The spectacular run of Indian team in the recently concluded cricket World Cup seems to have rubbed off on advertisers too.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation, which joined the World Cup party with ad campaign for its lubricant brand Mak, claimed that the cup has done wonders for the brand.

"The promotion was very successful. The series of advertisements were well accepted. The company has launched the Mak brand aimed firmly at Indian consumers," Srikant P Gathoo, general manager, (head-lubes SBU) of BPCL said.

The company was hopeful that the ad campaigns would translate into improved sales this financial year. Since the cup began only in February, its effectiveness was limited during the fiscal just gone by.

In 2002-03, the company has sold 117,000 metric tonne of lubricants as compared to 105,000 MT in 2001-02, showing a jump of 11.5 per cent.

BPCL's market share in the overall lubricant market has also gone up to 10 per cent from 8 per cent in 2001-02. "We are expecting higher growth during this fiscal with initiatives such as the World Cup ads," he pointed out.

However, BPCL is not sitting on the success of these ad campaigns alone. It is also planning a host of measures to increase brand loyalty for Mak.

"Lubricant sales in the country have been stagnating for the last few years. To drive up volume in this segment, one needs to design innovative strategy to retain customers. We are working on plans to increase interface with consumers," Gathoo said.

The company has restructured its lubricant business by consolidating its lube brands under Mak.

"Research has shown that consumer remembers only one brand. So we have decided to use Mak as an umbrella brand for all our lubricants, 2T, diesel and petrol," he added.

BPCL has also modernised two lubricant manufacturing units in Kolkata and Mumbai for improved lube variants. The company has also gone for exclusive tie-ups with auto majors such as Maruti, Telco, General Motors, Hindustan Motors and Hero Puch.

More such tie-ups are being pursued. The Indian lube market is dominated by Indian Oil's brand Servo, followed by Castrol and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited.