Kunlun Lubricants: Eight Years of Tempering Behind a Brand Legend

Repeatedly voted CCTV's most popular brand, honoured with the title of China Top Brand, and listed among China's 500 Most Valuable Brands for consecutive years... PetroChina Kunlun Lubricant Company has achieved remarkable results since its founding, realizing leapfrog brand growth.
On December 18, 2008, as Kunlun Lubricants marked its eighth anniversary, our reporter visited this leader among domestic lubricant brands to explore Kunlun's miraculous path of brand growth.
Consolidation and Unification: the Kunlun Brand Makes a Splash
In 2000, when internationally renowned lubricant brands were thriving in China, PetroChina resolutely consolidated all of its lubricant businesses into PetroChina Lubricant Company, implementing integrated management of lubricant production, research and sales. The newly established company shouldered the heavy task of building a well-known Chinese lubricant brand to compete with multinationals.
At the time, PetroChina Lubricant Company owned lubricant products under brands such as Qixing, Feitian and Daqing. Feitian was the factory-fill oil for the first Jiefang truck, the first Dongfeng truck and the first Hongqi sedan of New China. These brands each had some influence in their market segments, but lacked combined strength and could hardly pose a strong threat to international brands. After rigorous market research and analysis, PetroChina Lubricant Company decisively resolved to create a striking new brand to compete with international enterprises. And so the Kunlun Lubricants brand came into being.
In 2001 and 2005, through two rounds of brand consolidation, the company unified more than a dozen former brands under the "Kunlun" brand, adopting the internationally common "master brand plus product series" approach, and the Kunlun "Tian" family was formally formed. This marked the exit of Qixing, Daqing and Feitian from the historical stage, as Kunlun took up the mantle of forging a first-class brand.
Taking the Initiative: A Marketing Combination That Accelerates the Brand
Facing a lubricant market monopolized by international brands, Kunlun began its brand breakout in 2003 and engaged a well-known brand consultancy to advise on the Kunlun brand.
Advertising was a heavy blow in Kunlun's counterattack against international brands. Starting in October 2003, Kunlun Lubricants partnered with CCTV, the broadcaster with the highest brand recognition among domestic viewers, placing advertisements before "Focus Report" and during the live broadcast of the Shenzhou V launch. On November 18, 2003, Kunlun Lubricants won the five-second time signal advertisement before "Xinwen Lianbo" in early 2004 at CCTV's prime-time advertising auction; subsequently it obtained naming rights to CCTV's 2004 Athens Olympic gold medal table. To this day, Kunlun Lubricants can be seen across major media, and the brand has become a household name.
Public welfare marketing and sports marketing gave wings to the brand's acceleration. From 2003 to the present, Kunlun Lubricants has sponsored the National Good Samaritans Behind the Wheel awards for five consecutive years; in 2005, Kunlun supplied lubricants for the Antarctic scientific expedition; in 2007, Kunlun landed at the Toyota Center as an official partner of the Houston Rockets, the team of Chinese player Yao Ming.
As market development and brand building advanced, the Kunlun brand won high recognition from the market and consumers. It was repeatedly voted CCTV's most popular brand, honoured as a China Top Brand, and listed among China's 500 Most Valuable Brands for consecutive years, with brand value rising rapidly.
Eight Years of Tempering: Kunlun Creates a Brand Miracle
After eight years of tempering, Kunlun has become a renowned brand on par with international players, and its performance in the high-end market and OEM field is the best proof of its brand influence.
There is a saying in the lubricant industry: "Whoever wins OEM wins the world." Kunlun Lubricants has now won recognition from well-known automakers including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Volvo, MAN and General Motors. It has also been selected by FAW Group, China National Heavy Duty Truck Group, Shanghai Volkswagen, Dongfeng Motor, JAC Motors, Hafei Automobile, Changan Automobile and Shandong Lingong Rongcheng Huatai, among other vehicle and equipment OEMs, as factory-fill and service oil. This outstanding performance in OEM and other fields laid the foundation for Kunlun's breakthrough in the high-end segment. As is well known, the highly profitable high-end lubricant market has always been contested by top brands, and each brand's performance there is an important indicator of its strength. As Kunlun's brand awareness and reputation rose, its share of the high-end market increased considerably. It is understood that the share of domestic brands in the high-end market has risen from 20% to 40%, to which Kunlun has made an indispensable contribution.
According to a senior executive of Kunlun Lubricants, the company's next goal is to further open up overseas markets and build Kunlun into an internationally renowned lubricant brand.
In just eight years, Kunlun has covered the distance international brands took more than a century to travel, writing a legend of rapid growth for a domestic brand.