What can Valvoline do to top Restore and Protect?

[tired]

The only axe I have to grind is critical thinking - the difference between PR and actual data.

The fact is, I think it’s a good product, but how many American consumers agree? By what percentage did their sales go up? By what percentage did they change market share?

That screen shot isn’t data - that is a reference to data, collected by a company called Circana.

You still haven’t provided data, you have no idea what Circana collected, only that Valvoline says that Circana collected data.

Nobody in this thread has provided actual data, only marketing from Valvoline that references an award from a company that claims to collect data.

That’s about as solid as “My sister’s husband’s buddy has a friend that said…”

So you agree it's data, just not the data Astro14 wants. Why are you bickering?

https://www.circana.com/post/circan...otive-aftermarket-performance-awards-at-aapex

There's another reference. It's not marketing. Valvoline using data collected by another company doesn't invalidate those data.

It's third party, and you criticize it. I'm sure if Valvoline released it, you'd say "we need third party verification! We can't trust this since it's from Valvoline!" Never going to be happy.

 

[2015Corolla]

Valvoline Restore and Protect at all their Instant Oil Change locations?

 

[OVERKILL]

So you agree it's data, just not the data Astro14 wants. Why are you bickering?

https://www.circana.com/post/circan...otive-aftermarket-performance-awards-at-aapex

There's another reference. It's not marketing. Valvoline using data collected by another company doesn't invalidate those data.

It's third party, and you criticize it. I'm sure if Valvoline released it, you'd say "we need third party verification! We can't trust this since it's from Valvoline!" Never going to be happy.

I mean, it's definitely marketing, this company tracks consumer behaviour metrics for the purpose of allowing companies to use these "awards" for advertising/PR:

This is what they sell. The data is the product. You partner with them to gain insights into consumer behaviour to capitalize on that behaviour, and then they market it and you market it. This isn't some random 3rd party randomly commenting on Valvoline's success, that's not how the relationships with this firm work:
https://www.circana.com/industries/automotive

That doesn't mean the data is bad; I'm sure the data, from whatever their sources are, is valid. But Astro's point about it being advertising/marketing are also valid.

 

[Japanese]

The fact is, I think it’s a good product, but how many American consumers agree? By what percentage did their sales go up? By what percentage did they change market share?

Yes, you have a point. I worked for a company that every year by the same time they did a Best Company of the Year banner for social media and that was completely made up.
So, I went to research a bit the Product of the Year award which Valvoline Restore and Protect got for 2025 and found that there is monetary transaction that you have to make if your product gets close to the top. So, they may paid for that award.
https://productoftheyearusa.com/

Entrance to Product of the Year award
https://productoftheyearusa.com/enter/

One of the first steps when you start the entrance process for that award, you get to this page:

 

[melk]

Does any other company provide such data? or are we expecting only Valvoline to provide this information?

 

[tired]

That doesn't mean the data is bad; I'm sure the data, from whatever their sources are, is valid

Agree. I made the same point. It’s data that Valvoline Restore and Protect has gained market share but apparently it’s not up to his standards I guess because Valvoline issuing a press release about the existence of these third party data somehow invalidates it.

 

[4wd]

I think I recall Mobil, Castrol, and Valvoline claiming clean your engine in one cycle. They were specifically referring to sludge though, not carbon in rings. So we're back to "what is it cleaning out of the engine" again. The wheels on the bus....

Yep. Cleaning and prevention of sludge has been marketed for decades - this was BiL’s oil he used in 400k Chevy 1500:

 

[Astro14]

Agree. I made the same point. It’s data that Valvoline Restore and Protect has gained market share but apparently it’s not up to his standards I guess because Valvoline issuing a press release about the existence of these third party data somehow invalidates it.

The press release doesn’t invalidate the data.

But it certainly didn’t share the data.

I asked for numbers, and you gave me a soccer trophy paid for by the mother of the player.

A market research firm, hired by Valvoline, gave Valvoline an award based on their own, proprietary market data.

Not Valvoline sales, market penetration or any other reasonable metric.

So, what we’re cheering over is a fake award given to a company by a company that they themselves hired.

That isn’t data, and I’m not sure it’s success.

 

[buster]

Not sure if they can top it
Guess they don't need to

Hard to say. Can it be modified or improved and what else can they add it to? Not sure I think its a good idea to plaster Restore and Protect on every product unless it serves a true purpose. No doubt one of the most innovative products to hit the market in quite some time, maybe decades depending on how you look at it.

