It’s rare that a paint company diversifies beyond adjacent categories like waterproofing, wallpapers, home decor or wood finishes. But Asian Paints also recently branched out with a range of sanitisers and surface disinfectants. In an interview with Brand Equity, Amit Syngle, MD and CEO, Asian Paints, reveals how the brand aims to stay ahead with its diversification strategy. Excerpts:

You recently welcomed the entry of competition in the paints business, saying “more the merrier”. As the market leader, what steps have you taken to strengthen your position as market leader?

Our strategy has always been: Can we expand the market? Can we look at amplifying the market so that we are creating newer areas of excitement for the consumer? We never look at it as Asian Paints has to take market share from someone.

We embraced the whole area of waterproofing and we are happy to see that all the competition has copied us, getting into waterproofing as well. We constantly look at innovation and newer segments.

JSW Paints complained to the Competition Commission of India that Asian Paints was denying them market access in Karnataka. How did that eventually play out?

There have been so many other players who have come. There is enough space in the market for everyone and everyone is growing. That is the fantastic part of this industry.

What are the unexpected trends that have emerged during the pandemic?

One of the big trends is that home spending is going to increase, whether for the walls or the space between walls. The multifunctionality of various rooms in the home is big, given the concept of work from home. Bedrooms transform into offices and the children’s room for birthday parties. Each room gets embellished.

One of the learnings is that people are not waiting for a certain festival to come. They are saying that today is the window of opportunity, let me celebrate and do things now.

You have customers across the spectrum. Where do you see maximum growth in the next one year?

We see growth across the spectrum. Even the tier one and two cities have a lot of pent-up demand. People have not renovated or painted their houses. That demand will show up in the next one to two years.

All homes need a coat of paint now and then. How are you planning campaigns to woo the not-so-affluent customers back to decorating their homes?

We have launched a range of DIY products. This is a big zone, where people are able to stencil their walls and decorate it differently. This is encouraging younger consumers to adorn their walls and get involved in the process of their homes.

How do you handle these two different mindsets — one, where you are a clear leader in the paints business and the other, where you are a challenger in the sanitiser segment?

We are not seeing these as two spaces. We are converging the two to win the customer’s mind. One of the big spheres for a customer is to stay protected. The whole area of health and hygiene is something which we are integrating with painting.

You have spoken of a challenging time in 1999, when you took tough decisions that served the brand well. What are the lessons from that experience that you came away with — and that still serve you well?

One of the big learnings at that point was to keep the innovation cycle strong. Create strong differentiators which the competition will struggle to copy, because they copy everything you bring in.

We have taken the world of at-home services strongly. We continuously look at connecting on an emotional front with the consumer. That gives you a high mindshare that literally converts into a high market share.

At the start of the pandemic, Asian Paints stood out as its employees were given hikes when layoffs were rampant across corporates. How important is it for brands to take care of internal stakeholders such as employees in tough times?

Unless we carry all our stakeholders with us, the brand will not be able to progress. We were clear that in our journey, internal stakeholders play a strong role. We raised their salaries for a second time in October, after doing it in April. We need to motivate and incentivise our employees in these tough times. That’s the true essence of a brand, taking it to new heights.

What are the brand mantras you work by?

We create our own mantras, our own rulebook. We connect with the consumer and keep our ear to the ground.

Spending on marketing is not like an on-and-off switch for the brand. I can’t take breaks for my convenience to prop up my finances. It’s a long-term investment. Any brand which invests in the long-term will take it to higher levels.

When you see the Amul girl or Air India’s Maharaja, how do you feel about the retirement of Gattu? Do you miss him?

We don’t really miss him because Gattu is right there on the packs. It is just that we wanted to be more modern and sophisticated. What you see as the new visual identity is the ribbon — the A and P coming together — speaking about an organisation which is timeless. It embraces the auspicious colours of red and yellow; so true to Indian culture.

Probably Gattu would have been too small to embrace all that. We have kept Gattu right up there, but used the visual identity of the ribbon to embrace all new diversification and categories.

The brand has launched a 360 degree media campaign featuring Deepika Padukone…