Spice Honey’ lends itself to the ambience through its transformative power: AkzoNobel

AkzoNobel, the leading global paints and coatings company and makers of Dulux Paints in India, unveiledSpiced Honey today as the Colour of the Year 2019- this follows expert research into global trends, insights and consumer behaviours. Farhan Akhtar, brand ambassador of Dulux in India unveiled ‘Spiced Honey’.

Perfectly capturing this year’s theme, “let the light in”, the warm amber tone is versatile and contemporary, and complements a wide variety of life and interior styles.

Under the umbrella of Colour of the Year, Spiced Honey inspires four harmonious colour palettes themed warm neutrals, soft pastels, intense pigments, and bold bright palette. Each theme is inspired by the varied tones and remarkable properties of honey – natural, timeless and enduring, protective, rejuvenating, and healing –palettes are also forecasted to be seen on the rise of fashion, architecture and design.

Adgully spoke to Rajiv Rajgopal, Managing Director, AkzoNobel India, Oscar Wezenbeek Managing Director, Decorative Paints South East & South Asia (SESA) AkzoNobel and Abhishek Pandey, Digital Head, AkzoNobel

What was the idea behind coming up with Honey Spice color?

I think it’s really about understanding and reflecting the moods of the people. Both Honey & spice are an integral part of Indian spirit. It gives a feeling of warmth, and this is what differentiates us from all other places and companies. It’s all about bringing optimism, India has a sense of optimism, we are the world’s fastest growing economy. So, to me, a color like ‘Spice Honey’ lends itself to the ambience through its transformative power.

Also, Honey is a very translucent substance and catches the light. It resonates around the house and is very nourishing. It’s a very beautiful contemporary color and a beautiful combination with Spice.

What is AkzoNobel’s market share in India?

We are not the market leader in India as far as the market share goes. But, if you look at the premium and paints part of the portfolio, we’re at number 2. We have positions in between 1-2 in other segments, but we are fairly aggressive.

In today’s fast paced world where everyone wants a quick solution to things, why do people still take painting as an exercise?

Painting is usually done before an occasion. It is also done when you're moving into a house, or simply because you’ve outlived the colors and truly want a change. You reflect when you desire this, and are willing to put in the time and investment to make sure they are able to paint their offices or homes etc.

Moreover, Rang bohot badlav laate hai, the colour of the environment plays a very important role in a person’s mood, state of mind, mentality, imagery, and thought process. We can know a lot from the color a person carries, especially his personality.

An individual’s mood depends on the surrounding colors. For instance, it always makes a difference when the weather changes outside. The mood is different when its sunshine, when the clouds are gathering, or when it’s drizzling.

How are your advertising spends distributed on digital vs. traditional media?

We believe in being present at the right point at the right time with the right message. It is very imperative for us that we have a story to tell the customer, we do not then worry about what event it is. We just did a campaign called ‘The Homes of the Brave’ where we didn't worry about what event is, where it is etc. We were just lucky that we were close to Republic Day and hence we chose that day. It was a completely digital initiative.

Our advertising spends have been upped on the digital platform. That is where the consumers are going so we need to be there. Overall, it’s been in the range of 8-10%.

There are some campaigns on TV, then augmented for digital. We also do campaigns that give us incremental reach with Silverpost and Zappr.

Is Dulux taking a leap ahead with AI and Machine Learning?

Our visualizer app helps you choose the color for your walls is based on AR technology. We’ve already been using it for the past few years. We also did a contest titled ‘Finding Farhan’, based on AR. We aren’t using any chatbots at the moment, but we do plan to introduce them. Several banks use them because they have a template but our journey is very different. A consumer has to choose the brand, the type of paint and then colors, textures etc. It is not as simple as checking my balance or account statement.