Asian Paints says no to nice

Royale has been among the best luxury paint brands of India. It has brought many innovations in the interior painting segment. It was the first brand in India to introduce Teflon in paints & talk about superlative performance. However with the changing time the brands look for new ways to have a new communication with the consumers. Asian Paints, hence, launched their latest advertising campaign "No to Nice", conceptualised by Contract Advertising.

We as a consumers tend not be over expressive with our emotions. So the idea behind this campaign was to urge the consumer to move beyond the word nice. The campaign tries to touch a chord with today’s mindset and to build-up a strong connection with the audience. Royale wants to connect to the consumers who are trying to say ‘No’ to ‘Nice’.

Reflecting on this new initiative Amit Syngle, President- Sales, Marketing & Technology, Asian Paints Limited says, “I think that any Royale consumer looks for evolution in life. A very apt description for him/her is that he/she doesn’t accept anything which is ‘just acceptable’ & looks for the best. This is precisely the reason why he/she chooses Royale over many other paint brands. We thought this is a very potent insight to latch on to.”

The objective behind the campaign has been to strengthen the luxury positioning of brand Royale through a narrative which is inspiring for consumers. Whereas the business objective is to maintain the strong growth that Royale has had over past many years.

Contract Advertising not only understood what Royale as a brand stands for but how it carried forward the message of Royale to its consumer. Talking on this front Ashish Chakravarty, National Creative Director, 

Contract India Pvt. Ltd, says “We worked for five weeks for this campaign. We wanted to change the conversation from just fine décor to a quest for the extraordinary. So what’s the enemy of extraordinary? That is the feeling of being satisfied with ‘ok’, ‘just good’, ‘expected’ and ‘nice’. The thought of Saif Ali Khan as the 'purveyor of all things extraordinary’ was perfect for the persona he comes with. So in the film we turn the tables on him when it comes to interior décor. That made for a very compelling story for Royale to tell.”

One of the strong factors behind the success of the campaign has been the fact that Saif Ali Khan as an ambassador fits perfectly with the brand value. In an interesting aside, during the shoot of the campaign the creative team’s obsession with nice rubbed off on Saif with amusing consequences. Saif started judging each and every prop on the set, calling everything that he saw as ‘Nice’. And he had everyone in splits.

So how has Saif Ali Khan as a brand ambassador worked for this campaign, Amit Syngle says, “Saif has a very wide consumer appeal. He has worked in varied kinds of roles encompassing each section of the audience. With his lineage, he brings with him values such as aesthetic sensibility and sophistication. Saif has had a long association with Royale for over 10 years now and any communication with Saif means an instant brand recall.”

Royale has taken a 360 degree approach to the communication. It is across all channels like Print, Cinema, Radio, Digital Media, Outdoor and BTL activations as well. Also the campaign has reached audience beyond the metros also. Syngle says, “We are looking at TG beyond metros also through this campaign. Most communication channels that we are using provide us reach beyond metros as well. Market has responded extremely positively to the campaign. We have seen an immediate surge in sales post the campaign however more sustained impact will follow in due course of time. The ad has received very good response from our Network and all other stakeholders. The initial business results are really positive and it should remain so in due course of time.”

The key question, however, is that the word ‘royale’ itself aligns the brand to a different consumer profile. Is it looking at targeting someone who has higher purchasing power or eclectic taste? On this point Syngle elaborates, “Over the years, we have seen that with a painting frequency of three years or above, more and more consumers want to upgrade to the best. This is irrespective of their geography or their segment. Everyone can have their own dimension of ‘Nice’ where we want to inspire them for the extra-ordinary.”