If you toured, let's say, a Mobil 1 plant, would you have also been just as impressed though? What I'm saying is that sure, HPL is fantastic, but they're also the ones that marketed to you the hardest.
Yeah, because that's one of the most powerful marketing tools there is. In any business, entertaining potential new customers through facility visits are huge. We don't see that much with consumer level goods, so that's what makes it stand out even more. It's a major influence, so much so that he recalled his positive experience to a bunch of strangers. Solid marketing by HPL.
You, and the OP, seem to imply that somehow HPL is marketing to the BITOG crowd, and worse, that sponsorship gains them favorable reviews, which is simply not true. It's laughably far from the truth.
No one is "marketing" to me. I promise. I know when I'm being courted, when people want my business. It used to happen when I was a Captain in the USN, and worked in requirements, with a large budget and much larger influence in the purchasing decisions across the fleet. It happens now with financial planners and others who want me as a client.
It is most certainly not happening with me in the world of oil.
HPL is a small business. Their niche - make the very best.
I'm certain Mobil has a very impressive operation. A very impressive plant. But, and this is the key difference, they formulate with a balance of profit and performance. At their price point, they make some great products.
HPL isn't that much more expensive, but that better blend (and it is better, read Dr. Rudnick's book, if you can find it) yields better performance. HPL has several contracts, all proprietary, but they include many entities who do their own testing, in very large fleets, on dynamometers, with the sophisticated testing that a large entity can and will use to determine product life and performance in their operation, and they have experience in very large scale use.
Those entities have awarded HPL their business on the basis of performance and cost.
Yes, cost. As an example - a hydraulic fluid that last four times as long (yes, four times) means that an operator, who owns thousands of pieces of equipment in use, saves tremendous down time (which is what happens when pulling equipment off a site to get it serviced, and losing days, or weeks of production) on that fleet by spending a bit more on HPL. They also save money on fluid, that costs twice as much, but lasts four times as long in the equipment. That's a winning combination, economically, for that entity. They buy HPL after testing it themselves. That's a big client.
There are many clients like that for HPL. Big entities who have analyzed the economic gain from using HPL in their large operation.
BITOG users? Well, I hate to break this to you, but you aren't the target market. You just aren't.
The pittance that this group spends on oil by comparison with big contracts aren't worth cultivating as a client base. HPL does it because they're genuinely good people. But we on the forum are so small that they make just a few bucks on our sales, when they make big $$ on those fleet/operator/entity sales.
So, don't kid yourself. Nobody is "marketing" to me, or you, or this forum. We aren't that big of an economic prize. So, all the theories about sponsorship, or influence, are hopelessly inaccurate.
I chose to use HPL in my cars because it is better than Mobil, or Pennzoil, or others. I have enjoyed the indulgence. I have been impressed with their custom blends, made at the request of users here.
I also chose to support an American small business over a large corporation. That's my prerogative. That's one of my principles.
When you talk with the owner of the company, you get a great guy who is willing to give you his time and share his expertise. When you talk with Mary Jane (who answers the phone) at HPL about your order, you get a nice lady, working for a small business, who will help you get the oil you need, and often, helps saves you a few $$ in shipping.
They are responsive in a way that big corporations are not. For example, if you call them, they often have just what you need, for example, that oddball 75W gear oil for a Toyota transfer case at $18/quart, when Toyota wants $80/quart, and you need two quarts.
By making products like that, by making products that last longer in operation, HPL can save me, the little guy, a lot of money. Check out some of
@wwillson 's threads on extended drain. Check out some of the threads by other users.
A responsive company, listening to their customers, making products that are unique, at a performance level unmatched by their peers. No wonder they're the darling of BITOG.
