Q] What prompted the shift from a luxury paint to a full décor experience with Royale Glitz?
Overall, we feel that every home has a story to tell, and with Asian Paints being a colour authority, we wanted to give that story a real voice. That was the genesis of ‘Har Ghar’, looking at how emotions play such a strong role in turning houses into homes, with each room reflecting the personality of its people. We took that inspiration and said, Royale Glitz, which is our crème de la crème finish, can become the instigator and inspiration for décor across other walls. So indirectly, it stays central to design, but also fuels the larger idea of uninterrupted wall décor.
Q] What was the creative strategy behind making walls the ‘star,’ with Deepika Padukone?
Deepika has been with us for more than a decade now and what she brings is an element of global luxury, grace, and sophistication. She is returning after a little bit of a gap, so she packs in both nostalgia and a fresh kind of energy which she brings to the film, in terms of her own self-expression and catering to the brand aspirations. What we wanted to do was use that lineage and personality to show how finishes can play a big role in inspiring the décor of a home. We used her as an epitome of someone who draws on her self-expression, gets inspired from the finish, and goes from room to room adding décor, textures, and wallpapers which connects with the core concept of the Royale Glitz finish.
Q] Tell us about the creative conceptualisation of this TVC campaign.
First of all, when we saw the entire script, we wanted to be very clear about what the proposition to the consumer was. The proposition was that today’s Royale Glitz finish is central to inspiring people to use other walls for different kinds of décor. We used the idea of making this visualisation easier, which is why we introduced the Glitz Décor book, a guide that gives ideas on how finishes, wallpapers, and textures can help shape self-expression. For the concept, we used Deepika very strongly for the connotations of luxury and sophistication, while also showing her as someone expressing herself by decorating her home. Finally, we were clear that it is she who is imagining the walls coming alive, invigorated by the Royale Glitz finish.
Q] What revenue growth target are you chasing with this décor-first pivot for Royale Glitz?
What we see is that we need to rekindle people’s minds to think beyond just putting rich finishes, and instead look at truly adorning homes with many areas of décor like wallpapers and textures. What we feel is that this not only fuels the basic consumption and the revenue it brings to Royale Glitz, but also really elevates the entire world of Royale, which is fairly big for us. In a way, it energises the whole portfolio and gives us strong growth in terms of revenue, not only from finishes but also from all elements
of décor.
Q] How do exclusive designer collaborations like with Sabyasachi help reinforce Royale Glitz’s aspirational pull?
In a way when you get Sabyasachi in, one is the real awe of really owning a Sabyasachi wall which is tremendous that comes in. But the whole underlying thing there is that you can look at democratising luxury a little bit. It’s about a wall in your house for which you have always said ‘hey I own a Sabyasachi wall’ possibly to that extent. You might not own a Sabyasachi lehenga, but you own a Sabyasachi wall which is a great feeling. It also becomes a turning point for people to really encapsulate their home into something very different which becomes designer, it becomes a social talk, it becomes an expression which people are able to really take and show, in terms of what their home means to them. So, overall, we feel that basically such alignments are working to give excitement to people, in terms of what are the possibilities. At the same time, it is also elevating the brand into a very different space which stands for luxury and sophistication. It is also looking at democratisation of luxury in a very strong way.
Q] Competitors are ramping up capacity and ad spends, what’s your competitive moat today?
We are very clear that competition has always been there, and in this industry there is no impediment to it. What we see, however, is that our positioning is very different in terms of what we are appropriating. Our positioning is built on emotion, and second, on appropriating décor and truly owning the home space. Most of the competition speaks about the functional attributes of paint—stain resistance, durability, and so on. Ours is about emotional attachment, and that is where we are strengthening our moat—by ensuring people connect more deeply with Asian Paints.
One of our biggest strategies is to keep increasing brand saliency and build on the trusted legacy of Asian Paints. The second area is quality, we have reinforced quality with many new ingredients, whether it is graphene in the paint, teflon, or PU serum. We have elevated the quality to ensure we stand on a highly differentiated pedestal in terms of both product positioning and delivery. The third area is innovation, which continues to excite the market. We have launched several new products, Aeroclean, which cleans the environment; Infinia, with a 25-year warranty for terrace waterproofing; and Nilaya Arc, the first lime-based organic paint. We are also strongly embracing the space of super luxury. So today, Asian Paints stands as a differentiated brand, with deep emotional linkage, backed by quality, and firmly rooted in innovation.