In synthetics, Mobil 1 is the giant. Hard to get any actual data on market share, but per Amsoil Mobil 1 is the gold standard to top. I don't see that changing any time soon.

Anecdotal evidence is very strong that Valvoline Restore and Protect sales have been impressive domestically. Now they're expanding into EU/Asia. It also cut into Mobil 1's share as they rushed out Mobil 1 Advanced Clean, which has an unknown future at this point. There is also extremely high demand for this oil on most all auto related forums.

Valvoline Restore and Protect has no doubt been a huge success for Valvoline, and for automotive enthusiasts that want to keep their cars running at peak level longer. Where it goes from here is anyone's guess.

Think of how many shops can now recommend this oil to free stuck rings in just 2 oil changes.

I'd like to see some more data on Valvoline Rstore and Protect though that is not related to cleaning. Like TEOST or oxidation test etc.

I saw this on Mobil's page:
"**Source: Circana/ Retail Tracking Service/ Dollar Sales/ 52 weeks ending February 1, 2025"

 

[OVERKILL]

Agree. I made the same point. It’s data that Valvoline Restore and Protect has gained market share but apparently it’s not up to his standards I guess because Valvoline issuing a press release about the existence of these third party data somehow invalidates it.

But, as I said, it's not really "third party" and Astro's follow-up post explains that in the same manner in which I have attempted. This is the result of a partnership between Valvoline and this company, and the "award" is part of that same relationship/agreement. It's not even arms-length, let alone beyond arms-length objective 3rd party statistics, it's effectively a firm Valvoline hired to gain market insight to help craft their strategy to increase sales and they've now received an "award" from that same company for that (which is part of the agreement). It's a bit of a dog and pony show and we don't have any idea as to where the data used for this comes from, how representative it is of the market as a whole...etc. And we aren't supposed to, because it's PR/marketing.

 

[OVERKILL]

I saw this on Mobil's page:
"**Source: Circana/ Retail Tracking Service/ Dollar Sales/ 52 weeks ending February 1, 2025"

I would expect most of the majors employ this firm, along with others like doubleclick, srmdata...etc.

 

[Mainia]

The press release doesn’t invalidate the data.

But it certainly didn’t share the data.

I asked for numbers, and you gave me a soccer trophy paid for by the mother of the player.

A market research firm, hired by Valvoline, gave Valvoline an award based on their own, proprietary market data.

Not Valvoline sales, market penetration or any other reasonable metric.

So, what we’re cheering over is a fake award given to a company by a company that they themselves hired.

That isn’t data, and I’m not sure it’s success.

Kinda like JD Power when Kia won most reliable car in fist two year or some bs thing like that they won/paid for to get it. That wa a good couple years ago, that blasphemy was being pushed. Sorry, Kia is not the car or the company to do that.

 

[tired]

But it certainly didn’t share the data.

Do you need numbers for it to be accurate?

A market research firm, hired by Valvoline,

They were not hired by Valvoline. If you have evidence that they were, please provide it here.

gave Valvoline an award based on their own, proprietary market data.

Because it's proprietary it's somehow invalid? HPL's base oil blend is proprietary. That does not seem to stop you from using it.

Not Valvoline sales, market penetration or any other reasonable metric.

Market share isn't reasonable? Taking a bigger piece of the pie isn't a reasonable metric for you?

Do you think that Circana is just making this up? You think they're lying?

Circana is one of the largest market data firms in the world. They aggregate data directly from the checkout registers and inventory systems of major retailers. As you can imagine, that takes money. They have to pay people to do that. So they aren't giving out their data for free. Valvoline didn't pay for the outcome; they paid for the data.

So, what we’re cheering over is a fake award given to a company by a company that they themselves hired.

Tons of companies pay for the data that Circana collects. The data that they collect is very valuable. It shows them how their competitors are doing, which geographic regions are doing well or poorly, what pricing strategies are working/not working, etc etc. It's far from a "soccer trophy" paid for by someone's mom.

The award Circana gave was not paid for. It's not "fake." It is genuinely based on retail sales data. It's not a marketing claim. Valvoline paid for the data. I am having difficulty fathoming why sales, shelf space, consumer analytics data being valuable to a company is so hard to grasp.

