I am starting my series of Brand Stories with our very own Indian brand Asian Paints. A vibrant brand, which continuously revolves to evolve and adds happiness and value to all of its stakeholders. This brand’s history dates back to the 1940s when it made its beginning in a humble garage, and reached a leadership position in the Indian paint industry in late 60’s.
A brief glimpse into the paint industry of yesteryear and its traditional set-up brings forth the 360-degree change that the industry has witnessed over the years in terms of the products, value proposition for the different market segments, integration of technology, and the retailing and promotion strategies. In fact, the outlook of customers towards paints and the very meaning of this category has undergone an overhaul.
Once a low involvement product category with traditional whitewash being the only choice, it has moved towards high quality emulsions and enamel paints to becoming an extremely high involvement category which customers today associate with their personality, lifestyle and emotions.
One player that has contributed majorly in the transformational journey of the paint industry is Asian Paints.
Indian paint industry, a highly fragmented and competitive one, is broadly divided into two segments: Decorative segment and Industrial segment with leader brand Asian Paints along with other players such as Berger, Nerolac, Shalimar, Akzo Nobel and Nippon.
As I pull out pages from the history of the brand Asian Paints, I think that one aspect of the brand identity that would definitely bring a smile on the faces of people of my generation is ‘Gattu’ – the impish brand mascot created by the renowned cartoonist R.K. Laxman in 1954, when the brand had yet to establish its strong foothold in the market. After the introduction of Gattu in 1954, sales for Asian Paints zoomed ten-fold, as recalled by brand historians.
In that era, paint had more of a connection with celebrations and festivals, as this was when people generally used to paint their houses. Gattu could really connect well with the mass target segment of Indian families, because of being high on the memorable & likeable factors. Also, at a time when literacy rate was low, brand mascots played a big role in giving recognition and recall to the brand. Gattu and his paintbrush clearly suggested the category of the brand, thus, appeared meaningful and remained an inseparable element of Asian Paints’ brand identity, with his presence seen in all ad campaigns and the paint cans.
Gattu garnered the attention, interest and involvement of home owners and moved Asian Paints from the commoditised segment into the branded space. The mascot played an especially big role in rural markets and turned into a real asset for the brand.
The logo of Asian Paints in red and yellow colour and the mascot ‘Gattu’ provided a strong brand identity and the necessary initial step towards building brand equity.
Learnings so far:
Brand is an entity.
Different brand elements like Name, Logo, Colour, Mascot, Shape, Tagline, Packaging and the like that are directly associated with a brand, provide an identity and physical appearance to the brand.
This physical appearance, the looks of the brand give visibility to it, clarify the category it belongs to, needs that it is going to serve. In a nutshell, it helps in creating awareness which is definitely a first step towards building brand equity. ‘Who are you’ is the question that get answered here, relating to the brand. And brand identity generated from brand elements, go a long way in giving recognition and recall value to the brand, so very important for creating connection with the customers.
Certain criteria considered essential for the success of brand elements are likeability, memorability, meaningfulness (as mentioned above), also transferability, adaptability and protectability (which will get covered later).
Consider a routine scenario - As soon as we enter any retail store, amidst the different soaps lying on the shelves…are we not immediately able to trace where Dove or Lux is, or where Rin is and the like?
From afar jar of Bournvita, bottle of Coke, packet of Tata Salt get recognized…How? Yes, it’s the physical appearance of that brand which helps recognizing the brand. And the physical appearance means the colors, shape, packaging etc. of that brand.
Now consider another scenario – we are sitting at home, preparing the shopping list, with none of the brands in front of us. Still, we know which brand of veg oil, of toothpaste or juice has to be placed on our list. This is the recall value based on our connection with the brand.
Now, moving further on the exciting journey of Asian Paints...
Paint had not evolved much as a category in the 80s era, with limited competition and product range. If we go by the famous AIDA model which lays down Awareness-Interest-Desire-Action as the different advertising objectives, then only the first objective of creating awareness was mainly the focus for the different paint ads of that era.
Customers’ involvement with the category being low, colors, shades and paints being few, the advertising objectives of creating interest and desire somewhat remained out of the realm. On the action side also, instead of the home-owners, the decision was taken or influenced more by the neighborhood hardware stores, who were the retailers of paint products.
