AkzoNobel Adds Color to Decorative Paints Business in China   

AkzoNobel, the world's largest paints and coatings company, is gearing up to become the No.1 decorative paints player in the burgeoning China market by forging a global branding and deploying a mid-tier product strategy.       
   Tex Gunning, Member of the Board of Management and the Executive Committee of AkzoNobel responsible for Decorative Paints, noted that the global paints market is worth Euro 22 billion and high growth economies led by China present enormous opportunities to the industry.  
   Gunning recently visited Chengdu (southwestern China) to garnish first-hand information about the Chinese market. He was pleased and surprised to note the changes that China has been undergoing. The urbanization and construction of new high-rise buildings offer great opportunities for AkzoNobel. In the next few years, AkzoNobel is poised to gearing up its momentum with faster investment and development in western areas of China.

One mega brand is more compelling

Gunning said that AkzoNobel Decorative Paints has selected China together with Canada, India and South East Asia Pacific as the first markets to launch the single global brand identity through leveraging its iconic Dulux brand.
   In explaining the rationale of this branding initiative, he said, "In the past we had dozens of decorative paint brands and their market acceptance varied. We believe leveraging a strong single global brand can help our business to grow from strength to strength."
   He pointed out the need of unifying its brands is even more acute in the China decorative paint market. "One of the key characteristics of the China as well as North Asia market is that they are highly fragmented. The top five players accounting for 40% of the market while the remainder is split among over 8 000 local and regional manufacturers," Gunning said.

Enrich Breadth and Depth of Product Offerings

Complementing with the Dulux branding strategy, LIN Liangqi, President AkzoNobel China, said that the Decorative Paints business unit will expand its product range to cover mid-tier market segment and distribution network in China.  
   China has an emerging middle class who has the will and consumption power to pursue a gracious living. They would like to pay a little extra for quality products. The Dulux brand has always been strong in the premium category. "We have been expanding its portfolio to cover the mid-tier market which represents the largest segment in terms of value," said Lin.
   The typical examples of such offerings are the Dulux Guardian series, including Guardian Odorless, Guardian Damp-proof and Guardian Washability. AkzoNobel recently launched its Eco-sense series, which is an upgrade product of "Odour-free". Eco-sense has no addictives of any VOC in the process of raw material selection, formula and manufacturing. AkzoNobel is committed to provide more environmental-friendly, safer and high quality painting solutions.
   AkzoNobel Decorative Paints is ambitiously scaling its Dulux-branded store network in China to synchronize with its mid-tier product strategy. Currently it has over 4 000 Dulux stores spreading over 550 cities in China. This number is growing at a tempo of 700 stores annually.
   "Our goal for distribution network expansion is simple - Should consumers in China want to patronize our Dulux products, he or she will get it from a Dulux store nearby," Lin said.
   Lin added that the Dulux store will be a coup in winning the hearts of Chinese consumers. "'Do-it-yourself'(DIY) has never been popular in China. Most of the local consumers are "Buy-it-yourself" advocators (BIY). That means one buys decorative paints but let a professional does the painting. What the Dulux store offers is 'Do-it-for-you' (DIFY) - Consumers can pick and choose the products they want, or get the advice from our color experts. As an icing on the cake, we can recommend trusted, well trained professional painters to customers to let them have the peace of mind that the painting work will be well done."
           
Let's color the community sustainably

Color plays a role in every culture. Color is a way of self-expression. It sheds light on our personality. In order to share its vision on how its quality decorative paints can enrich people's life, and help improve people's living conditions, AkzoNobel has launched a global campaign entitled "Let's Color".
   This campaign is a community care program designed to add color to people's lives and inspire them to revitalize their surroundings. Local communities are invited to transform colorless areas using the company's paint brands.
   "The Let's Color campaign reinforces our position as the global color authority and encourages consumers to use our brands and make their worlds brighter and better. We want to work hand in hand with consumers to change their homes, their neighborhoods and communities," Gunning said.
   Lin added that the Let's Color campaign is also launched in China. Some 4 000 liters have been used in projects in eight cities so far.
   Gunning said that sustainability is also a key driver of AkzoNobel Decorative Paints innovation strategy. It is committed to contribute to AkzoNobel's corporate target of achieving 30% of revenue from eco-premium products by 2015.