With India, AkzoNobel has lots of expectations in terms of growth: David Teng
Global paints and coatings company AkzoNobel, makers of Dulux paints in India, last week unveiled Heart Wood as the Colour of the Year for 2018. Colour trend Heart Wood was launched as part of the 15th edition of AkzoNobel’s annual global study, ColourFutures.
Developed by the company’s Global Aesthetic Center in collaboration with leading design and 11 international colour experts, ColourFutures 2018 conveys comfort and ease in response to consumers wanting to nestle down more and create a "welcome home". Heart Wood, a subtle and warm tone of grown-up pink, draws inspiration from the tactile qualities of natural wood and leather.
By exploring and developing the overarching trend and theme – ‘A Welcome Home’ – AkzoNobel’s Global Aesthetic Centre identified Heart Wood (also known as Pictured Rocks 10YR 28/072) as the leading paint colour for 2018. It’s a colour which truly captures the mood of the moment and allows customers to live in perfect balance in their homes.
Speaking at the launch, Jeremy Rowe, Managing Director, AkzoNobel Decorative Paints, South East & South Asia, Middle East, observed, “Colour plays a significant role in creating a perfect, comforting environment. As a colour authority, we exist to empower our consumers to make the right colour choices; choices that make them happy and proud of their homes. With the 2018 Colour of the Year and its four contemporary colour palettes, customers around the world can now create spaces within their home that are truly theirs and up to date with their everyday needs.”
David Teng, Director, Decorative Paints, India and South Asia, AkzoNobel, noted, “The year gone by has been dynamic and unpredictable due to various changes at the global level. Our research revealed a strong trend of consumers wanting to transform their homes into an ‘oasis’ from the outside world. Through ColourFutures, we focus on the lives of our consumers; what influences them and what their interests are when it comes to their homes. We believe that Heart Wood, as Colour of the Year for 2018, helps to create a unique “welcome home” for everyone.”
Speaking to Adgully, Teng further described 2017 as “fantastic year but with lots of unpredicted reforms”. He added that 2017 was top gear year for the industry because most of the companies underwent recovery state from the demonetisation that happened in end of 2016 and then again in the middle of 2017 when GST was introduced, which continues to have an existing impact.
Commenting on the marketing strategy, Teng said, “Since we are a paints and coatings company which is very functional, performance and quality play a big role and thus, we have to make sure that we offer best products across the world.”
“We have couple of paints like Dulux Weathershield and Flexible, which is the benchmark for exterior paints in the market. Apart from that, we also have our premium collection – Dulux Weather Touch, which gives consumer’s colour choices, but at the time it also provides protection with anti bacteria and anti-fungus,” he added.
Given that one doesn’t paint one’s house on an everyday basis, nevertheless it was very important to keep the audiences aware about the brand, Teng stressed. “For that, we have to maintain the relevancy of the particular product through advertising via different mediums to let people know what is happening around. It’s not only driven by the performance of the brand, but also the reputation of the company matters a lot. Your company is socially responsible in terms of CSR, with which we can try to inform consumer about the product as well,” he added.
While speaking on the significance of Colour of the Year, Teng remarked, “This year we have announced Heart Wood as Colour of the Year because it’s a warm colour. It’s a very beautiful colour. It attracts you because it clearly reflects what we want in our life and a perfect epitome of peaceful life. We all like colours. More or less we express everything via colours. This year, we had we lots of chaos and disruption in the society and thus to have some calm in our life we have introduced this colour. Colour is an emotion and it is something that can surround us in our homes.”
On the role of Farhan Akhtar as Dulux’s brand ambassador, Teng remarked, “Farhan is a well known celebrity and also a fantastic ambassador for our brand. It has been 6-7 years that he is been with Dulux. He is a perfect all-rounder in terms of an actor, director, writer and poet. There are lots of similarities between the brand and him. We are a global brand, so we try to not just sell the paint with quality and reliability, but also the lifestyle. We are very happy with Farhan Akhtar as our brand ambassador and going forward, we will be happy to have him as our brand ambassador.”
Teng further said that AkzoNobel is looking at 2018 with an optimistic approach because the industry has witnessed two major reforms that happened with demonestisation and GST. He further said, “Things are now settling down and people are really getting adapted to the changes. Overall, with India we have lots of expectations in terms of growth.”
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