Sep 29 2009
How Asian Paints outperformed rivals
Indian soldiers take great pride in the crease of their trousers, the twirl of their moustache and the shine on the metal and leather they wear.
Arms, medals, epaulettes are all brought to the perfect shine before a parade. One key item of inspection is the glint on the ammunition boots.
One enterprising regiment, the story goes, instead of using polish bought a box of Asian Paints paint and used it to good effect on the boots. Asian Paints managing director & CEO PM Murty doesn’t know if it’s a true story, though he joined the company way back in 1971. What he does know is that such small purchases can make the distinction between profit and loss, survival and extinction.
Asian Paints has for long sold very small cans of paint which are used to colour the horns of bulls during the Pola festival in Maharashtra and the auspicious small red and yellow stripes at the bottom of the front door of Tamil Nadu homes.
This might not always be remunerative, but it has given a tremendous boost to the company’s brand recall. When the market is up, everybody makes money. But when the chips are down, only resilient brands stay afloat.
