case of colour

8/14/2019 CASE OF COLOUR

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CASE OF COLOUR

Madhur Tari snapped to attention as he read the commentary to Alkalac's case study inBusinessworld. "Oh my God!" he gasped. The analyst, Adip Puri, director at Saatchi &Saatchi, had hit the nail on the head! How fundamental, how rudimentary, how oh-so-true. Puri's words had awakened a sleeping giant within him. He wrote: "Who shoulddecide whether or not Amitabh Bachchan (AB) is perfect for Alkalac Paints? Not him(Madhur), not Mr. Divakar and not even Vineeta. The people who should decide are theconsumers."

"Whoa!" shouted Madhur as he slapped his forehead and went, 'heck heck heck'. "Howright! Why did I get pulled into a pointless debate with the MD, Vishwas Divakar on AB or Sunil Shetty? Puri is saying what we need to be doing. We have pulled the paint over our eyes; we have not even considered that our product is being sold like commodity tothe dealer who does not care whether the consumer wants pink or mauve." SuddenlyMadhur felt the old energy surging. Here was his magnificent opportunity to smackColour Pitch on the old conference table - the same table which had run the gauntletover A. Bachchan, H. Roshan, and for some odd reason, Lady Zinta. "Colour Pitch, hereI come!" sang Madhur. Unknown and unseen by his usually conservative colleagues, heshook his hips, put his hands over his head and howled, "Basanti, main aa raha hoon!"with a flourish.

Two months ago, when Divakar had triggered the discussion on which celebrity shouldendorse Alkalac Paints, Madhur had been swept off his feet by the very controversy of the debate. It had all happened in such an impromptu way that he had not even satdown to question its context. Now Divakar's words came back to him: "What would ittake for our brands to become hero brands?" If that's where he wanted to be, thoughtMadhur, why were we discussing Bachchan? Heck, how much time did we spenddiscussing something which was not even the starting point of Alkalac's needs?

Madhur turned to his computer to send an email to Vineeta Pardi, their researchmanager, when he saw a mail from his brother Shardul, a software engineer posted inVizag. It said: "Bro, I need to jazz up this pad of mine. End up working a lot out of home,so want my space to express peace and feel relaxed. It's quite small, so can colour giveme a sense of space? You guys must be having some package for single men like mewho want a pretty working home? Someone who will 'come-see-do' and not leave mewith a mess? You know my office is so trendy and vibrant; I want my private space to belike that. Send me some colour options ASAP; mom's sending me crazy quantities of cushions, drapes and whatnots in earth tones. Is there an Alkalac man in Vizag?"

Madhur was swearing it was time Shardul got married when he froze. "Wait, wait, wait,"he said to himself. "This is the new Indian consumer. This is Alkalac's future; this is whatDivakar must prepare for. Consumers everywhere are probably asking this question.Shardul can ask me directly while the others cannot... at least not until Colour Pitch getsblessed."

Not that Madhur had been oblivious to all this until now. Last year he had pushed for 'Colour Pitch' (CP) as a direct marketing wing of the marketing department. Madhur,aware as he was of the dcor conscious consumer, wanted to introduce stimulation as a

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marketing element. He felt the much-thrashed durability and price attributes were pass.CP would work directly with consumers, examine new trends and market customizeddcor services in the face of a market that still resorted to mass distribution. But Divakar had questioned it, saying: "Naah! What is this, man? We are selling paint, notconsultancy! Besides, where is the research to back it?"

Madhur then tried to get Gautam Bose, the sales head, to initiate dealer-led research.But their boss, the director (sales and marketing) T.M. Pai had said there was no budget- they should do it next year. Divakar was sitting on the fence over this, though he toldMadhur "the idea is not a bad one". Still, Colour Pitch began as a lone affair. If Divakar shrugged his assent, it was only to indulge Madhur, who had stoked his rebellious (albeitunvoiced) doubts on the whole matter.

When Madhur gathered architects, interior designers and even TV serial producers torummage into consumer habits, Gautam had called it futile. His reasoning was; "IsAlkalac into direct marketing? No. Then why mess with end consumers? Our conduit isthe dealer; look at our sales, it is dealer driven all the way. This is not FMCG, this is byfar the slowest moving category. You annoy dealers, and it will slow down even more."Pai agreed enthusiastically and added, "This is not lipstick or eye-shadow; what you aresuggesting works for colour cosmetics, but yeh to paint hai baba!" Divakar, not sure if this was what Alkalac needed, had tried to slow down Madhur's effort through distance.Importantly, Divakar steered clear of any conflict with Pai who was his senior by manyyears. Alkalac nourished and respected age. All this was pre-Diwali 2003, when thepainting season was warming up.

On January 1st, TMP retired gracefully (and mercifully for Madhur). Importantly, theyounger Divakar got his voice back, which he brazenly used to support the idea of ABendorsing Alkalac (See BW case study, 15 March).

