Asian Paints is India's largest paint company and the third largest paint company in Asia today. It’s a 3000 crore Indian MNC and is amongst top 10 decorative paint companies in

India. The company has an enviable reputation in the corporate world for professionalism, fast track growth, and building shareholder equity. Asian Paints operates in 22 countries and has 30 paint manufacturing facilities in the world-servicing consumers in over 65 countries. Besides Asian Paints, the group operates around the world through its subsidiaries Berger International Limited, Apco Coatings and SCIB Chemicals.

Products:The company offers the products under mainly three categories. They are:

Decorative Paints Industrial Paints Automotive Paints

Across India it has 5 paint factories and 2 Chemical factories. It has 55% share of the decorative paints market.

“Asian Paints aims to become one of the top Five Decorative coatings companies world-wide by leveraging its expertise in the higher growth emerging markets. Simultaneously, the company intends to build long term value in the Industrial coatings business through alliances with established global partners.”

Asian Paints operates in 22 countries across the world. It has manufacturing facilities in each of these countries and is the largest paint company in ten overseas markets. Asian Paints operates in five regions across the world.The countries that Asian Paints has presence are as followsSouth Asia : Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri LankaSouth East Asia : China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and ThailandCaribbean Islands : Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago Middle East : Bahrain, Egypt, Oman and United Arab Emirates South Pacific : Australia, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Samoa Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu

The company has come a long way since its small beginnings in 1942. Four friends who were willing to take on the world's biggest, most famous paint companies operating in India at that time set it up as a partnership firm. Over the course of 25 years Asian Paints became a corporate force and India's leading Paints Company. Driven by its strong consumer-focus and innovative spirit, the company has been the market leader in paints since 1968. Today it is double the size of any other paint company in India. Asian Paints manufactures a wide range of paints for Decorative and Industrial use.

The PR department of Asian Paints consists of 3 people. The hierarchy is as follows.

The department is headed by Mr. Jason D’Souza. Mr. Arun Nair and Mr. Rajdeep are the public relations executive that handle the main operations of the department. They all report directly to the Vice President, Mr. Ashwin Dani.

Asian Paints focuses on the sale of home solutions which targets both classes as well as masses. They have paints like “Utsav” that can be afforded by a common man, and “Royale” that meets the need of the elite class.

The Public Relations of the Asian Paints is divided mainly in two parts. They are: Marketing Public Relations

The marketing public relations include all those activities which involve advertisement and promotional expenditures. These form the paid activities of public relations. The motive behind marketing public relations is to attract new customers by creating awareness about their brand, products and services.

Corporate Public RelationsThe corporate public relations include all those activities which do not involve promotional expenses. These activities mainly include maintaining cordial relationships with the employees, customers, dealers, contractors, clients, etc.

Marketing PR mainly includes Media Road-shows Dealers

TV Commercials – Asian Paints have two types of TV commercials – The Product Commercials and the Corporate Commercials. The product commercials highlight the features of the products. It promotes one single product of the brand. The various products of Asian Paints for which the TV advertisements are prepared include-

- Apex Ultima- Royale- Touchwood- Decora- Apcolite

Corporate commercials are those which promote the brand “Asian Paints” as a whole. The tag line used in these advertisements is “Har Rang Kuch Kehta Hai”.These advertisements are prepared with the consultation of the external agency “O & M” i.e. Ogilvy & Mather.

Print advertisements are those which appear in newspapers, magazines, journals etc. Asian Paints put their advertisements in leading newspapers such as Times of India, Hindustan Times, Mumbai Mirror, etc. They also have them in trade journals like Business Today, India Today etc. Asian Paints have come up with various innovative print ads during the festive seasons linking colours to human emotions. The tag line used in these ads says… “Tyohar to bas bahana hai… Ghar Jo Sajana Hai”

Asian Paints put up banners and hoardings about their products and the different services offered by them to the customers in all towns and cities in India as well as other countries.

The press releases are made before and after the launch of the product. Press releases prior to the launch of the product are the announcements about the introduction of the new product. The company officially declares as to when the new product will be launched in the market. The press conferences are held at the time of the launch of the product. Asian Paints usually invites one major news channel and 3 to 4 major publications in print media. At this event, the product is officially launched in the market.Apart from the above two, press releases are also made regularly to declare the quarterly results, the turnover for each product, the various services launched by the company such as Home Solutions, Color World etc.

