Jeff Victer, global sales director at GoldenWest Lubricants Inc., says the California-based company’s Prolong Super Lubricants line “is the perfect example of an American success story.”
The firm produces a wide range of chemicals and car care products, including engine, fuel and transmission additives; chassis and wheel lubricants; rust, vinyl and leather protectants; and waxes.
The products are formulated with the company’s exclusive Anti-Friction Metal Treatment (AFMT) advanced technology to chemically bond to metal surfaces in the engine to generate a protective layer that prevents metal-on-metal grinding – the cause of unwanted friction and increased heat, according to Victer.
They are designed to restore engine efficiency, optimize fuel economy and protect engines. “In today’s economy, car owners often keep their vehicles longer and need them to last longer and Prolong products can help,” Victer says.
“Early in its introduction, Prolong technology was put to the test in major industrial and manufacturing applications such as the massive DeBeers gold and diamond mines in South Africa, the copper mines of Chile and the commercial/industrial equipment found in Detroit-type automotive facilities. Lubrication with Prolong products significantly helps optimize production and reduce operating overhead and costly downtime,” he asserts.
“By far the most visible and dramatic arena for Prolong to ‘show its stuff’ has been the world of motor sports,” he continues. “Under the most grueling conditions and skeptical gazes of the best drivers, mechanics and crew chiefs in the world, Prolong products have helped take the checkered flag. NASCAR, NHRA, IHRA and Indy Racing League teams have relied on Prolong products for over a decade,” Victer reports.
He goes on to recount how the line “first reached the average car owner through the exceptionally effective ‘Million Dollar Challenge’ TV infomercial which featured the unforgettable ‘sand in the engine’ demonstration driving a red Viper around the Willow Springs track in the scalding Southern California desert. The half-hour show aired over 100,000 times and achieved astounding recognition and response. A groundswell of consumer demand followed the successful debut of the Prolong infomercial. Major retailers were anxious to get Prolong products stocked. Soon everyone who cared about the car they drove could walk in to popular stores to buy Prolong. And they did.”
Victer recently answered a series of questions detailing the company’s international presence:
Q: What has been the impact of Ukraine’s strife on your sales to that nation?
A: It has not affected Prolong’s business there as yet. Prolong’s customers order every 60 days, roughly, so time will tell. But, as of now, it has not had an impact.
Q: What is the extent of your Russian market?
A: Russia is one of our bigger distributors, and they also help us coordinate the distribution of our products in a lot of the republics such as in Ukraine, Latvia and anything that was the former Soviet republic. We coordinate all of that through one regional distributor based in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Q: How did you initially embark upon your overseas marketing presence?
A: It’s a product of Prolong’s success in the U.S. In the early days, back in 1995-1998, when Prolong ran infomercials here in the States, the spots ran at all off-times, like in the middle of the night. So as businessmen from overseas would travel here, because of the time change, they would see them and Prolong would receive quite a few calls as a direct result.
The international distributors were watching TV at odd hours of the day, saw this infomercial, and said: “I have to bring this back to my country.” That really did work – those very late night infomercials. We weren’t necessarily targeting international businessmen at that time, but that is how several of our first international distributors were, in fact, attracted.
Fast-forward to 2014; we sell in over 30 countries and our international sales represent a good portion of our business.
Q: What are some of your key international markets?
A: Europe is the biggest territory of all our international business. We’re in Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Poland, Romania, Sweden and Turkey.
We’re strong in South America/Latin America. We do business in Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Chile, Peru, Uruguay and others.
We sell in the Middle East. I took a trip to Dubai initially about three years ago and last year I accompanied the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) contingent that went with SEMA’s international director, Linda Spencer.
We also do a good business in South Africa; that’s one of our bigger distributors. Asia is a strong continent as well; we do have good distribution, and we do business in China.
Q: Is there an untapped nation that you are considering venturing into?
A: We have not set anything up in Australia as of yet, but we’d like to.
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