But Divakar's distancing had been very useful for Madhur, who preferred working like abeaver: alone, plodding, thinking and doing. Now with Puri's commentary working likesalvo, Madhur decided to collect some direct market place reporting and corroborate theraison d'etre of Colour Pitch. The pity was neither TMP nor Divakar ever went into themarket to meet consumers. Roping in Vineeta's help, they visited a few dealers andmade a list of 15-20 prospects who had called in to inquire about shades, costs, etc.,with the dealers. The dealers, not being too organized with data, produced prospectswhich were even a year old. But Madhur plodded on and put a team in place to check onthese prospects with Vineeta's guidance.

When his brand manager Tula Bhandari reported that 14 of these had postponed their painting decision indefinitely, Madhur was not disheartened. He knew this was inherentto the nature of the painting business. Late in the evening, Madhur drew a circle aroundone name: Ragini Vaidya in Malad. A meeting was arranged at the Malad residence of the Vaidyas for Saturday.

When he met her, Madhur asked her why she had not gone ahead with painting her home. "Arre baba," began Mrs Vaidya, "Bahut jamela hai!" A high school teacher, Vaidyathen broke into chaste English. "See, I am a teacher," she said. "I teach 11th and 12th;the internal assessment of 11th is in April. Meanwhile, I have extra classes everyevening and weekends. Now to paint a house like this, you know what a mess it creates!

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There is no one to supervise also. My kids are grown up, they have exams. Paintingmeans complete physical upheaval. The house looks messy, lots of dust due to thescraping, then the smell of turpentine! My son is asthmatic, how will he study? Then, allthe things are thrown here and there; I get scared even thinking about this. And how dowe sleep? Then, everyone is irritable, proper food can't be cooked, studies getdisrupted... Oh, and then, my husband I know, he will hate coming back to a messyhouse! Besides, all the cleaning up will come on me. With all my assessments, extraclasses and all, I will end up fighting with my husband and then the whole house will beunhappy. My nanad painted her house just last month; they had to eat out almosteveryday! They are still looking for this and that which got misplaced during this time. It'sa terrible experience."

Madhur's next call was at Mrs Kanta Khanna's in Gurgaon. The Khannas were veryconfused. Mr Khanna had recently been promoted as GM, and he wanted to reflect thisgrowth in his home. "See, now that I am GM, people will come home. I want them to seewho I really am, my personality; but my wife wants our home to look like something fromthe TV serials, so she has been unable to decide the colour!" Mrs Khanna interrupted: "If I leave it to him, he will get it painted the regular cream and ivory, it is so boring... as it is,we live in a middle income colony, at least on the inside we can have it look like Bandra.See all those homes they show on Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi (KSBKBT) and whatnot, those homes look attractive, so I called a paint contractor...."

Mrs Khanna explained that all the confusion and chaos had begun there. The contractor,one Dhanabhai Paintwala, "tries to look and sound like the tentwala in MonsoonWedding," she said, amidst giggles. "He has a cellphone which keeps ringing, and hekeeps barking into it that he is busy with a client! Then he recommended some colourssaying Mrs Kapoor used this, 'funtastik dikhta hai uska ghar', but I was not happy." MrsKhanna was disappointed; she has a budget which her husband's company has givenhim. "I have to use it carefully and make a dream house...then someone said for thatmoney you must call an interior designer, must do the whole place up. So I spoke tofriends and called one designer from Malad, thinking in such a township it will bereasonable. But no! She wanted Rs 1,500 just for a house visit! Yet I called her, cut her down to Rs.500; arre, but she said change the pipes, leakage hai, false ceiling lagao,woodwork change karo! When I said no, only painting, she was not interested."

Khanna finally got Dhanabhai back and asked him to recommend some nice moderncolours. "But he could not talk beyond grey and ivory!" she said. "Every colour I showedhe said, 'risky hai'. I want a pretty looking home. If I am spending Rs 80,000 on painting,why can't somebody suggest what colour to paint? Then, I am reading about Feng Shui.It says I should have certain walls facing North or East, in yellow or blue... now how am Ito do that when this fellow cannot even give me an idea what other colours will go withit? 'Aur hanh,' he said, 'if you open one tin, then that cost is yours, whether you paint onewall or four.' All this is so expensive, I said, budget mein nahi aata. He replied, 'But thenhow am I to use different colours? Would you have a good designer, free of cost?'"

Madhur then met Hansa Trivedi in Ghatkopar. She too had put the paint job on holdbecause her in-laws lived with her and all the mess and upheaval was inhibiting. But thisyear Hansaben's daughter was getting married, she told Madhur, and she really neededto smarten up her house. Madhur thought up a plan. He now needed to observe how

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"This is the point on most consumers patience curve, when she gives up and choosesany old shade or worse, postpones painting!" Madhur couldn't agree more; he recalledhis brother's email asking him for help and mused: "Shardul could ask me, but thesepeople end up in confusion between their own walls!"

