Express Painting was an innovation that completely changed the face of consumer services in the industry.

Vinod Das

- Head - Marketing Services & Business Development, Berger Paints India

Which was a very successful brand campaign of the company and what was the strategy used to reach out to the stakeholders?

Berger Paints has a legacy and the well-earned reputation for being the innovation leader in the industry with first-to-market products and services. Luxol Silk, Color Bank, Silk Illusions, Easy Clean, Weathercoat Anti Dust are some of the innovations from the Berger stable over the years. In the services space, Express Painting™ was an innovation that completely changed the face of consumer services in the industry.

Through Express Painting™ or XP as it is popularly referred to, we introduced multiple innovations from mechanized tools, branded accessories, on-site solution consultancy, tool-based site assessments, digital quotations and IoT technology; supported by a host of features from site supervision, customer satisfaction surveys to a dedicated customer support desk.

The strategy at launch was to educate and inform the consumer as awareness of such new-age services was absent. Apart from the consumer, a campaign to educate trade partners and painters was undertaken as they were also beneficiaries of this new-age service.

A 360 degree approach was taken and the campaign consisted of both ATL as well as multiple BTL activities. Television, print, Mall Activation, OOH, Van Activity, Meets, Insertions, POSM, Email, Social Media and other forms of communication were used. Teams on the ground and at call centers supported the entire information dissemination campaign. As awareness and demand for the service built and a certain organic demand was created, the momentum was maintained with a strong digital engagement with the consumer. Today, all available tools on the digital platform are used to educate, enrich and engage with consumers.

What kind of market survey was done for the promotion of the brand? In case of the product, what was the strategy or thought behind introducing that product in the market?

Berger's success as an innovation leader stems from our institutionalized practice of deep listening, both to consumers and the trade. This is achieved by extensive market work supported by market research. We were working on a solution based on the insight that consumers found the product-ownership journey in the case of paint, unfriendly and plagued with inefficiencies. Uncertain workmanship quality, lack of transparency in pricing or the mess created in their homes during the process of painting itself, left the customer feeling fleeced.

The thought behind Express Painting was that an enjoyable ownership journey would not just induce positive feelings about the brand, but could lead to more frequent consumption of our products. The cycle of repainting in 5 years could potentially be reduced to 2 years by removing all potential friction in the journey.

An observation by our MD during one of his market visits to a European city, led to a deeper research into possible solutions that could be offered to an Indian consumer. We extensively tested various ways of addressing each of the consumer's paint-points that they had articulated. Mechanization was introduced to reduce mess, save time and standardize workmanship output. Each element and process was thereafter designed to remove friction in the customer journey.

Today, Express Painting enjoys widespread acceptance among consumers even in the weakest of markets

What were the challenges faced while marketing the brand and how did the team overcome them?

XP faced challenges like any new service brand that offers a path-breaking solution would.

Communication challenges were the first, as in educating consumers on a feature-rich service, they tended to lose sight of some important features. We devised other forms of backup communication like Flip-charts, SMSs etc. to reinforce the value added by each feature.

Technology challenges were delaying our response times to consumers, which we addressed with a suite of customized mobile apps supporting all stakeholders and a revamped tech backbone. We are still working on shaving minutes off each stage of the process to make it more responsive and nimble.

Operational challenges we welcomed was the need to rapidly scale up the number of trained painters to attend to a massive surge in enquiries. A rapid deployment of a fleet of mobile training academies and an aggressive push in training and placement of mechanized tools helped lick that issue.

At each stage, a highly driven XP team addressed all the challenges that they were faced with. They are the reason the Express Painting service has been one of Berger's most successful launches in the recent past.

Hits: 318