daily routine. When that happens, they call the mechanic, & that’s when WD-40 enters the picture. For the uninitiated, this introduction could make it seem like WD-40 was a professional product, not something that could be used in a DIY-format at home for many little problems.
The challenge was in making people think of WD-40 before they even called for help. The brand had to move from a professional’s tool to a household’s first response to break downs.
The solution
System of solutions
We created a campaign, “Never Get Stuck”, to effectively demonstrate all the things the product is capable of, across multiple daily use-cases.
And we created a series of 6-second pre-rolls showing WD-40’s instant fixes, built around India’s most searched home repair queries.
