1.

Asian Paints
Asian Paints is an Indian paint manufacturing firm established since 1942. It has, over its 70+
years of existence become the leading paint company in India. Apart from the superior quality of
paints, they are known for winning the nation’s heart with their colorful and quirky
advertisements. Their Marketing strategy has been the key differentiator that has made the
company as successful as it is today.
An overview of Asian Paints’ marketing strategies, in an effort to try and decode their success
and learn about their journey. We shall be covering the company’s product portfolio with its
distinctive advantages and marketing campaigns over the years.

About the company

Headquartered in Mumbai, Asian Paints is currently the largest paint company in India and the
third-largest in Asia. The Asian Paints group operates in 19 countries and has different
subsidiaries, such as:

o Berger
o APCO
o Scib Paints
o PPG Asian Paints
o Taubmans
o Sleek Kitchens
o Kadisco and many others.
It is India’s leading paint group with an annual total revenue of Rs 20,515.56 Crores in the
Financial Year 2020. The company manufactures paints in the category of decorative,
automotive, and industrial segments. The company also manufactures various accessories as well
like wall primers, wood primers, putty, strainers, etc.
Asian Paints Marketing Mix
A marketing mix is the collection of strategies or initiatives that a company uses to promote the
demand for its brand or product. A standard marketing mix- Product, Price, Promotion and Place
– comprises the 4Ps. Let us take a look at Asian Paints’ Marketing Mix:

Product Strategy
Asian Paints’ core product is decorative and industrial paint. Along with that, the company offers
solutions and services for home paintings. Instead of having one homogenous target audience,
the company uses a differentiating targeting strategy to cater specific products to different
segments of customers, as explained below:
– Asian Paints Royale targeted at the premium segment
– Apcolite, tractor emulsion, tractor distemper targeted at the economy segment
Asian Paints also provides protective coatings, undercoats, primers and putties. The products in
the marketing mix of Asian Paints, hence, provide complete painting solutions including
accessories and tools.

Price Strategy
Asian Paints follows different pricing strategies according to the targeted segment. As mentioned
above, the Royale product range is marketed towards high-income groups and hence, is priced
higher.
Asian Paints follows a value-based pricing approach for the medium and economic segments. As
per the exclusive features in the product category, the price also varies. The pricing decisions are
often influenced by the raw material used to manufacture paints, as well as competitors’ prices.
The company’s success can also be attributed to its high incentives for distributors. Summed up,
Asian Paints has adopted a flexible pricing policy.

Promotion Strategy
Over the years, Asian Paints has carried out various highly successful promotional activities.
One of its most notable being the brand mascot Gattu, a cartoon created by R.K Laxman in 1954
that went on to become a popular and recognized figure for more than four decades.
The company’s main focus is being all about families, and emotionally connecting with the
customers. Many famous public figures have been Asian Paints brand ambassadors such as
Akshay Khanna, Ranbir Kapoor, brother-sister duo Saif Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan, with the
most recent being Deepika Padukone.
A major promotional tool used by them is providing incentives to their distribution network.
Presently, a lot of their promotion is also executed through their social media, touched upon in
detail later, when speaking of their digital media presence.

Place Strategy
Asian Paints has operations around the world. They are carried out through a network of five
regions worldwide, via the Caribbean region, the Middle East region, the South Pacific region,
South-East Asia and South Asia, with large resources spent on R&D centers.
Asian Paints’ major competitive advantage is its well-established, extensive distribution network.
The organization targets all- semi-urban, rural and urban areas. It launched an open-door policy
for dealers after entering the retail market and began a national marketing and distribution
operation. It has different manufacturing locations and is India’s largest. This dynamic network,
along with sales managers, executives and the sales team, manages all development and delivery
phases.
Asian Paints is a massive organization and faces competition from all sides. Now that we have
covered their marketing mix in-depth, let us understand their competitors.