When the Trivedis left the outlet, Madhur asked the dealer, "Why don't you offer shadesuggestions?" The dealer shook his head, "Risky saab. Customer kitna demanding hai,aap dekha na? After the painting if they don't like the colour, they will wring my neck!Waise bhi a customer paints her house once in five years. Colour dimaag mein clear hona mangta hai (Colour has to be clear in the mind). I will tell you what happened justlast week. We were painting this house on Gandhi Marg. The drawing room had a deeparch in the centre. Madam had seen some serial and now she wanted to paint theinsides of the arch a deep dull orange, fix glass shelves on it and dot it with curios. Soshe asked for shades of orange. My man put six sample panels, she chose one. Yetwhen the arch was painted, she got annoyed and said it was very dark! Abhi ham kyakarega? I told her, kam watt ka bulb lagao, aur kya! (Now what can we do? I told her touse a lower wattage bulb) But no! She was very annoyed and said the serial colour wascompletely different, that we had cheated her. Yes, I can give advice, but the companymust help; aap guarantee karo, saab, ham karega! Usme kya hai!" Guarantee? Madhur realized that, in short, dealers were saying: if you appoint a colour consultant we will findthe contractors, but you must guarantee your colour consultation!

Meanwhile in Thane, Tula Bhandari watched Mrs Rane speak to her interior designer,from Janki Associates from the neighbourhood. Mrs. Rane had liked Tulsi's bedroom in aparticular scene in KSBKBT and had resolved to have her bedroom painted identically.For her in-laws' room she came armed with some back issues of Griha Shobha. But theinterior decorator had no idea who Tulsi was, let alone the colour of her bedroom. Sheshowed Rane some issues of Good Housekeeping instead, but Rane baulked; pastelswere not for her. Tula saw that the decorator was inept at handling specific needs, andhad no idea about the numerous dcor influences flowing from Ekta Kapoor and theBalaji serials. Nor did she want to pander to 'low cost jobs', which she later confided toTula. The interior decorator was into western homes and appeals; but the Indianconsumer was adventurous!

But Rane thundered on, mindless of the decorator's waning interest, "Is the Feng Shui of this room ok? I think the colour combination we saw in KSBKBT serial will be good"

That evening, Tula wrote a note to Madhur. "Bottomline: consumers want to do up and'accessorize' their homes like their physical selves. Through their homes, they want toexpress who they are and what they aspire to be. There is also this strong urge to do upchildren's spaces - the usual reason given is: I want my children to have what I didnt,who else are we earning money for? Have noticed there is more spending happening,impulsive buying and accessorizing of the living space. There is also a lot of decor comparisons happening in kitty parties and other social interactions. Very critical point tonote, this Tulsi woman from KSBKBT is a high point of aspiration. Maddeningly, Tulsi'sbedroom colours keep changing from episode to episode. It started off as peach, thenmustard yellow with purple squares in the middle, pastel pink, bright purple with redmouldings, etc. I think the real influencer is Ekta Kapoor...all the Balaji Telefilms soapshave the most adventurous combinations which have gone a long way in redefiningcolour usage among the consumers."

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On Monday, Madhur sat amid a bunch of reports from his team. He wondered where heshould begin. Gautam and Sales? Divakar ? Or even higher, Alkalac and its mindset?Alkalac was still selling paints like it had 40 years ago; and over the years, it hadaccumulated people who lived in a time warp. Divakar wanted an icon to sell Alkalac'sheroism. Colour Pitch was going to show that Alkalac must become the icon that revivesold walls and dull environs.

Oh, but that was subject of a completely different strategy. Madhur could not put the cartbefore the horse. First on his agenda was submitting this report to Divakar, and thendiscussing the second strategy, the one which held the root of the problem at Alkalac'srusty drive. Alkalac needed to meet the consumer. For that, it needed to either bypassthe dealer or create new dealer-led relationships with end users. Everywhere he went,consumer voices spoke the same language. But Gautam and Divakar didn't even knowthat a consumer spoke!

Funny, he now thought, that they advertised in Femina, Griha Shobha, Women's Era,Sarita... the consumers he met read these very magazines. Unfortunately, while Alkalaccould reach the consumer's eye, the consumer could not reach Alkalac's ear! Both werepainfully out of sync.

Madhur finalized his note and sent it to Divakar the following week. In his preamble, hewrote: "Between the dealer and the contractor, the consumer's voice is whitewashedunder the primer. Scratch deep, as Colour Pitch has done, and hear their voicesredefining Alkalac's marketing drive. Sample them: 'Today I have more money so I willpaint my house more often...so who wants durability, yaar? My moods change so I willchange colours too, my Feng Shui master told me to have a blue corner in theNortheast. People are upgrading mobile phones every three months, so what are wetalking about, staying with a durable ivory paint for four years?'

"...Today the point of decision is also colour, not just cost. And face it, near identicalshades and more consumer-friendly service can be had from any paint company suchas Nerolac, Asian Paints and Berger. That famous 'point of indifference' across brandshas been reached by paint consumers too! You want top line growth? You want Alkalacto be the hero brand? Then build in the differentiator. Colour Pitch will use colour as acreative tool to differentiate in a world of parity.

Questions:

1. Based on the information provided in the case, identify the different segments of

customers of decorative paints market.2. As the case gives a snapshot of only some customers, create a researchproposal to better understand the customer behaviour of decorative paintsmarket.

3. Develop a questionnaire form which would help you to segment the customers inthe decorative paints market.

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case of colour

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