CANVAS 2013 | Case Study Competition

CANVAS 2013 | Asian Paints Ltd

Page 1

1. Log In
On a Sunday evening, Mr. Satish Kulkarni was enjoying a lively family dinner in a Chinese restaurant more than 26kms away from his residence. Everyone seemed to like the food that was served. Satish had taken the efforts to get his family all the way to this place, since he had heard very high praises about the restaurants amazing menu from his office colleagues. The chatter on the table moved from topic to topic and landed on a discussion regarding a one day trip, near Mumbai, for a short break. Satishs 14year son vehemently suggested a theme park, 60 odd kms outside Mumbai. His strong conviction of this place, he has never been to, amused Satish and he questioned how he was so sure of the experience that this place offers. The young boy was quick to respond with a shrug Facebook! All my friends who have been there have posted their photos and they look AMAZING!! They also posted great comments about the place. So I am not getting swayed by their ads plastered all over the city, its the genuine feedback that my friends are giving about the theme park that impresses me. They are unbiased, so no reason to doubt that. Let us please go and check out. I can get more info of the place from my friends who have been there! While the family had to give in to such strong persuasion, the strategy caught Satishs attention.

2. Loading
Mr. Satish Kulkarni , GM Marketing Asian Paints found the evening interesting in various ways. It got him thinking on the power of WOM. The very fact that the family traveled through half of the city to eat in a restaurant which a friend suggested was a live proof of strength of recommendations. He was sure no amount of advertising would have inspired him enough for this. While the power of WOM was as strong as ever, even today, it was always elusive for a marketer to design strategy for WOM. He wondered whether with the huge stride that technology has taken, we actually have a platform of influencing WOM. Was Social Media voice of brands actually a possible method to the madness? His son was influenced by WOM as well, not exactly in the traditional definition of the word- but more or less. In fact it was a heightened level of influence that allowed the relevant peer group to get a glimpse of the experience of the service before consuming it! Facebook , for that matter Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin , are they not all the digital version of WOM, he wondered. What was even more intriguing; all the examples restaurants /theme park were more to do with experience rather than a product. A tougher challenge for a marketer to overcome! Immediately he saw some scope for services like Asian Paints Ezycolour Home Solutions and Colour Consultancy at Home to be present on Social Media but it was not all that simple. Asian Paints was not beginning with a clean slate here, the digital journey for APL started way back in 1999 with the launch of asianpaints.com. He started making quick pointers of all the digital estate that Asian Paints now had

Digital Asset Website

Since 1999

Additional comments/Remarks Website was re-launched recently and mapped as per the master customer journey in offline stores. Phase 1 was launched in March 2013 and Phase 2 in August 2013 Page 2

CANVAS 2013 | Asian Paints Ltd

Mobile Site Mobile applications

2012 2012

Facebook

December 2010 May 2011

September 2011

Pinterest YouTube

October 2012 October 2012

Twitter Google+, Instagram Other Digital initiatives

November 2012 September 2013 Ongoing

The refreshed website had advanced features for consumers who register and it now boasts of close to 1L registered users Re-launched in Sep 2013 Colour Scheme Pro app for Android and iOS. The one stop tool for selecting various colors and shades My color project app to be launched in Nov 2013 for Android and iOS Started with Royale Play page which now has more than 2.3L fans Second page to come was Apex Ultima which has more than 57K fans. The engagement on the page was currently low but the brand promises a comeback December 2013 onwards Corporate page started as a hygiene step but gained momentum in 2012 and had 65K fans by the EOY. Today it has a fan base of more than 2.5L with continuous engagement around color and dcor 267 followers 7.7 L views with more than 100 videos uploaded from October 2012. Videos ranged from branding content integration to painting process to color selection. 2600 followers Recently launched SEO, ORM, SEM and other digital advertising

On the other hand, he remembered the early days of Asian Paints Ezycolour Home Solutions. Asian Paints Ezycolour Home Solutions- a professional painting service launched in 2000 with a simple aim - to make the painting experience easy, stress-free and satisfying for the end customer. Being the market leader and keeping up with the latest technology, recently the entire service took a huge leap forward, with mechanization rollouts across all markets which aim at delivering superior finish with Mechanized Painting tools. Scientific site evaluation through Moisture meters, Accurate measurement through laser based Digital Distance meters, covering and masking of furniture through masking films, Express and superior sanding through Electric Sanders, dust extraction through Vacuum Cleaners, faster and superior painting through Telescopic rollers, etc. and hence making the overall service delivery extremely professional

Today the key differentiators of Home Solutions from product selling or other painting servicesHassle Free Service Experience: One-window solution from choosing the right product and shades to timely completion of work, supervised by the Relationship Associate and painted by Trained Applicators makes the service completely hassle free. CANVAS 2013 | Asian Paints Ltd Page 3

Expert Advice: Best and Suitable painting solutions through need assessment, site evaluation and product, budget and color consultation. Superior Finish: Customers enjoy the best finish as the recommended process for painting is followed. All painters and contractors are trained to give the best paint finish. Seal of Assurance- Upto 3 Years Warranty: Home Solutions offers warranty upto 3 years on luxury finishes to give consumers complete peace of mind post painting.