Competitive Analysis
Asian Paints is the market leader, with currently over almost 30% market share. Its biggest
competitors are- Berger Paints, Kansai Nerolac, Indigo Paints, Akzo Nobel, Sirca Paints and
Shalimar Paints. Asian Paints’ competitive advantage is its distribution strength.
Its product portfolio, comprising the exhaustive list of painting needs, is also a competitive
advantage along with its visibility and geographical reach.

o The company’s stand-out feature is its range of exclusive signature stores providing
consumers with expert assistance from trained professionals offering customized
furnishing and decoration solutions. Many such measures are taken by the company to
reduce the influence of painters over the customers’ choice of brands, in a novel way over
the years.
o Prospective customers can even directly call the company’s helpline to check out the
product offerings and get a direct quote.
But ultimately, these advantages are imitable. What the company needs to do for long-term
leadership, is generate more demand by way of intermediaries.

o In the paint business, intermediaries like painters, contractors, designers, decorators, etc.
have a high influence over consumers’ purchase decisions.
o Asian Paints could use these intermediaries to their benefit, by either utilizing them as a
marketing arm to promote their products as spokespersons directly to the end-user.
o Or, the company could sideline intermediaries and open up a service arm, cutting costs
for consumers via bundling services and thus, increasing demand via value addition.
Let us now look at the reason the company has been able to achieve its status as the nation’s
leading brand, i.e., its successful marketing strategy.

Asian Paints Marketing Strategy

Asian Paints’ marketing strategy is offering different products of varying price points, according
to the income groups of the consumers they are marketed towards. They segment based on
demographic and geographic factors such as location, income levels, etc. and then, target each
segment with specific products suited to their needs and position themselves accordingly in
terms of price.
They effectively use both, traditional media and digital media in their marketing. They advertise
on television and in papers to garner attention from conventional media users. Their humorous
ads presently feature Ranbir Kapoor, talking about the distinctive features of their paint. And
they also market on social media through challenges, trends, competitions, using influencers, etc.
Asian Paints Marketing Campaigns
Asian Paints’ marketing journey has historically revolutionized what was traditionally
considered a “static” industry. Let us take a look at some of its most effective marketing
campaigns:

o Post Gattu, Asian Paints, associated with Ogilvy and Mather, launched a new
marketing strategy by focusing on festive occasions with their now signature
tagline “Har Ghar Kuch Kehta Hain” focusing on festivals such as Diwali and
Pongal, occasions such as weddings, etc. The organization marketed it as an
opportunity to paint homes by engaging on an emotional level. They still market
heavily during festivals, by showcasing festive decor and celebrations, asking
consumers to do the same and share using their hashtags!
o The comedic “Wah Sunil Babu Wah” ad became extremely successful with
audiences and is still remembered and associated with the brand. The concept was
humorously poking at the fact that their paint maintains its freshness and
longevity even through the various surrounding and life changes.
o The company then rebranded to appeal to consumers through high-profile brand
ambassadors such as Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor. Depicting a switch in
now communicating sophistication and innovation. The company still uses this
strategy with newer public figures such as Radhika Apte and Rana Daggubati.
o The company conducts many campaigns on their YouTube, via short video series. They
focus on geographical regions and share their painting suggestions. They also then host
competitions for these cities/states.
A modern-day marketing strategy is incomplete without a comprehensive digital marketing
component. Let us see how they brought their iconic marketing style into the digital format.

Asian Paints Digital Marketing Strategy

Apart from being famous for their TV ads, Asian Paints is up with the current times and has a
strong social media presence, owed to their brilliant digital marketing strategy. Asian Paint’s
digital presence is handled by the ad agency Kinect.
Let us analyze how they adopted the digital marketing medium and the strategies they use.
First, let us take a look at their particulars:
 o 163k followers on Instagram, 119k on Twitter, 19 Lakh likes on Facebook and 945k
subscribers on YouTube.
o They are most engaging on Instagram, where they regularly post home decor inspiration
and designs, mentioning every product used in detail, for ease of the consumers.
o They host decor competitions periodically, especially during festivals such as Navratri,
Diwali, X-Mas, etc. This encourages consumers to decorate their spaces and engage with
the company in order to win exciting services and prizes.
o They are doing pretty well at influencer marketing as well, collaborating with popular
Instagram figures who have used Asian Paints’ services. These influencers then conduct
‘house tours’ on their pages, promoting Asian Paints.
o They post tutorials of using new products on their YouTube, along with short videos of
their ads.
o Twitter and Facebook are used to notify consumers of new offerings and advertisements.
The company also paints murals in various Indian cities, focusing on pressing social issues, thus
generating awareness as well as goodwill for the company. Recently during the ongoing global
pandemic, the company started a campaign- painting murals of essential workers and
appreciating their service- titled ‘Thank you heroes.’ So, it’s pretty clear that they utilize relevant
current affairs happenings and create campaigns accordingly.
Asian Paints is certainly doing well for itself in the market with apt product segmentation and
positioning, occupying a major chunk of consumer share. Its marketing strategies are effective,
satisfying the consumers’ needs and maintaining its brand image as undoubtedly one of the best
in the industry. The company’s marketing campaigns strike the right note with viewers and keep
them interested in what they have to offer. Their Instagram presence is quite strong and up to
speed with digital media advances. All in all, Asian Paints has evolved and maintained its brand
quality and image very well. Although they could certainly benefit from increasing demand by
differentiating and branching out their services arm.

