Known for their industrial world-class lubricants – Mobil’s ‘Mobilube 1 SHC’ was a high performance commercial gear lubricant engineered for heavy duty manual transmissions. ‘Mobilgrease XHP’ was a stable-mate product for use in the most severe water exposure conditions.

In the early 1990’s mountain biking moved from a little-known sport to a mainstream activity. Mountain bikes and mountain bike gear, that was once only available at specialty shops or via mail order, became available at standard bike stores.

In the Spring of 1996, the company received an extraordinary number of letters from avid mountain-bikers across the United States extoling the virtues of these two products when applied to the internal mechanisms of mountain bike hardware. The problem was this largely ‘underground’ following were finding it hard to get their hands on the products, being only available at heavy industrial and marine supply outlets.

Mobil was determined to find a way to further improve the product specific to this new requirement and repackage these two products to reach their new audience.

Our first task was to rename the products, drawing inspiration from the edgy worlds of surfing and skateboarding, and in consideration of the products aesthetic, we created ‘SilverGrease’ and BlueGrease’.

‘Easy Application’ packaging was created incorporating contemporary graphics and colouring to maximise shelf-appeal. A series of press adverts pictured the US Olympic team putting their machines through their paces in some extreme conditions, all with the confidence that Mobil’s new product would protect the parts that mattered. The new range would be made available in almost every bike shop across the country.

Combined, the two products sold over 500,000 units in the twelve months that followed their usage by the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Mountain Bike Squad and paved the way for a new category in the mountain bike sundry market that now consists of brands like ‘Rock “N” Roll Extreme’, ‘Chain-L No.5’ and ‘Muc-Off’.