Street Smart and Red 

As Dulux acquires a makeover, its new owner is breathing life into the legacy brand by changing the way customers are engaged

The iconic decorativepaints brand Dulux has dropped the long standing ICI tag. Instead it now appears in a dark blue backdrop, with a leaping human figure giving a flourish of a multicolour brush stroke. This change in the Dulux logo is a part of the launch of its single global brand identity, which has been initiated by the paint brand’s new owner AkzoNobel. Besides, the colour czar is intently giving a fresh local flavour to its new identity, and reaching out to the bold and beautiful segment of the Indian market through new channels of communication.

Netherlands-based AkzoNobel, the world’s largest paints and coatings company, became the owner of ICI UK in January 2008. From its Amsterdam headquarters, the management board of the €14.6-billion company declared that a new logo would be deployed for all its existing consumer paint brands including Dulux, Flexa, Levis, Alba, Coral, Marshall, Astral, Bruguer, Dulux Valentine, Inca, Sadolin and Vivechrom, in 50 out of its 88 markets. The company believes that a consistent brand image around the world will increase its global scale, and will boost its market share in consumer paints worldwide. Currently the company generates annual revenues close to €5 billion from this paint segment.

Dulux’s identity change-over has come to India as well, and seems to have visibly infused zeal and enthusiasm into the operations of the Rs 1,192-crore subsidiary AkzoNobel India Ltd. “The new global brand identity reaffirms our colour leadership. Over the years, Dulux has come to epitomise best quality in the Indian decorative paints industry. And we are confident that our new logo will spell out the brand’s intrinsic value more clearly,” avers Pushkar Jain (pushkar.jain@akzonobel.com), the company’s marketing manager. Jain explains that Flourish, as the new logo is being referred to, embodies Dulux’s global ‘Let’s Colour’ campaign. “It brings energy and colour, and the inscribed brand name provides reassurance and confidence to the customers. Flourish rejoices the dynamic and vibrancy of colour and what it can bring to our lives.”

But since the use and treatment of colour is a culturally sensitive issue having different connotations around the world, how will it connect with customers of emerging markets like India? Says Peter Droy, client business director of Design Bridge, the London-based branding and design agency that provided AkzoNobel the design solution. “The key challenge was to find a universally understandable marque that communicates positively across cultures and borders. Our team conducted an extensive audit and interviewed retailers, consumers and the marketing teams of 14 key markets including India, China, South East Asia, as well as several European countries. This uncovered the similarities and differences in perceptions of the brand in these markets. The learning optimised our creative process, and we believe that our team found the optimal expression for the ‘flourish’ design.”

Droy adds that India is one of the fastest growing markets in the world, and this sense of optimism could be decoded in brand’s identity. “India is also a country that fully embraces the power of colour. We think that the new brand identity will resonate in the Indian market and help build the brand for the next generation.”

Elaborating on the factors that are crucial to the Dulux brand, Droy says that Design Bridge was asked to retain the brand equity of Dulux to preserve its existing stature. Besides, it was equally important for the agency to deliver Dulux’s new brand positioning. Also, the new logo needed to manifest its owner’s desire to ‘stand out’ and ‘stand for’ in order to rise above the local and regional competitors.

Interestingly, acclaimed branding expert Stanley Moss, who heads the US-based brand consultancy Diganzi, finds the human figure of Flourish having low standards of optical resolution, particularly if it were to be reduced in size. He feels the polychrome treatment will turn invisible when rendered in black and white, while the multicolour brush stroke can’t be easily replicated with colour fidelity or consistency. “It’s a static symbol, not taking into account the kinetic opportunities of animation that Internet-borne information offers.”

Design Bridge seems to have anticipated the challenges that arise in the use of logos in different markets and formats. In the case of Dulux, it delivered a raft of different files that are optimised for size, print process and colour specification, and a suitable format for use in all applications. “The flourish, figure and new typography have been crafted to actively communicate the new brand promise of inspiration, ease of use, a sense of joy and renewal.”

Recognising that consistency in imagery breeds familiarity and trust, and flexibility allows for cultural relevance, AkzoNobel India has tailored its communications to connect with the Indian customers. It has devised India-specific copy tone, imagery content and messaging to be relevant. So the global theme ‘Let’s Colour’ has been transformed into apne rang chhalakne do (let your true colours be revealed!), a phrase that is conspicuous in the ongoing campaign in print, TV, digital and outdoor platforms. Jain says, “Our company has tried to show how Dulux as a brand brings out the uniqueness in every individual. It is a celebration of the expression of individuality, and how paints from Dulux help that individuality to blossom.” He adds that the TV commercial (TVC), which is currently being aired on 41 channels across the country, uses colour as a metaphor to bring out how people, situations and perceptions transform.

