2018 Conoco Campaign
Conoco, a Phillips 66 brand, revamped its strategy in 2018. The previous campaign, "Because your car knows," did not resonate with its young, digitally savvy target audience. The work had become stale and uninteresting.
Our target audience wanted to lead an adventurous and fun life but often became couch-locked. Our young, digital-native audience had been sucked into the digital world, choosing virtual experiences over real-life adventures.
We also identified a massive white space in terms of tone, realizing that competing gas brands sounded either big, corporate, and serious or quirky (in a bad way), cheesy, and unprofessional.
The insight that “couch culture” was killing the target audience inspired the new campaign “Choose Go.”
The “Choose Go” campaign was chock full of bonkers social content that reminded our audience that there’s actually a world out there, waiting to be explored. All you have to do is fuel up and Choose Go. The campaign embraced the voice and culture of young men, standing out from the generic competition and inspiring action.
And five months after the Conoco “Choose Go” campaign launched, sales rose 6%, with key markets enjoying growth between 12% and 17%.
2022 Campaign Revamp
In 2022 the brand wanted to pivot the campaign “Choose Go,” refresh the creative, and shift their focus to a younger demographic, Gen Z. The existing campaign was zany but didn’t speak to Gen Z humor or experiences. The team lacked Gen Z expertise, so I was brought in to bridge the gap and help the campaign evolve.
Historically the Creative Team worked best with a more open ended exploration and thought-starters. After discussing trends and strategic opportunities the Creative Lead we arrived at “An Ode To Go” as the next evolution of “Choose Go.” The briefing was an extremely collaborative and open process. I illustrated the shift of the campaign with a "prism" graphic, which explored how looking at the campaign through the lens of Gen Z created more creative opportunities, not fewer.