Unlike the product business model of the company where Asian Paints role was limited to educate and inspire the consumer , the limited services that APL offered gave the business a chance to complete the loop by offering an experience to the consumer. Asian Paints Ezycolour Home Solutions was one of them. He saw great merit in terms of Asian Paints Ezycolour Home Solutions taking the testimony route on the social media platform. After-all no amount of advertisement can counter the strength of a positive recommendation. Since experience was a touchier topic than a product, the number of complaints on-line for Ezycolour Home Solutions was much more. This was also a reflection of the fact that an evolved consumer was using this service and hence all the more reason for him/her to be ad agnostic and open to recommendations. Further though the probable consumer of Home Solutions mitigates the risk of unknown when he comes to a trusted brand like Asian Paints, he invests a lot in terms of money, time and effort to take this decision. A platform of shared experiences would thus give the nudge required to him via assurance to take the plunge. Next day at office, he called for a meeting with the Digital and the Ezycolour Home Solutions team to discuss the same.

3. Forum
Digital Teams Perspective The idea of social media is to engage with audience and gain from the amplification the medium provides. The idea is not only engagement but continuous engagement, hence when we commit to a page we must get into it with confidence that there is enough and more to keep the page buzzing for the entire year- year after year. This is difficult for a category like paints where users paint once in 3-5 years. One can argue same is true for an automobile category but there the involvement in the category is huge and cars require regular maintenance and always have the option of upgrades during next purchase cycle hence there are a lot of scope of conversation with the consumer. Knowing the whole experience itself is still full of hassle and our consumer does not want to hear about painting for the next 3-5 years, once he is out of it, the corporate FB page thrived on the topics of colors and dcor. On one hand they were easy topics to talk about for the fan base on the other hand they served the purpose of brands commitment to inspiration and education. The brand pages were maintained separately since we believe that we would not assume that one fan likes everything that comes from APL and respect their individual choice. CANVAS 2013 | Asian Paints Ltd Page 4

But today how feasible was it to develop separate pages for each of the product/service and maintain them with equal commitment of engagement? Like products, services from APL will again not seek any active engagement from a consumer in the interim period of 4-5 years unless you engage them well. As of now we are thinking of Ezycolour Home Solutions tomorrow we can think of Ezycolour Colour Consultancy @ Home, how far can we stretch ourselves doing justice to all our online properties? The key questions they raised were

Does the user have the demarcation of products and services in his mind as long as its coming from Asian Paints? As a product company we do not directly tend to end consumers and are present to offer help/guidance to users whereas in services we are selling the services directly- does it demand a separate strategy?

Ezycolour Home Solutions presence is restricted in only 13 cities as of now, are we ok with the spillage of the pan India exposure of social media? With the platform being so direct, the whole effort of complaining becomes easier for a consumer. SM is a dialogue the consumer is as free to talk to you as you are keen to talk to him. And once on SM , the turnaround time of response is expected to be real time , what will we be ready to commit?

Ezycolour Home Solutions Teams Perspective When a customer looks at purchasing a product or availing a service, the mindset and expectations are very different. Selling paints comes with its own set of expectations, but is limited to product performance in the long run. Delivering service on the other hand is about managing PAIN in the PAINting process, ensuring right product and shade combinations and prompt after sales needs (complaints, touch-ups, etc.). A single strategy cannot work to manage such different expectations. Its been 12 years since Asian Paints Ezycolour Home Solutions has come into existence, what started off with 1 city is today present in 13 cities across the country. The service will not be restricted to these 13 cities in future and will move to more major towns. Even today, all the main cities are covered and most of the digital consumers- be it AP Website or BHG requests come from these 13 cities. There are enough platforms available for consumer complaints, including Asian Paints Your Voice, mouth shut, AP FB page, twitter, etc. In most cases, these platforms produce complaints for Ezycolour Home Solutions than engagement with satisfied consumers, thereby projecting the service in bad light. However, as per the Customer Satisfaction Survey, 90% of customers are happy with Ezycolour Home Solutions. With 1,50,000 customers serviced till date, 1.35L happy customers are not being leveraged for spreading positive WOM. Social Media will act as a great platform to engage these customers and celebrating their happy experience.

3. Dilemma
CANVAS 2013 | Asian Paints Ltd Page 5

An interesting dinner evening had given a lot of food for thought for the marketing team of Asian Paints. Satish strongly believed that all queries raised will automatically be answered if certain key queries were addressed in details What is the apt platform for Asian Paints Ezycolour Home Solutions to influence consumers? What would be the optimized strategy sharing experiences or celebrating experiences? In either of the cases how can we facilitate the same? A testimony based approach exclusively for Ezycolour Home Solutions or a thought through separate presence for Services which was a long term solution? In either of the cases what would be the ideal Social Media strategy for the same? With the ever increasing demands of a consumer, will a page dedicated to services spread more negative WOM than spreading the positive recommendations that we hope for? In case of Ezycolour Home Solutions , the nature of the service provided further adds to the complexity of delivering the final experience. Finally the big questions , supposing we go ahead with the Home Solutions /Services FB page What is the realistic expectation from the social media presence and how do I measure the worth of each fan that I gain on the page?

CANVAS 2013 | Asian Paints Ltd

Page 6