According to Jain, the TVC featuring Bollywood actors Shahid Kapoor and Boman Irani is gaining top-of-the-mind recall among the audience, who are identifying it as a ‘rascal red’ campaign due to the use of the word in the narrative. But, at a time when the company is devising a local strategy to connect with the country’s audience, is the word ‘rascal’ a right choice, and can it help Dulux to connect with the cultural ethos of the Indian consumers?

Explains Prasoon Joshi, executive chairman and regional executive creative director for Asia Pacific, McCann Worldgroup, the creative agency behind the making of the TVC. “A decade ago the word rascal might have conjured images of a thug-like person unfit for civilised society. But the current connotations that come to mind are far from it. As a society we have moved from respecting the innocent to appreciating the street smart. Today the word rascal brings to mind a mischievous person with a sense of humour and just the right amount of naughty mixed with nice. An interesting case in point is the Bollywood movie title Kaminey. Dulux is targeting urban sensibilities and the light-heartedness of a term like rascal is not lost on this target group. The way it is used in the film additionally clarifies the point that a ‘rascal red’ personality isn’t a bad one as one may have first assumed.”

Apart from TVCs, AkzoNobel is trying to leverage the characters of popular Hindi soap operas by utilising in-serial placements and vignette genres of brand communication. Vignette is a standalone TVC based on a serial’s theme, yet not a part of the actual serial. The company recently tied up with Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Iss Pyar Ko Kya Naam Doon, both from Star Plus, and Saas Bina Sasural from Sony, where the lead pairs were shot in their production settings, and created vignettes. Jain says, “We conducted an empirical study that led us to Sony and Star Plus. We found that we can reach our target customers through these general entertainment channels. And, once we narrowed down to them, we chose to go with the serials with the highest TRPs. The outcome was that we had well known characters communicating the brand’s message that each personality can shine with Dulux colours.”

Jain explains that the primary target audience of Dulux is younger people with a modern progressive outlook. The company knows that the digital sphere is where it can get terabytes of traffic of people who are going to get their home painted, or consumers who have limited emotional affinity with paint brands. The company is, therefore, rapidly building up its new media platforms, and has roped in New Delhi-based on-line marketing solutions provider Olive e-Business Pvt Ltd as its digital partner. Olive has developed micro sites, tools and applications for Dulux. These include a paint calculator for its website and Facebook application; Splash micro site and Facebook application; Store Locator with Google mapping; Colour Click integration; Dulux Decorator Centre help bar for its website; and the Dulux Velvet Touch trends micro site.

Besides, AkzoNobel India has just launched an English iPhone app called Dulux Colour Schemer, which enables consumers to decide colour schemes from the Dulux colour range and select its products.

This hyperactivity of the company is beginning to have effects at the grass roots. It has aroused interest levels among customers, who are now pushing Dulux dealers to come up with answers about the attributes of the brand. “We are noticing that the customers are taking more interest in Dulux. They want to know more about the specifics and services,” confirms New Delhi-based Harbans Lal (duluxpaintstudiocc75@gmail.com) of Multan Building House, a multi-brand paint dealer for over 20 years. For the past four years, Lal has earmarked 550sft within his shop for the Dulux Decorator Centre, where customer service includes free advice from colour consultants who have been positioned there by the company.

Another Dulux Decorator dealer from Kolkata, Sandip Chandra (duluxpaintstudios19@gmail.com) of Rang Birang, is also witnessing an increased interest in Dulux among young paint buyers who wish to take their own decisions rather than depending on traditional painters. Chandra says buyers are engaging more with his team at the retail outlet, spending more time discussing colour options, and enjoying the paint buying process like never before. He adds that customers are coming with families, since paint selection is often a joint decision. He, however, realises that techniques of retail management are required to successfully market any well known brand to young and educated customers, and hopes that training on this front could be forthcoming from his principals. “We hope the company can help us hone our skills in managing stores and customers, so that we can improve our realisations and profitability.”

The Dulux initiative is indicative of where the paint industry is headed, and how its leaders are engaging with buyers individually, listening to them, talking to them, all in the hope of endearing their brand to them.

Mrinmoy Bhattacharjee