The products manufactured at the factory are moved to the godowns. These products are then passed on to the retailers directly. It is very essential to maintain good relations with the dealers because they are directly involved with the sale of the products to the customers. They have one to one interaction with the customers, know their likes and dislikes, receive feedbacks which indirectly helps Asian Paints to cater to the public demands.

In road-shows, they mainly target to attract new investors. They hire places wherein they set up stalls and provide information about Asian Paints. This information is mainly related to investor’s interests such as returns, incentives, bonuses, etc. However, this information is released only if the people are interested. They also promote their products in the interest of the common man.

Corporate Public Relations mainly includes

Communication Investors CSR Media

External communication means maintaining a direct interface with the customers. The main purpose here is not to sell the product to the customers but to solve their queries and guide through the services offered by them.

Home Solutions- Asian Paints helps the customers to stylize their own imagination. It provides Colour consultancy, new styles for your walls, kids room themes, special effects in wall decor or about their products and brands.

Colour World- Asian Paints Colour World is the brand name for the one-stop colour shop of Asian Paints, which are unique paint shops where shades are generated with the help of a computer with software to choose and select 1,511 shade combinations, designed to reach consumers in a direct `dil se' style. If you have a shade of pink in mind you'll definitely find it at Asian Paints Colour World. Promoted with the tagline “Jahaan milen world ke saare colours.”

Online Consultancy- Asian Paints provides us with the 24 x 7 online help by its website www.asianpaints.com.

This website is a comprehensive collection of all the information regarding Asian Paints.

Helpline- For all painting needs related to our homes, ask for Asian Paints. They offer the customers a hassle free Painting experience. It is their helpline number which provides us all the privileges brought to us by the Asian Paints. Its helpline number is 1800-22-5678 and is accessible in Mumbai, Delhi, BanagloreKolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Jaipur, Cochin, etc.

To keep abreast of world technology and to protect its competitive edge, Asian Paints has a 50:50 joint venture with Pittsburgh Paints and Glass Industries (PPG) of USA, the world leader in automotive coatings, to meet the increasing demand of the Indian automotive industry - www.asianppg.com. Another wholly owned subsidiary, Asian Paints Industrial Coatings Limited has been set up to cater to the powder coatings market which is one of the fastest growing segments in the industrial coatings market. This

wholly owned subsidiary of Asian Paints has entered into a tie-up with Canada based Protech Chemicals which is one of the top ten powder coatings companies in the world for technological know-how for powder coatings and service customers with a wider coatings in this segment. It sponsored Star Screen Awards for 4 years from 2000 – 2004.

For Indian employees, they have a newsletter called “Spandan” which is given to every employee quarterly. They have a quarterly newsletter called “Rainbow” for foreign employees i.e. in Berger International and plants outside India. The newsletter includes information about the company’s performance, the expected performance, the successes, the events, the press releases, etc. Various quizzes are arranged so as to keep the employees sharp and updated. Promotions and incentives are given to them in order to motivate them to perform better. Asian Paints also try to maintain an informal relationship with the employees by arranging occasional parties for them. They have yearly picnics for all the employees.

The major investors of Asian Paints include the FIIs such as Capital, Eberdeen etc, and Mutual Funds of companies like Reliance, SBI and Templeton. The meetings with these FIIs that are based overseas are arranged through brokerage houses such as ABN Amro, Kotak Mahindra etc. They have regular meetings with the FIIs, around 15 to 20 every quarter. They also conduct special meetings of the FIIs with the senior team of the organization on request. The team answers their queries and provides solutions to their problems. They also try to arrange small meetings of particular investor with a particular person from the organization if required.

There is only one spokesperson handling media for Asian Paints i.e. the Vice Chairperson and the Managing Director, Mr. Ashwin Dani because they have the policy to put only one face in front of the media. The entire interaction with the media is handled by him. He answers all the queries of the media and give them clear and direct information. They prefer questionnaires as

compared to face to face interviews with the MD because of time constraints. Asian Paints is not very aggressive with the press as compared to other companies. They do not approach the media to push stories about them. They approach only for declaring results. On the other hand, the media approaches the company because they are the market leaders in this segment. They have a very straight forward attitude wherein they directly say a no to the media if they don’t have a particular answer or if they do not wish to reveal any information.

