Mr. Lube is helping Canadian drivers break an addiction to their dealers.

And thanks to an aggressive marketing and branding campaign, it is also turning a 30-year-old brand into a finely tuned retail operation.

Car dealerships rule the oil change business in Canada, with quick oil change providers like Mr. Lube representing only about 10% of the market. But, in an attempt to become king of routine car maintenance, Mr. Lube uncovered some key consumer insights: that motorists were unaware there is an alternative to taking their vehicle to be serviced at car dealerships, and that Mr. Lube is warranty approved. As well, it also found that people generally hate making appointments and-no surprise-oil changes are just not that high on their list of priorities. In essence, it's the ultimate low interest category.

Those insights were then enhanced in an ad campaign from Rethink of Vancouver.

The strategy, says Chris Staples, a partner at Rethink, was to take on dealers directly, using humour to show the tricks they use to instill fear in consumers. "The intention was for people to see themselves-and their dealers-in our ads," he says.

"Dealers have car buyers convinced that if they don't return to them for every oil change and tweak, they will somehow void their warranty, and that's just not true," says Mr. Lube's vice-president of marketing, Brent Cuthbertson. Television ads show a dealership manager training a new employee in customer service. He tells him it's his job to convince customers to come back for oil changes. "Let's role play," says the manager. "I'm the customer. 'Hi, I just bought a car from you and I'd like to bring it back over and over again, even for the simplest thing, even though it's perfectly OK for me to go to Mr. Lube, but I'm kind of wealthy and I love to make appointments'."

Radio ads take place in a fictional dealership called Mega Motors, where attempts to book appointments for oil changes end up in frustrating results, while billboards sport copy like "change your oil, not your schedule," and "void hassles, not your warranty." The strategic positioning is "we do oil better." In addition to TV, radio and outdoor, the rebranding involved sprucing up all of Mr. Lube's "touchpoints," right down to signage and coffee cups. Instead of the dull uniforms previously worn in the outlets, for instance, employees now look like NASCAR pit crews, complete with oil brand logos on their shirts. "We always recognized that our most important medium was the store itself," says Cuthbertson. "We did an audit of every piece of communication and changed everything to reflect the new strategy. This included everything from coffee cups to service menus, staff uniforms and a comprehensive staff-training program to improve customer experience."

The strategy has struck a chord with consumers. Top of mind awareness has doubled, but more importantly, says Cuthbertson, same store sales are up 10.5% and revenue per customer has increased to $86 from $78. "Our same store sales growth was pretty much double the industry average," he says. "The industry is showing flat or declining sales, so if you can outpace or grow in declining markets that's a pretty strong accomplishment."