Featuring Alessandro Orsini, PETRONAS Lubricants International
In episode 50 of the F+L Webcast, Alessandro Orsini, the marketing guru of PETRONAS Lubricants International (PLI), shares his insights on building value and differentiation in today’s lubricants market.
Understanding customer strategy is the starting point in understanding your role as a fluid partner, says PLI’s Group Marketing and Customer Excellence Leader. With more than 30 years of experience at ENI, Shell, and PLI, Orsini broke down PLI’s value chain as a global lubricants player that manages 3,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) in more than 100 countries. His explanation touched on how research, technology, blending, packaging, logistics, and customer engagement work together to create customer impressions in a single interaction.
From Orsini’s perspective, customisation isn’t a marketing gimmick; it’s a business priority with strategic implications. He shared that in PLI, research and technology spending is fuelled by specific customer needs. Such commitment leads to research investment both globally and regionally: while PLI’s technological strength is most visible in its global research centre in Turin, Italy, supplier and customer dialogues are concentrated in regional research hubs around the globe. These research centres operate responsively, considering factors such as unique fuel compositions and mechanics’ preferences per market so that the company is enabled to localise innovation before products hit the shelves.
A long-term commitment to putting the customer first has led to some of PLI’s most innovative breakthroughs. Orsini discusses a partnership with a top European truck manufacturer that needed to outperform competitors in fuel consumption reduction and sustainability. PLI worked closely with the manufacturer to co-develop its engines and PLI’s lubricants over the course of 10 years, resulting in the world’s first ultra-low viscosity (SAE 0W-16) engine oils for heavy-duty vehicles to date. The ultra-low viscosity oils, released under PETRONAS Urania, were groundbreaking. They guaranteed a 3% fuel savings compared to standard (SAE 5W-30) engine oils and showed significant improvements in CO₂ reduction. Pushing back against the view of lubricants as commodities, Orsini concluded, “Lubricants are not a commodity—given the right customer partners and the technological commitment, you can create something really distinctive that goes beyond the expected possibilities.” In the current economic climate, industrial and commercial customers aim to reduce the total cost of ownership and meet sustainability targets. Co-development of fluids is key to these goals.
For consumer audiences, however, overcoming the pain associated with going for an oil change, and perception of lubricants as generic items demands more effort in customer engagement and communication. Greater need for engagement, shared Orsini, dictates PLI’s effort and care towards customers’ physical and virtual interactions with the brand. For B2C customers, PLI focuses on improving the oil change experience. PETRONAS-branded workshops provide clean, welcoming spaces and expert advice, addressing customer pain points and thereby building customer trust. On the digital front, PETRONAS Lubricants International’s LinkedIn account is filled with entry-level educational content about lubricants, automotive care, industrial vehicle care, and the brand’s own updates. The account has more than 530,000 followers, making it the top in its category.