For home owners, paint was just a functional product, where durability and price mattered. Chief earner of the family would decide when to get house painted and most of the time would not consider incurring this expense, until really required, may be once in 3-4 years.
In order to leverage on the familiarity created for Asian Paints' by Gattu and take it to the next level, ad agency Ogilvy came out with festive advertising in the 1980s which connected occasions such as marriage or child-birth and festivals like Diwali and Pongal to be reasons to paint one's home. Series of festive advertising turned the category of paints which was seen only as functional and brought emotional connectivity to it.
Another big step taken, which can be considered as revolutionary or, I should say, evolutionary for the paint category, was the ‘Mera Wala’ campaign of Asian Paints in early 90s. The tagline got so popular that it became akin to a generic term, as people would go up to stores and ask for ‘mera wala blue’ or ‘mera wala green’.
Now let me explain why I called this step evolutionary, not just for the brand but for the entire paint category. Success of this campaign evolved the category from low-involvement to a high involvement one. This campaign brought forward hitherto dull category of paints in a new light, with varied offerings in products and shades, shifted the color choice decision from hardware stores to home owners.
The communication tagline of the brand with the term ‘Mera wala’, along with new wide choices of colors to offer, made the connection between the brand and customer appear personalized. Thus, emotional bond created by festive advertising got stronger. And it became a real game changer for the paint industry.
While the mascot ‘Gattu’ and the logo in red and yellow colour provided appealing looks to the brand Asian Paints. ‘Mera wala’ campaign gave a new meaning to the brand.
The Apcolite emulsion shade card with 151 shades gave it a differentiation plank, as back then talking about various shades on offer was unheard of in the paint industry. Brand positioning started to build up and take a unique course. The product paint always belonged to home space, but with its unique communication strategy, Asian Paints now entered into the lives of individuals living within that home space.
Learnings so far:
Revolutionary steps taken by a single brand, leads to growth not for that brand alone but for all different players as the entire category expands and evolves.
Expansion & evolution of category provides maximum benefits to the customers in terms of varied options and new valued offerings getting available.
With category expanding, new competitors entering, now after the awareness stage brand moves towards denoting its meaning to the target segment, as to where all it stands similar and how it stands different from the competitors. ‘What are you’ is the question that get answered here, relating to the brand. Brand positioning starts to build up which is second step towards building brand equity.
Laddering up process began for Asian Paints. From belonging to a category where only functional attributes like durability and price mattered, it now moved high on the ladder where emotional connect started getting established. Asian Paints deepened the meaning of the paint category. Moved it from dull to exciting, from generic to personalized.
Going further on...
With social fabric changing, family structures moved from joint set-up to nuclear. Young couples were the new home owners. This young target audience exhibited more interest in decorating their homes instead of just getting them painted. Moreover, with economic liberalization of 1991, there came in new exposure and new opportunities.
This led to rise in disposable income of the average middle class coupled with increasing investment in education, urbanization, and development of the rural market. Tastes and preferences of the middle class underwent a change. Now it was time for Asian Paints to shake off its mass-market image for a more premium appeal required in the 21st century. A new corporate identity had to be unveiled for new India. For the upwardly moving target market, upbeat product portfolio and revamped image, the iconic mascot, the lovable ‘Gattu’ appeared a misfit.
Gattu, like the Amul moppet, had become a part of advertising folklore. In the 1950s-70s, the mischievous Gattu was an inseparable part of Asian Paints' advertising, mostly in print, accompanied by the line 'Any surface that needs painting needs Asian Paints', to justify his antics. But by the eighties and nineties, focus started shifting, with Gattu and his paint brush visible only on the paint cans, appearing at the end of TV ads or at the bottom of print ads. But it continued to be an indelible element in Asian Paints' identity till 2002.
Piyush Pandey, a renowned name in the world of advertising, had also worked with Asian Paints as part of leading advertising agency Ogilvy. He was a part of the team that decided to replace Gattu despite of it having a mass appeal, because they realised that the brand needed something universal.
