WD-40 lubricant a true brand success

When Garry Ridge took the top job at WD-40 Co. in 1997, he inherited the sticky task of leading what was, in his words, a “Johnny one-note” enterprise.

The good news was that this one-note – the profitable WD-40 lubricant – had brand awareness parallel to Coke and McDonald’s. Developed in 1953 as a rust-prevention solvent and degreaser for the aerospace industry, WD-40’s current “water displacement” formula was discovered by scientists on the 40th try (hence the 40).

It eventually went retail and at the time of Ridge’s appointment, was selling one million cans weekly. Consumers found 2,000-plus uses for WD-40 – everything from loosening bolts to cleaning pigeon poop off cars.

To keep sales growing at the San Diego-based company, Ridge slowly acquired a stable of brands that don’t directly compete with WD-40, such as heavy-duty hand cleaners, and found ways to sell more WD-40, among them, a No-Mess WD-40 pen and a Big Blast can with a wider spray nozzle. Revenue has nearly doubled to $263 million since Ridge became chief executive.

For Ridge, the tricky part was to avoid ruining a good thing. People said “‘Don’t you mess around with my WD-40,”’ says 49-year-old Ridge, a native of Australia.

Recently, he spoke with The Wall Street Journal.

WSJ: Is it true that the original WD-40 formula is locked in a bank vault?

Ridge: Absolutely. We have only ever taken it out of the vault, well, twice. Once when we changed banks. And the other was on our 50th birthday. I rode into Times Square on the back of a horse in a suit of armor with the formula … It’s a trade secret. We mix WD-40 in a concentrated form in three locations – San Diego, Sydney and London – and then send it to aerosol manufacturing partners. I would love to tell you that formula, but then I would have to kill you.

WSJ: Why did you think the company’s product line needed to expand?

Ridge: In the U.S., WD-40 had reached what I named ‘fortress status’ as a brand. Back then, more people used WD-40 every day than used dental floss. We decided to turn up the volume on that opportunity to grow. And also, to position ourselves not just to be a marketing company (which we were back then) but what we are now, which is an innovation marketing and distribution company.

WSJ: What were you were looking for in new brands to acquire?

Ridge: We decided we were going to be in the squeak, smell, and dirt business. I listened to what Warren Buffett had said. He said you have to be in businesses that are going to be (around) in the future. I felt that there would always be squeaks. There will always be smells. And there would always be dirt. That was the strategy as we started looking for brands that we could acquire. We then formed a team called Team Tomorrow, which focused only on revenues of the future. Team Tomorrow has a goal of being able to generate $100 million worth of annual revenue from products developed and launched in the previous three-year period. We are doing $35 million now from zero dollars in 2002.

WSJ: When creating new formats for WD-40, what were you wary of?

Ridge: Consumers told us that ‘you put your name on it, and we will try it. But don”t you let us down.’ So I was very leery. … Our (No-Mess) pen came out of a lot of focus groups where ladies were telling us we love WD-40, but give me mine. And give me one that is easier for me to use and that isn’t messy.

WSJ: What about the Big Blast can?

Ridge: We have a lot of consumers, particularly in the farm regions and in factories that use WD-40 to preserve things. They will spray down farming equipment and they will spray down shovels before they store it so it doesn’t rust. The consumer said, ‘Hey, if you could give us a product that applied WD-40 in a wider spray pattern faster, we would like that.’

WSJ: WD-40’s Smart Straw is basically the old can with the straw permanently attached. Won’t it cannibalize the old one?

Ridge: I hope it does. Because the consumer is pretty prepared to pay a higher price for the convenience – about 30 percent. The only negative comment we ever got about WD-40 is ‘I always lose that blah, blah, blah straw.’ The easy answer is just find a way of affixing the straw to the can so people don’t lose it.

WSJ: What are some of the most unusual uses for WD-40?

Ridge: There was a lady in the Midwest who put up a (bird) feeding pole in her backyard. She sprays WD-40 on the pole so the squirrels can’t climb up.