If you are really interested, as it appears you are, it looks like can become a client of Circana here: https://www.circana.com/solutions/liquid-data-go I'm sure if you paid them for their time, they would be happy to share "the numbers" with you. That's what Valvoline did. If it didn't show something positive for them, then obviously they wouldn't have a press release about it!

It really seems that you have completely misunderstood this award, and the data that it's based on. However, I do not expect a "I'm sorry, I actually misunderstood." type of response.

If you can show that Circana's data is biased or fake, I'm all ears. I highly doubt they would be in business for very long doing market research if they just falsified data based on who is paying.

 

[Astro14]

@tired I asked for data, a measure of success that included numbers, and you provided a marketing award.

I’m not going to apologize for your failure to understand the difference between the answer to my question, and a marketing award, or for your misunderstanding that a marketing award is not the same thing that I wanted to know. It isn’t numbers.

How successful is the product? We still don’t know.

 

[Japanese]

@tired I asked for data, a measure of success that included numbers, and you provided a marketing award.

I’m not going to apologize for your failure to understand the difference between the answer to my question, and a marketing award, or for your misunderstanding that a marketing award is not the same thing that I wanted to know. It isn’t numbers.

How successful is the product? We still don’t know.

There is no failure. We just explore different I-net sources, except AI, to get as much info as we can. No company publicly provides the numbers you are asking about.
However, the new Mobil 1 Advanced Clean is a sign/hint.

 

[Astro14]

There is no failure. We just explore different I-net sources, except AI, to get as much info as we can. No company publicly provides the numbers you are asking about.
However, the new Mobil 1 Advanced Clean is a sign/hint.

Then my question remains unanswered. The award is anecdotal - indicative of something - but we don’t know the degree.

I’ll look forward to the Valvoline 10-K. Since they’re owned by ARAMCO these days, I reckon it will have several, important, factors influencing sales performance this year.

 

[f355spider]

Amazon price for Valvoline Restore and Protect just went up to $38.99.

It went up to $39.99 at Walmart.com last month...but dropped back to $29.95 again about 7 to 10 days later.
It is at $39.99 on Walmart.com currently. I'm curious to see if it drops back again in a week or two.

 

[SmokeEater2]

It went up to $39.99 at Walmart.com last month...but dropped back to $29.95 again about 7 to 10 days later.
It is at $39.99 on Walmart.com currently. I'm curious to see if it drops back again in a week or two.

That's weird. I just ordered 2 5 gallon jugs from my local WM online for $29.97 each for delivery tomorrow. Regional pricing maybe?

Valvoline Restore and Protect 5 QT. $29.97

 

[tired]

@tired I asked for data, a measure of success that included numbers, and you provided a marketing award.

I’m not going to apologize for your failure to understand the difference between the answer to my question, and a marketing award, or for your misunderstanding that a marketing award is not the same thing that I wanted to know. It isn’t numbers.

How successful is the product? We still don’t know.

It’s not an award. It’s third party sales data. It’s a respected company that collects point of sale data from retailers across a number of industries. It seems you have some sort of grudge against Valvoline, and even after showing you that the initial conclusion you leapt to is incorrect, you remain intentionally obtuse and keep calling it a “marketing award.”

 

[Astro14]

It’s not an award. It’s third party sales data. It’s a respected company that collects point of sale data from retailers across a number of industries. It seems you have some sort of grudge against Valvoline, and even after showing you that the initial conclusion you leapt to is incorrect, you remain intentionally obtuse and keep calling it a “marketing award.”

Again, there is no data attached to what you posted, or to what they published.

The data is hidden from us, it is behind an award, based on data that we can’t see.

I wanted to understand the metrics, I wanted to understand the magnitude of the claimed “success“. But that can’t be done on the basis of an “award”.

Is this product really a “game changer“ as the title of this Thread claims? You have only one anecdote to support that claim.

The product is a success, but to what degree? Does it meet the test of “game changer”?

Certainly, the stock price of the parent company does not reflect any game changing whatsoever. The stock is down year over a year and it’s considerably off from its high this year, so, financially, this “game changer“ product hasn’t really done much for the company’s bottom line.

The excitement of a very small subset of the consumer market for engine oil does not constitute a change in the game.

Neither does a marketing award.

I asked my question, and it remains unanswered.

I’m not the one who’s remaining obtuse.