2. Berger Paints
Berger Paints is an Indian multinational paints company in India. They are also the second-
largest paint company. The company offers quality-based colorful paints to the customers. The
guiding principle of the company is its performance, customer priority, ethical practices, and
valuing people.

About Berger Paints

The company had its colorful beginning in 1760, founded by Lewis Berger. However, Berger
Paints was integrated among its various lines of businesses in the year of 1923. Headquartered in
Kolkata, it has its international presence in about 5 countries and countrywide distribution
channels making them one of the well-established paint companies. The company is
internationally located in Nepal, Poland, Russia, India, and Bangladesh. Berger Paints India has a
production facility unit in Krasnodar, Russia. The paint company had also acquired Bolix SA of
Poland, a provider of External Insulation Finishing Systems in Eastern Europe. Berger Paints has
been a market leader in Indian industrial paint for over 45 years and is one of Asia’s top four
paint companies in Architectural Coatings. It is also one of the top 14 paint companies in the
world. The company rose to the 15th spot from the 24th spot in the previous fiscal year 2016,
and it continues to provide innovative and cutting-edge paint products and services.

Marketing Mix of Berger Paints

Marketing mix is a qualitative model which demonstrates the combination, core values and
market conduct of a company. It helps to find the right balance and provide the right promotional
opportunities for a product in the right channel based on four parameters, also known as 4Ps. The
four parameters include product, price, place and promotion.
So let look at the marketing mix strategy of Berger Paints in the coming section.

Product Strategy of Marketing Mix

The product strategy of Berger Paints and its product mix is as follows:
Berger Paints is a popular paint manufacturer in India. Their product line is divided into two
categories: decorative paints and industrial paints. In the marketing mix, these offerings make up
the product strategy.
It also offers GI & Automotive coatings, powder coatings, and protective coatings under the
Industrial Paints category.
Berger Silk, Easy Clean, Berger Luxol HiGloss, Bison, Weathercoat All Guard, and
Weathercoat Floor Protector are some of the well-known products in the ornamental market.
Imperia, a water-based luxury paint, is also doing well, as are wood paintings
Thus, these are the product strategies handled by Berger Paints.

Price Strategy of Berger Paints

Due to its large portfolio, Berger Paints has a diverse pricing strategy. The wall coatings are
also reasonably priced, ranging from Rs 140 per litre for Acrylic Emulsion to Rs 430 per litre
for Silk Luxury Emulsions.
Even though the price is modest, the quality has been maintained at a high level. In the industry,
Bison Emulsion, Walmasta, and Luxol Higloss paints are highly regarded.
The Express Painting option is very reasonably priced and handy for customers. Industrial
solutions are likewise quite reasonably priced, with prices varying depending on the level of
customization.

Place and Distribution Strategy of Berger Paints

Berger Paints has a large distribution network with over 160 stock sites that deliver to over
25000 dealers. This demonstrates the marketing mix’s solid distribution strategy.
A professional sales team is present in all locations to assist customers by providing
consultation on the painting solutions they require.
Berger Paints distribution chain runs from the factory to warehouses to sales offices to dealers
to retailers to customers. Bulk customers, such as institutional developers and big corporate
projects, are also dealt with by the sales offices.
Promotion Strategy of Berger Paints
Berger Paints’ marketing mix promotional strategy has traditionally emphasized aggressive
marketing. It relies heavily on advertising as a promotional technique.
To market its newer and innovative items, the corporation creates several marketing campaigns.
It also runs numerous sales campaigns to maintain merchant and painter loyalty, which is
critical for converting sales.
Berger Paints have also participated in green belt development programs and implemented
different infrastructure development activities surrounding its manufacturing units. Hence, this
concludes the marketing mix of Berger Paints.
So, let’s dive into the marketing strategies led by Berger Paints.

Marketing Strategy of Berger Paints

The marketing strategy of Berger Paints uses a variety of techniques to promote its brand; it
does aggressive marketing on TV by using guerilla marketing tactics such as relating its paints
with the sky and also having brand ambassadors in place which leads consumers to be more
interested in buying the products.
Advertising is a very important promotional strategy for the company. It draws consumers in
with products and services that appeal to their tastes, basically works by creating an emotional
bond between the advertiser and its audience. The company also comes up with various ad
campaigns as their strategy to promote their newer and innovative products.

