WD-40 Ad Campaign

Context:

This college project was based around a small ad campaign for the WD-40 brand, which specializes in lubricants, rust removers, rust inhibitors, among many other metal-protection products. The campaign consisted of a logo redesign as well as two advertisements: an Instagram carousel, and a Facebook ad.

An illustration of a WD-40 can spraying the rust off of some appliances, while a rust wizard stares at it with concern. The image is accompanied by the tagline "Rust Gone, Shine On!" This ad is the one for Facebook.
An alternative variation of the subtle redesign of the WD-40 logo, which was made for a college project. This variant is blue in coloration with no background color behind it.A subtle redesign of the WD-40 logo made for a college project. It is yellow in coloration with a deep blue background behind it.

Project Content:

The logo was given a simple redesign due to how well-established WD-40’s current logo is. The ad ideas were developed around exaggerated scenarios that could be solved through WD-40’s products. The chosen idea was then translated into an eight-image Instagram carousel and a single image Facebook ad.

The story that was chosen for the advertisements was based around stylized, sentient appliances being rusted over by a rust wizard, but one is rescued by a WD-40 can, which removes the rust from the other appliances and the rust wizard itself, leaving it clean and powerless. This story was portrayed in an eight-image Instagram carousel as well as a Facebook ad of one lone image; this lone image ad only portrays the most important elements of the story to keep it short and to the point.

The Facebook WD-40 ad placed in a mockup that looks like a Facebook post.
WD-40 Carousel Part 1: An illustration of three sentient appliances, a microwave, a washing machine, and a refrigerator, relaxing together in a room.WD-40 Carousel Part 2: Suddenly, the appliances are approached by a terrible rust wizard, who looms over them. He wears a purple robe, and a broken pot as a helmet, coated with rust. The handles have been broken and bent to become horns. Darkness fills the room, expect for the purple glow from which the rust wizard appeared from.WD-40 Carousel Part 3: The rust wizard uses its power to rust two of the appliances, the washing machine and the refrigerator, through a burst of purple magic.WD-40 Carousel Part 4: The microwave is shielded from the wizard's rust magic—which now resembles a bolt of lightning—by what seems to be a glowing light above. Interestingly, what appear to be drops of liquid plummet downwards from this light.WD-40 Carousel Part 5: The microwave looks up at its rescuer above, and sees a WD-40 can, with a halo of light behind it and beams of yellow light piercing the darkness.WD-40 Carousel Part 6: The WD-40 can then sprays the other two appliances and the rust wizard in one large beam. While it looks like a beam of light, droplets can be seen behind the characters as well as at the sides of the beam.WD-40 Carousel Part 7: The appliances are freed from the rust that had coated their bodies, and they are now more shiny than ever. The background is yellow, with beams of white light projecting from the appliances.WD-40 Carousel Part 8: As the ad ends, the WD-40 can stands triumphantly as the rust wizard, now rust-clean and shiny, walks away sadly. The tagline "Rust Gone, Shine On!" can be seen in the top right corner, while the blue, redesigned WD-40 logo can be seen in the top left corner.

After the ads were completed, each were applied to mock-ups representing how they would appear on the social media platforms they were designed for. Both the creation of the ad illustrations and their application to each of their respective mock-ups were done through Adobe Illustrator.

The WD-40 Instagram Carousel ad formatted into a mockup to represent how it would actually look in the app, along with the other images of the carousel. This mockup only holds the first half of the carousel's images.The WD-40 Instagram Carousel ad formatted into a mockup to represent how it would actually look in the app, along with the other images of the carousel. This mockup only holds the second half of the carousel's images.

Credits:

  • Adverts based off the WD-40 Brand
  • Logo type recreated with the Oswald Bold typeface
  • Instagram carousel mockup designed by Freepik
  • Instagram profile picture photos by Pixamio, IamNotPerfect, sam_lg, Geordie, and Ralphs_Fotos on Pixabay
  • Facebook Mockup obtained from Designbolts