Changing colours

Why paints companies are ramping up their brand-building activities?

The next time you catch a daily soap on cable television, stop listening to the moanings and machinations for a while and pay a little attention to the sets.

Look at the palatial bungalows and their wonderfully impractical shades of pale lemon, deep magenta and vibrant orange.

Notice the luminosity of the colours and textured effects on the walls. Does it tempt you to try something similar on your own walls? Asian Paints hopes it does. For some time now, India's largest paints company has been adding colour to sets of TV serials in a neat bit of product placement.

Last month, it even launched a glossy TV serial shade book, which features colours and schemes based on the interior design it does for Kasautii Zindagii Kay, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii and Shararat. It even roped in Sakshi Tanwar, a popular soap actor, to launch the book.

Of course, Asian Paints isn't alone in trying to increase saliency for its brand in what is essentially a low-interest category. Other paints companies, too, are doing their bit to establish themselves firmly as individual brands, and not generic, interchangeable commodities.

If Kansai Nerolac is creating signature walls in malls, Berger is asking children to make paintings of their dream homes. In the past five years, ad spends in the Indian paints industry have shot up by more than 50 per cent and television advertising is on the increase. What's up?

Happy colours
First, the good news. The paints industry is growing "" after recording a compounded annual growth rate of 9 per cent for the past few years, it is now expected to touch 14-18 per cent in the coming two-three years.

And, unlike other products where growth usually benefits unorganised players more, here the organised players "" who account for more than 65 per cent of the Rs 9,800-crore market "" are enjoying the boom.

"Paints is a high-growth market and at the moment there is opportunity for everyone to grow," says Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Asian Paints, Ashwin Dani. Others agree.

Says Kansai Nerolac Paints Managing Director H M Bharuka, "The paints industry in India is doing very well. It is riding high on the growth in the housing and automobile sectors."

There's the rub. To a huge extent, the growth in the paints industry can be attributed to external factors; so much so that the players' brand building efforts can be considered almost incidental.

For starters, there's the explosive growth in real estate and construction. In the past two years, construction has happened on 3,606 million sq ft of floor space across the country. That figure will nearly double to 6,406 million sq ft in another three years.

More construction means more walls to paint. The buoyant economy and rising disposable incomes has also pushed up the rate of repainting homes. From festival-only repainting, increasingly, Indians are now opting to redecorate and refurbish their homes more frequently.

"Today a large set of consumers look at paints as an inexpensive way to redecorate their houses. Except for the slight increase experienced during Diwali we see no other seasonality in the market," says K B S Anand, vice president, sales and marketing, Asian Paints. All of which is great news for the Rs 6,860-crore decorative paints market.

Meanwhile, the automobile industry, too, has been racing at top speed: early estimates say more than 10 million vehicles were sold last year.

Given that automotive paints account for nearly 45 per cent of the industrial paints segment, that probably explains why the segment has been growing by close to 20 per cent a year.

The paints industry appears to recognise the inherent risk in depending on extraneous factors for its growth. Which is why players are stepping up their brand-building efforts. But essentially, the paints industry's problems haven't really changed in the past decade, the current growth run notwithstanding.

M G Parameshwaran, executive director, FCB-Ulka Advertising, sums up the challenge facing the industry: "Unlike television or air conditioners, once you paint, you forget the brand. Also, there are very little or no features that distinguish one paint brand from another."

Home paints is a category with little customer involvement and engagement, apart from some initial consultation regarding the colour, the budget and the finish.

The decision about brand is usually taken by the painting contractor, in consultation with the dealer. That's not good enough for the manufacturers; they need to build a loyal customer base who engages with them not just once, but on every painting decision.

Points out Berger Paints Marketing Head Abhijit Roy, "Unlike mobile phones or consumer products, end customers' involvement with paints is very low. The industry is now focusing its efforts on increasing that engagement."

Asian Paints' Anand agrees: "Today every industry aspires to get closer to its consumers and we are no different. Instead of sales created by dealer push, we are trying to generate a consumer pull."

Creative products
Paint manufacturers are hoping to do that through innovations in two main areas: product and promotion. All organised players are introducing paints that address specific problems and that create different effects.

For instance, based on the insight that most apartments are small with insufficient natural light, last month ICI launched Dulux Light and Space, a premium emulsion paint that claims to reflect upto twice as much light back into a room, making interiors look brighter and bigger.

In September, it brought out another range that mimics the softness of cashmere wool called Inspira Cashmere Finish. Kansai Nerolac, on the other hand, plays up its green angle: it recently introduced a metallic emulsion that is water-based (more eco-friendly).