Berger Jamaica has been actively encouraging the youth of the country by pledging its support to education at all levels. It has adopted one school, instituted a much sought after architecture scholarship and awards excellence in education. BergerJamaica's association with its adoptedschool - Riverton Meadows Early Childhood Education - spans over 7 years and numerous initiatives. It facilitated the opening of a computer laboratory at the school in 2003 to impart the children an early start in acquiring computer skills. It also initiated the shared school feeding programme which provides every child with a nutritious lunch, daily. The CSR activities has impacted the students, teachers and, by extension, the Riverton Meadows community. According to the Principal of Riverton Meadows Early Childhood Education, Mr. Junior Rowe, approximately 2,000 persons from the community and its environs have been impacted by Berger Jamaica's involvement.

In its bid to assist growth and development of urban and rural organi sat ions the company tries to assist as many projects through donation of paints as possible. The Scout Association is one such beneficiary. The association in all its outbound communication acknowledgesBerger for its generous help. Apart from this, Berger Jamaica has been sponsoring a much sought after one year scholarship, 'Berger Paints Architecture Scholarship' to talented architecture students.

The massive disaster Tsunami hit the coastal areas of South India and South East Asia on Dec 26, 2004 and left behind a trail of devastation. As a socially responsible company, Asian Paints rose to the occasion and decided to play its rightful role in extending support and relief to the affected. All the employees contributed in cash and kind to the best of their capacity. These contributions were supplemented with a contribution from the company. A total amount of Rs. 4.7 million was generated as relief aid and handed over to the Tsunami victims. Besides India, all the units across the world also contributed to the best of their capacities towards Tsunami relief.

With a mission to take elderly healthcare to the doorsteps, the Patancheru plant launched a fully equipped Mobile Medicare Unit (MMU) in association with HelpAge India in 2003-04. It has been a smooth ride ever since and this year the plant set several new benchmarks:The MMU which has been helping the senior citizens in and around the Patancheru plant has increased its beneficiaries to 18359 up from around 14000 last year. A very encouraging statistic is that around 54% of senior citizens who benefited from the MMU in 05-06 were new patients. However, about 10781 patients came back to the MMU for treatments, reposing their trust in the

service offered by Asian Paints. A noticeable difference that's being witnessed is the increasing number ofsenior ladies coming forward to avail the facilities of the MMU. Women beneficiaries this year comprised a healthy 48%, of the total population that visited these medical camps.

As compared to 16593 beneficiaries last year, this year 16959 senior citizens benefited from the initiative. There has also been a significant increase in the number of new patients taking the advantage of the MMU service, while increasing number of elderly women registered for treatments.A motivating factor was the number of treatments that were given out for various ailments. Hypertension (1601 cases) was observed as the most common old age problem in the region, while Diabetes (1138 cases) , Joint Pains (4132 cases ) and Chronic Obstructive Airway Disease (4058 cases) were the other widespread ailments for which treatments were given. The MMU not only renders curative health care to the needy elderly but also provides a platform for organizing preventive health check up camps besides holding sessions regarding awareness and

Cataract is the most common cause of blindness among the elderly in India. Asian Paints plants working for the cause of the disadvantaged older citizens have special programs dedicated for eradicating cataract and helping the elderly see colour once again.

In this regard the efforts of the Kasna plant deserves a commendable mention. The plant has been conducting Navjyoti Eye Care camps in collaboration with Eye Care Hospital, Noida since Aug 2002. Nine camps have been conducted till date, including two in FY 05-06 with over 1400 registrations and 439 successful cataract operations conducted till date. Not to be left behind, the Patancheru plant conduced three eye screening camps last year and facilitated the cataract surgery of around 60 patients, while countless others were referred to eye hospitals for other vision disorders.

Age Care is another focus area by Asian Paints in its CSR activities making the shades of care brighter. In 2003 Asian Paints embarked on its mission to work for the elderly disadvantaged sections of our society. The company had conducted various health camps for the aged. In India, the focus of such health camps has always been around the plants where the employees reside. Taking this into consideration, Asian Paints has started MMU (Mobile Medicare Unit) in Kasna, Patancheru & Ahmedabad. MMU has made it

possible to reach the doorsteps of the needy and provide treatment for various diseases like hypertension, arthritis, diabetes etc. Also, the company had conducted camps on eye care, dental care, blood checkup among others.

