Trending PR Campaigns
Castrol’s Thrill of Driving Study
Castrol partnered with neuroscience company Brainbox to measure how people responded to five driving experiences, from 5mph off-roading to laps in a McLaren. The unexpected finding—that low-speed off-roading could be nearly as thrilling as driving a supercar—gave the brand a counterintuitive story about why control and focus matter more than speed.
Why it worked: It used third-party neuroscience measurements (EEG, HRV, GSR, eye-tracking) to quantify “thrill,” delivering counterintuitive, data-backed results journalists could headline.
The lesson: Consider commissioning an independent, instrumented experiment that overturns a common belief, then lead with the single most surprising stat.
Coverage over time
How this story spread across the media
| Publication | Headline | Date |
|---|---|---|
| autoguide.com | The Science Of Driving Thrills: Why Speed Is Not The Point | AutoGuide.com | Wednesday 26th August, 2026 |
| autocar.co.uk | Off-roading just as thrilling as driving a McLaren, new study says | Tuesday 20th October, 2026 |
| autotrader.co.nz | Study suggests driving slowly off-road as thrilling as racing on a track – Auto Trader NZ | Thursday 22nd October, 2026 |