Paints companies are also focusing on a relatively new area of interest, exterior paints, with a variety of products, each of which promises a unique benefit. If Asian Paints has adopted the dirt and fungus-resistance platform for its Apex Ultima brand, Nerolac's communication for Suraksha focuses on appearance and a three-year guarantee on finish.

A year ago, ICI, too, launched two exterior paints: Weathershield for protection from damp in rainy areas and Tileshield, a roof- and tile-paint that is algae-resistant.

Hina Nagarajan, general manager, marketing, ICI India, explains the strategy: "Consumer s are evolving and upgrading. Innovative products help sustain interest."

Of course, the type of paint and its benefits will push sales only upto a point: the colour range is equally, if not more important in most cases. Also, by declaring colours to be in vogue or out of fashion, there's a greater chance of tempting home-owners to redecorate.

Last October, Asian Paints organised Colour Week, where it announced the colours of 2007, launched a shade book and held events and promotions around the theme of colours.

A month later, ICI flew down its global marketing manager from the UK to launch Colour Futures 2007, the company's take on what shades would be popular in 2007. Nerolac, on the other hand, has set up tinting machines at over 3,200 dealer outlets, where customers can mix shades to match a cloth, panel or chip.

Nagarajan reiterates her point, "Launching newer finishes, cooler colours and introducing colour trends are all efforts to satisfy the need of the upgrading consumer."

Colour my world
Niche services and products also help make an impact on customers' minds "" and their attitude to home decoration. Asian Paints, for instance, has taken a two-pronged approach to making painting less of a chore.

On the one hand, it subtly emphasises the "fun" side of redoing a room yourself (Saif and Soha Khan in the latest ads), while on the other, it has launched a full-fledged painting service in 12 cities across India. "Our effort is to take the pain out of painting," smiles Dani. Now, Nerolac and Berger also offer painting services.

Company-trained painters are especially handy for effects like textures and now, for cartoon character stencils.

In 2005, Nerolac conducted research on painting habits among urban customers. A key finding was that parents want their children's rooms to be "special".

The company soon tied up with the Walt Disney Co to launch Disney emulsions "" a package of paint, application tools and stencils of characters like Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse. It even set up a call centre so do-it-yourself painters could call for assistance.

The company points out that such an option encourages painting of a wall or a room, instead of painting the entire house. Not surprisingly, the concept isn't likely to be a money-spinner "" Nerolac estimates the market to be around 100,000 homes "" but that's not the goal, in any case.

Says Bharuka, "More than the business, we are looking at building an image. Once we paint the children's room attractively, we believe the walls will do the talking for us."

Other paint companies, too, see advantages in selling children's products. While Asian Paints' ads have consistently focused on children and children's rooms, its painting service also offers special colours and effects for younger customers.

And last month, Berger announced its plans for a new range of children's paint, following close on the heels of Galaxy, a range of glow-in-the-dark paints. Points out Asian Paints' Anand, "The idea behind children's rooms is to make paints interesting."

As seen on TV
One way of ensuring customer interest in a product is by making it aspirational. Research by Asian Paints showed that most home-owners wanted their homes to look upscale and opulent.

A significant proportion of respondents wanted houses shown in "TV serials and Karan Johar movies". Asian Paints promptly ensured it was associated with some of the most popular soaps on daytime TV and then launched the shade book based on the sets it designed for those shows.

Nerolac, too, has seen the advantages of promotion through television. In October, it sponsored an Indian version of While You Were Out on Zee TV, where a celebrity's home was refurbished and decorated in 36 hours, without his knowledge.

The company also sponsors home improvement shows on other channels, including CNBC. It's a good move, believes Parameshwaran. "In India, painting is an inconvenient task. Positioning it as a fun thing to do will help change perceptions."

Of course, innovative promotions doesn't mean paints companies have done away with the usual celebrity endorsements. Virtually everyone has a star brand ambassador: Saif and Soha Ali Khan endorse Asian Paints, Kareena Kapoor and Karan Johar promote ICI while Koel Purie is the new face of Nerolac.

Whether the stars help the paints cause is debatable. Parameshwaran, for one, thinks the other efforts make for better strategy.

"Paint companies have to change consumers from being unaware and not interested to being educated and excited. Celebrities are not a magic remedy," he says. The companies look at it differently. Points out Nerolac General Manager, Marketing, C Venugopal, "Consumers are inspired by style icons. Which is why we use them." Time will tell who is right.