Brand Ambassadors of Berger Paints

In recent years, Berger Paints has increased its focus on marketing its products using popular
faces. It has signed popular celebrities such as Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor, and Akshay
Kumar to promote their products.
These brand ambassadors have helped Berger Paints to increase its brand awareness and keep
itself distinct from its competitors.
Thus, this explains that this brand has a strong presence on social media platforms, so let’s
examine the marketing campaigns led by Berger Paints in social media.

Marketing Campaigns of Berger Paints

Berger Paints have led numerous campaigns with their brand ambassadors and had quite
fabulous responses. The company promotes its products through various marketing campaigns.
Let’s learn about some of the great campaigns led by Berger Paints to attract its customers.

o Diwalipanti – A Marketing Campaign of Berger Paints

Diwalipanti campaign is unique, as it catered to several audiences with different preferences.
Berger’s campaign aimed to create a creative platform that provided entertainment via a fun
two-split microsite. This marketing campaign of Berger Paints as a whole had a huge response.
 o Safety Bhari Khushiya – A Marketing Campaign of Berger
Paints
This campaign shows how this festive season you can bring in colors of happiness to the festival
called life and light your house. Call Berger express painting to give your home a perfect
makeover with safety services

o Jaldi Karo – A Marketing Campaign of Berger Paints

The JaldiKaro campaign was kick-started on various social media platforms including
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with the help of a series of entertaining and funny videos. It
moreover stated the launch of ‘Express Painting’ with a microsite-based competition to generate
buzz.

As you see from the above image in this campaign, the users had to solve a puzzle and get a
chance to win amazing prizes by sharing their scores with their connections on social media.
Therefore, this campaign has created a huge engagement rate on all social media platforms.
Thus, they have a strong presence on social media and therefore it comes up with innovative
ideas to promote its brands that eventually leads them to huge sales in the market.

Digital Presence of Berger Paints

A digital presence is essentially the way your company appears online and how you maintain
your brand across multiple social media platforms. Following is the social media presence of
Berger Paints on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Social Media Overview of Berger Paints

Facebook

Instagram
Twitter
As we see from the above images the company has a strong market base with a huge number of
followers. Being one of the leading paint companies in India, it has a strong customer’s trust in
the brand which creates a major impact on the company.
So, we learned about the presence of Berger Paints in the digital world. Next, we’ll see the
competitors of Berger Paints.

Competitor of Berger Paints

Berger Paints being the second largest leading brand in India faces huge competition in the
market. One of the major competitions is from the first leading company in India which is Asian
Paints.
Its chief competitors also include:
Shalimar Paints Ltd

Shalimar Paints was the first large-scale paint manufacturing operation in South Asia and thus
has extensive industry knowledge. It has a large choice of decorative products in both the
interior and exterior categories, as well as paints in all price ranges, so it can serve consumers
from all walks of life.
Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd

One of India’s leading coating companies and the market leader in powder and automotive
coatings. Kansai Paint Company Limited is a subsidiary of Kansai, and Kansai’s technological
edge has aided the company in innovating to better meet client needs.

Asian Paints

Asian Paints is India’s largest paint manufacturer and Asia’s third-largest. The company’s
financials are solid. With its four subsidiaries, Berger International Limited, Apco Coatings,
SCIB Paints, and Taubmans, Asian Paints has a substantial international presence. They have a
lot of room for expansion, especially in the industrial paint area.
Berger Paints currently enjoys a 55 percent market share, with the remaining 45 percent held by
other multi-national and local businesses. Competitors of Berger Paints sell their products a
little bit expensive. For instance, Asian paints sell for Rs. 70 whereas Berger Paints sells them
for Rs. 60 which is budget-friendly with good quality.
This is how Berger Paints works in improving its products by managing its marketing strategies
through various platforms of the digital world.
Hence this concludes the marketing strategy, competitors, digital presence of Berger Paints.
Let’s wind up with the final note.
This case study on Berger Paints clearly states all the marketing strategies that the company is
using to spread awareness about its product and services and raise engagement with its clients
using a suitable mix of digital media and offline marketing strategies to overcome this problem.
It has a strong Digital Marketing strategy but they have to keep evolving their strategies with
time to make them relevant. The company needs to maintain their reputation and keep doing the
amazing work they are already doing.