Nippon Paint launches brand-renewal effort in China
Print Edition
A more colorful future now awaits Nippon Paint as it launches a brand-renewal campaign in China. Its new branding strategy, with the logo playing up the “N” initial and giving more prominence to the company’s Chinese name “LiBang,” (立邦) represents an ambitious plan of pushing Nippon Paint to be “More than paint”. As one of the biggest paint manufacturers in Asia, Nippon Paint wants to be the Paint Expert and to be “more than paint” to our customers, said Wee SiewKim, Chief Executive Officer of Nipsea Group, which is Nippon Paint’s Asia-based business.
“We are not just a manufacturer of paint. We want to be a customer centric service provider,” he said. “It is not enough to just focus on developing the functionality of paint products — making them waterproof, durable, crack-resistant, or easy to use. Emotional aspects are also worth exploring. Changing the color and feel of surroundings will help change one’s mood and we must make it hassle-free for the home owner. A paint provider should be able to help a customer specify and create what he wants,” said Wee.
Today, Nippon Paint has a color-creation tinting machine that has about 2,000 color and texture options. So the size of the color palette does not constrain one’s imagination as the company wants to also put design into customers’ hands. As part of its promotion of “trend beyond colors” concept in Asia, the company has launched a website called iColor (Nippon paint Color Creations outside China) where customers can draw inspirations about color and texture patterns from thousands of inputs by designers. The Milano texture paint series Nippon Paint China has launched offers an unique DIY opportunity to homeowners to create their very own one-of-a-kind wallpaper-like visual impacts on their walls. The idea is to give customers the freedom of choice while making the work very easy, said Wee. Nippon Paint can take care of all the hassles involved in the painting process as part of its deliverables. By sending professional inspectors and painters to the field, the company wants to stand behind the guarantee of quality material as well as execution. These services are now available in 44 cities across China. Wee said he believes the service will catch on through word-of-mouth as people realize the hassle-free aspect of repainting.
China is a long-term growth market for the Nipsea Group. Last year, China grew 25 percent for the company. And this year, given the brand-renewal campaign, it hopes to see further growth, Wee said. The pace of new home construction may eventually slow down. But there is still a huge business potential in the existing stock of homes, some of which were built more than 10 years ago and need repainting. The industrial paint market also holds the promise of growth, which keeps driving the company to diversify its product portfolio to enter new fields. After Nippon Paint’s acquisition of two local Chinese companies at the end of last year, it is able to provide an even wider offering to the wood coatings, floor coatings and water proofing market segments.
“We expect the China market to grow every year, and we want to gain market share,” said Wee. Through the brand-renewal campaign, the company wants to make a firm commitment to all external and internal parties that it is here for the long term.
As part of its elevated corporate social-responsibility program in China, up to 1,800 Nippon Paint dealers in China are invited to take part in the “Color, the Way of Love” charity work that have painted the walls of 180 Hope Primary schools in rural areas and train 80 of their art teachers. Paint business is not just about color. It is about meeting the aspirations and needs of the customer. And through this brand renewal campaign, Nippon Paint is also sending the message to every one of its 6,600 employees in China to keep the customer firmly in their sights and to live up to its Brand promise, said Wee.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
