BP-owned lubricants brand Castrol has launched a 12-month B2B campaign based on its official sponsorship of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The campaign, which is aimed at BP and Castrol customers in its aviation, industrial, marine and energy sectors, will be the company’s first sponsorship-based B2B campaign and the first time it has used social media in its B2B marketing.

The company will leverage its “more than just oil” message via an online presence, PR and special events. Football-themed customer events will be arranged at B2B trade shows and conferences around the world, with brand ambassadors such as Ronaldo, Marcel Desailly and Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger.

Bristol-based Oakwood Media Group has been retained as design consultant handling all creative and digital work, and Torque PR is handling media relations, content generation and event management.

The campaign will communicate business performance and product benefits via an online football game, competitions, industry news updates and a social networking presence, all via its B2B web portals:

www.castrol.com/marine

,

www.castrol.com/offshore

, and

www.bp.com/marine

“The B2B sector is a huge, global market for the BP Group and using sponsorship with this audience is a first for us,” said Paul Lowther, Castrol’s global marketing communications manager. He said the overall aim of the campaign was to use the opportunity of the World Cup to reinforce the BP and Castrol B2B brands in a “fun and engaging” way.