Q] What was the insight behind JSW Paints’ new campaign – Sachche Rang?
One of the biggest differences that we are making to the Indian consumers is offering any colour at one price. We are the first paints’ company to do it in India. And we felt it’s important to really showcase this price transparency to the Indian consumer very clearly. And that’s the single-most important objective and the purpose of this campaign. And of course, it brings out the true colours of the paints’ industry, they are charging different prices for different colours and that’s the colour of the industry today. We just felt like we needed to call it out and say that’s not right for the consumer. So we created the ‘Sachche Rang’ campaign.
Q] What media mix and budget has been allocated for this campaign?
We are plugged into IPL because that is a very important media even in this time of the year and that’s how we started. Though of course, now it has been suspended. We also have plans to take it to the regional media but currently, we have postponed that because of the second wave as markets are closed in most places. Apart from that, we keep doing digital amplification. So we typically allocate budgets based on the kind of impact we want to drive for each campaign and also depending on the timing of the campaigns. So right now, we are holding back promotional activities, but we will look at promoting this campaign a bit more as the markets open up.
Q] What consumer response have you received so far on your ‘any colour, one price’ promise?
Very positive. People who have noticed it clearly understand that only JSW Paints is offering this. It is still too early because the campaign has just recently rolled out and it will take some time for it to really impact the marketplace but we have been otherwise offering ‘any colour, one price’ since we launched in most markets. And whenever consumers come in and notice it, they find it extremely fair, and it’s an eye opener for them. And we want a wide audience to experience this because I think today, most consumers don’t even realise that they are paying different prices for different colours.
Q] Why did you choose Ayushmann Khuranna to promote this particular campaign? How do you plan to leverage this association in the future?
Ayushmann and Alia (Bhatt) are our brand ambassadors. And we have chosen them, not just because they are celebrities, but they often represent various causes in their own career and in their own personal life. And they bring their own value to the association.
Q] How have the last 12 months been for JSW Paints? What kind of challenges did your brand face?
The challenges that we faced because of the pandemic were mostly the limitations and uncertainties which the market offered, the difficulty in operating, ensuring safety and the limitations even when markets opened up. There was also a change in consumer sentiment about taking up painting projects, letting people into their houses for painting – those were the challenges that we faced. But given those challenges, we still continued with our journey to launch and penetrate more markets. And we have had a decent year and we’ve been able to launch in new markets, expand our footprint, get more associations, retailers and dealers on board, and we have increased our contractor franchise. We have also launched our campaign around ‘embrace every colour’ and now ‘any colour one price’. So it’s overall been a good year for us.
Q] How is the brand supporting local painters in these tough times?
I think we’re the only company who goes directly to contractors, right from the time we have launched. We actually cherish and engage very actively with painters and contractors. We have a star programme which engages with them very regularly. There are two things that we do – one is to enable them with safety kits, so that they are able to carry on with their work safely and they are able to give confidence and assurance to the consumers. Last year, we provided them with thermo guns and also gave them safety training for these COVID times. And the biggest thing which we have done, which we are now happy to note that even the other paint companies are adopting is, directly transferring benefits to their bank account. So as they use our product and earn loyalty benefits. We ask them to link their bank accounts and they get their benefits transferred to their bank account straight away.
Q] As the country is now battling a second wave of COVID-19, what are your expectations from this year? What will be your key focus areas going forward?
We are only hoping that this second wave goes away with the speed it came. I think people will now be careful about dropping their guard and they will be more conscious about maintaining the COVID precautions and a larger set will get vaccinated, which should happen over this quarter and the next quarter. So, once we are able to tackle the second wave, life should get back a bit more quickly to normalcy and then the year should go off well. We are an early stage brand. So, the focus areas from marketing are very clear, it is about reaching more markets and penetrating. We have launched in the South and West over the last year and a half. We will become national this year. We plan to go to the North East. So, we will launch into new markets and we will establish the brand there as well. And in each of the markets, we will reach deeper markets and build our franchise with retailers and contractors, while we will continue to do our consumer communication through the campaigns from time to time, but we will become a national player, we will launch all over the country this year.