Moreover, Gattu grew beyond being a brand element. It became equivalent to Asian Paints. In certain respects, Gattu even started to outshine the brand as the brand was being recognised only by the mascot more, which posed a threat to the identity of the brand. Pandey said, “It couldn’t have twin identities and they did not want to lose the brand.”
Gattu needed to go.
The mascot was finally done away with in 2002 and it was replaced with the Asian Paints logo. This decision was questioned and deemed to be a big mistake by many. But the growth trajectory of Asian Paints post-Gattu era, the movement of the brand from a paint-can-company to becoming household finishing behemoth, clearly showcases the strength of the decision.
Ever since the exit of Gattu, Asian Paints fast-tracked and rejigged its brand portfolio, and transited to a solutions provider. But an important point to note here is that Asian Paints continued to stick to its core, with major emphasis on its few strong brands. Different verticals were created and all major brands were very well placed under each like exterior (Apex Ultima), interior (Tractor Emulsion, Royale, Royale Play), solutions (Ezycolour) and waterproofing (SmartCare).
“Wah! Sunil babu, naya ghar... nayi gaadi... nayi Mrs. Badiya hai!” – this humorous famous ad directed by ad man Prasoon Joshi induced the importance of home exterior and spoke of how a product could keep a house's exteriors timeless and led to the growth of this new category.
In the interior paint category, brands like Royale and Royale Play brought in new target segments of upper middle class and classy youth within the fold of Asian Paints – a brand which was till then more associated with the middle class.
Learnings so far:
Brand elements have a definite role to play in the brand’s journey. Brand elements cannot replace the brand.
Different aspects of brand should synchronize with the growth vision of the brand
Being vigilant to the changes around and adapting to the changes is the key to success for any brand.
Continuous updations in brand is required to prevent it from losing its appeal & get outdated.
Sticking to the core – remaining true to its vision & core values is important for the brand
Understanding right need gaps, ever expanding product portfolio with appropriate set of benefits (value proposition) around them, catering to different target segments indicates the image and performance of the brand.
All of the above led to further laddering up for Asian Paints as right image & performance started building trust among its customers.
Now we move ahead to another interesting turn...
This was the paint category’s entry into the lifestyle domain, credit for which goes to Asian Paints’ memorable campaign of 2007- Har Ghar Kuch Kehta Hain. Till this time, people had started seeing Asian Paints as a brand associated with home, togetherness and love. And this campaign denoting that ‘every home says something about its owner’, brought this paint brand very close to the owner and to different individuals residing in the home. It addressed the need of self-expression among the young, educated, freedom seeking members of middle-class families.
This campaign changed the perspective of young customers, for whom home became a living space, which was lively, where their self-expressions could take shape through choice of colours and decorations around. Each room, each wall depicted the personality of individuals living therein. With this, brand’s own personality as a warm, friendly, lively, creative entity got carved out, which fits-in completely with the personality of its customers. Relationship started getting built.
Learnings so far:
Once your promises backed by consistence performance starts generating trust, its time to know the response of customers towards the brand
‘What about you’ is the question that is asked to the brand here. Brand has to now move closer to the customer, strengthen the emotional bonds further and become a part of customer’s life
This is what ‘Har Ghar Kuch Kehta Hain’ campaign succeeded in doing for brand Asian Paints
Asian Paints entered individual customer’s life and got associated strongly with their lifestyle and personality
Brand succeeded in getting positive judgements, evoked happy feelings amongst customers. Thus, encouraging and exciting response received helped the brand to move ahead.
Marvelous has been the journey of Asian Paints in the 60 years that I have covered in my article till now. This leader brand by its dynamism contributed immensely in completely turning around the paint industry. Erstwhile, dull category, simply a functional one, to becoming resplendent and reaching the lifestyle domain, is indeed a remarkable turnaround. Major credit definitely goes to Asian Paints, which has been a first-mover in many disruptive steps taken, towards success and growth.
I end my first part of story on Asian Paints here.
Par picture abhi baaki hai...
Await for the second part of the story or so to say, the sequel to know on the Big Bold Leap ahead.
References:
It is output of so much attention and persistent hard-work for collecting qualitative data