Apart from education, Berger Jamaica feels it has a national duty to assist in areas whichimpacts its people. Blood donation is one issue where Jamaica lags behind its nationalt a r g e t . H e n c e i t partnered the National Blood Bank Transfusion Service to facilitate aBlood Collection Drive at our Head Office and it is our aim and intent for the Drive to be an annual one. Companies in close proximity, business associates and employees are invited to donate blood.

Besides the area of water management and age care, the company also invests in providing infrastructure support to primary schools. In Ankleshwar – Gujarat, the company continues to support the “Shree Gattu Vidyalaya” school which is established along with the Ankleshwar Industrial Development Society in 1983. The school today boasts of around 2,500 students in primary as well as secondary sections and the plant has sustained its commitment of providing infrastructure support to this school, be it through donations of computers, tables and chairs, or through assistance in other maintenance work for the school.

In addition, the Ankleshwar plant has also taken up the cause of improving the health and hygiene situation of schools in nearby villages. Understanding that prevention is better than cure, the plant conducts Vaccination and Health camps. Not only students, but teachers are also briefed on hygiene aspects in such camps.  

In Sriperumbudur (South India), the plant is also treading on similar lines and has taken up the task of improving facilities in the neighbourhood primary schools. It presented the Pondur primary school with desks, tables & a PA system and even school bags for the students.  

According to United Nations, shortage of clean water is the most threatening crisis the world is facing in this millennium. Most Indian cities face a water shortage besides scarcity of fresh clean water. Mumbai, for example, has a shortfall of water supply to its citizens that is expected to increase manifold in future.

Asian Paints saw the writing on the wall and made Water Conservation, the core agenda of its CSR program in 2002. Since then the company has never looked back and has been successfully growing its water conservation plan with the help of TOTAL WATER MANAGEMENT.

Realizing that a example is better than a percept, Asian Paints setup a Rain Harvesting Programme (RWH) at its manufacturing facility at Bhandup in Mumbai. It was the first corporate in Mumbai to take up such a project and inspired by its success the company setup four such plants in their manufacturing facilities in other areas.

In this scheme the dome structure and terrace of the building has been used as catchments area. The dome is the highest part of the high-rise building (27 floors) and stands above the overhead water supply tanks. This dome structure has been used to an advantage by making arrangement to collect rainwater from the dome and connecting it directly to the overhead tanks (Flush and Domestic Water Tanks). Since this scheme delivers water directly from dome to the overhead water supply tanks, there is absolutely no requirement to pump water. This is the innovative part of scheme and gives tremendous benefit of saving electrical power along with water. The cost benefit analysis for saving water and electrical power makes sure that the investment return rate is just one monsoon season and free water is available from rains for rest of the life.In addition, rest of the terrace is used to collect rainwater and is taken through the existing down spouts to the underground flush water tank. The existing down spouts which were earlier just left on the ground to join the storm water drains are now extended using PVC water lines to under ground flush water tank.

•   Over 2000 people have already visited the Total Water Management Centre.

•   Till date Asian Paints has influenced citizens to harvest over 100 million litres of rainwater.

•   We have now impacted over 100,000 needy senior citizens in just two years through our initiatives in age care providing them with medical care at their door steps through Mobile Medicare units.

•   Most of our international units continued with their efforts of making a difference to the community.

Organized Sector- Nerolac- Berger ICI

Unorganized Sector

In India, every corporate organization faces tough competition from the unorganized sector. The same is the case with Asian Paints. The first aspect of unorganized sector includes the ‘desi’ products, which are widely used in India even today. These include chuna, distemper, etc. In this case Asian Paints suffer because of the ignorance of people about the better options available in the market. Secondly, the small unorganized shops also lineup the competition for Asian Paints. If the company is unable to supply its products on time, especially in rural areas where there exists no brand loyalty, it would mean giving a chance for the competitors’ product to be sold.

Competitor helping Asian paintsAmitabh Bachchan is the brand ambassador of Nerolac paints- one of the competitors of Asian Paints. It was observed that there was a sudden increase in the sales and profits of Asian Paints. When surveyed it was observed to the surprise of Asian Paints that the sales increased because of the brand ambassador- Amitabh. This led to the inference that when it comes to decorative paints, the masses associate it with Asian Paints as it is the market leader in this segment. Thus, the efforts and money of Nerolac helped Asian Paints.

The PR campaign for the various products of Asian Paints remains more or less the same. Every time the company plans to launch a new product, it follows the following steps:

- Survey: This includes the surveys of the customers in order to find out their needs and requirements so that the suitable product can be manufactured and introduced in the market.

