Did you kiss goodbye to your single-colour walls this Diwali? And did you check out Asian Paints wall fashion series, with which you can ?signature paint your home,? in contemporary designs, patterns and textures and change a drab room into a designer pad?
Showcasing simple techniques like stenciling and masking, the market leader?s (2006 turnover: Rs 2,319 crore) new range allows the consumer to discover and bring out the character of an individual wall, rather than coat them all in a single shade from the floor to the ceiling.
Sounds adventurous? Try it. The best part is you don?t have to go to a hardware store to pick your paint can. Simply walk into the nearest Home Town (Pantaloon Retail?s home improvement store) outlet, and you will be overwhelmed by the sheer range on display not just in terms of colour but also patterns and textures, showcased on 50 mock-up walls, each coated in a different hue.
Latika Khosla, a product of the National Institute of Design, is the in-house colour consultant for Home Town. She changes the mock-ups every week to reflect the colour and textural trends in vogue.
But you really don?t have to attend a mock-up session at Home Town to paint your dreams wild. Just pick up Asian Paints? ColorNext 2007 or Goodlass Nerolac?s Style Guide 2007. Both companies hire a battery of top-notch designers and colour consultants to make the annual colour forecast.
?The attempt is not just to predict colours but to get into the reasons behind the prevailing trends. For this reason, ColourNext is quite sought after by architects and interior designers,? informs Amit Syngle, general manager, marketing, Asian Paints. He claims his company pioneered the concept way back in 2003.
?How the paint industry has matured in just one decade can be gauged from the fact that while there were just 150 shades in 1997, today the statistic is close to 3,000,? according to Abhijit Roy, vice-president, marketing, Berger Paints.
The price can start from Rs 3 per sq ft to Rs 40-60 per sq ft or even upwards. ?Anything above Rs 40 per sq ft would falls in the premium, designer range,? informs Anuj Jain, vice-president, sales & marketing, Goodlass Nerolac Paints.
Estimated at Rs 11,000 crore, the paint industry has a huge organised sector (Rs 7,000), which is growing at 21% per annum. As marketers point out, with easy access to credit and cash, today?s young home-owners are not just preening themselves, but also their homes. As such, homes are becoming an extension of their personalities.
?We have a lot of young consumers who are open to experimentation,? says Deepika Sabharwal, vice-president, account management, Ogilvy & Mather, the agency that has held the Asian Paints account for over 23 years and witnessed all the changes that the brand?as well as the paint market?has undergone. ?Anywhere between 25 and 40 years of age, they are increasingly involved with their home d?cor.?
?The media and in particular those saas-bahu serials have also contributed their bit in raising our comfort level with various design schemes,? observes Prasoon Joshi, regional executive creative director, Asia Pacific, McCann Erickson, the agency that handles Goodlass Nerolac. ?At the end of the day, the image they see on TV is the image they are left with and aim for in their homes,? adds Joshi.
How ?indulgent and absolutely nuanced, we have become in the paints segment? to borrow a phrase from Joshi is evident in the sheer textural (other than colour) range on offer. Berger Paints kicked off the trend three years ago (in 2004) with Illusion, followed by the launch of Asian Paints? Royale Play and Goodlass Nerolac?s Impressions, all falling in the premium category of Rs 40 per sq ft and above.
?We even patented our first 12 shades in Illusions range, but discovered that nine were ripped off the next year,? rues Roy of Berger Paints. Two years ago, the company once again stole a march over others with the launch of Galaxy, a do-it-yourself fluorescent paint kit (with stencils) with which one can paint a glowing night sky on the ceiling of the kids? bedroom.
Priced at Rs 800, the paints company has arranged with the dealers to depute someone to the site, should the parent not feel confident about doing the job herself, although ?it?s really kids? play?, according to Roy.
The children?s segment must indeed be growing as both Goodlass Nerolac and Berger Paints have tied up with kids TV channels (Disney and Cartoon Network, respectively) to have their characters licensed to them. So the next time you want to surprise your child, just order a Disney or a Cartoon Network stencil from one of these paint companies and the character would come alive on your child?s wall.
In fact, it was Asian Paints that led the trend with Kids World, a collection of kiddy themes launched in association with Cartoon Network in 2003. Now that rival Berger has tied up with Cartoon Network, Asian Paints is working on a new plan to distribute the collection.
What?s clear from all this is that both the consumer and the communication has undergone a sea change over the last decade or so.
?Earlier, we followed just two extremes approaches to paint?very basic, and functional, wherein we painted our houses around major festivals. Or highly evolved which only the very rich could afford. But with more purchasing power in the hands of the middle class, now there is also a third category of spenders in our midst,? observes Prasoon Joshi.
Agrees Pranesh Misra, president & COO, Lowe, the agency that handles the Berger Weather Coat brand: ?With the availability of technology and cash, there is more excitement in the category. All this makes colour a critical success factor for paint brands.?
A case in point is Asian Paints. The company that claims a market share upwards of 55% has an expansive palette of 1,320 shades in metallic and two-tone shades. In 2000, the company introduced Home Solutions, a paint and advisory service, under which one could order colour consultants and specific designer finishes. ?The Home Solutions service is now available across the country,? Syngle points out.
In the low-priced segment, the media choice for the paint industry has been typically skewed in favour of television, whereas for the premium category a combination of print and outdoors was the norm, according to Berger?s Roy. But the mix may change as there is more migration from the low- to hi-end paints with better retail facilities and media exposure.
What has not changed and perhaps may not change in a few years is that while women generally decide on colours, men have the last word on the brand. This is one reason why although paint is a home accessory, it?s still hawked at hardware stores and the communication has the man in a very prominent role. But as kids and women begin to make an appearance, the signs of change become loud and clear.