- Research and development: After the survey has been conducted, the collected data is analyzed and suitable research and feasibility study is undertaken by the R & D team to design and develop the product.

- Press Release: Once it has been decided that the product would be introduced and when the product is into process, press releases are made to announce the time of the launch of the product.

- Press Conference: These are called for, when the product is launched in the market. It is the official declaration of the launch of the product.

- Advertising and Publicity

(Controversy )“GATTU” is the mascot of Asian Paints, who is a little boy with a paint brush in his hand by R.K. Laxman. He represented Asian Paints and connected the company to the entire Indian market.

In the year……….Asian Paints decided to have a global image and so changed its logo in India from the famous GATTU to the current logo. Due to this, there was a huge hype created by the media which resulted in a major controversy- DEATH OF GATTU. Due to a mere picture of GATTU in newspaper by a journalist stating GATTU from …..-………………., the masses assumed Asian Paints was no more. This affected the image of the company and created chaos and misunderstandings. It also had a negative impact on the sales and profits of the company.

A press conference was called wherein it was clearly stated that GATTU is still the mascot of the company for its operations in India. He was still present on the tins and other packaging materials. The main aim behind removing GATTU was that they wanted a global image which GATTU did not represent. The PR Department of Asian Paints successfully handled the controversy and the misunderstandings were cleared by continuous articles in newspaper and magazines. Thus Asian Paints regained its positon in the market.

The budget for the PR department is not static but very dynamic. It does not remain the same all over. It depends on the product for whihch the PR has to be done, the target market of the product and the intensity of the PR campaign for that particular product. It is approximately 10-30% of the total expenditure.

Turn over is the annual total sales of a particular product of Asian Paints. The graph of the annual total sales has been increasing since many years making Asian Paints the market leader in its category. They also conduct surveys amongst their public to know their performance in terms of supply of the product in time and whether their customers are satisfied and delighted by the product offerings. The International magazines like Forbes rank the corporates based on their performance and turnover.

First to be recognized for 'Best under a Billion' award by Forbes Global magazine

USA among the 200 Best Small Companies in the World for 2002 and 2003. One of the country's leading business magazine "Business Today" in Feb 2001

ranked Asian Paints as the Ninth Best Employer in India. A survey carried out by 'Economic Times' in January 2000, ranked Asian Paints

as the Fourth most admired company across industries in India.

A crisis is an unforeseen event (or series of events) that causes intense public scrutiny and can threaten the ability of an organization to continue operating. Public Relations is the management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the public on whom its success or failure depends. Thus healthy public relations assume great importance during the crisis phase of the life of the organization so that it can survive even in times of dilemma.Healthy public relations can be maintained in an array of crisis management challenges which may range from product recalls, workforce layoffs and work-related accidents and deaths to plant closings, regulatory crackdowns and environmental issues. When a crisis occurs, you will have two priorities:

Bringing the crisis under control Dealing with the intense media and public scrutiny.

In order to keep the organization's reputation intact, effective communication skills and healthy public relations should be developed so as to retain credibility, restore confidence and protect their bottom lines.There are more examples of organizations getting crisis management wrong than doing it right. When crisis strikes, most companies are unprepared and poorly handle the situation. Organizations might try stonewalling the situation, toughing it out or pretending the crisis will pass, but they only make the situation worse. Organizations who waste valuable time at the beginning of a crisis can expect to see a loss in revenue and plummeting stock prices. The organization's most important asset is at stake, their reputation.

Case: FirestoneIt is useless to conceal the truth from the public because eventually someone will blow the whistle. Firestone continued to sell faulty tires to the public when they knew there was a

problem with the product. After many deaths, Firestone recalled millions of tires, and the public wondered how long Firestone knew about the problem. Now Firestone is on the verge of declaring bankruptcy and going out of business because they made poor crisis management decisions.

Case: Johnson & JohnsonJohnson & Johnson did not share the same fate as Firestone when crisis struck the company in 1982. One of Johnson & Johnson's well-known products, Tylenol was tampered with. Someone had been placing cyanide pills inside of Tylenol bottles, and it was killing people. Johnson & Johnson reacted quickly and pulled their product off the selves. Instead of suffering long-term damage to their reputation, Tylenol regained consumer confidence quickly because their crisis management plan told them to act in the interest of the consumer. Case: Pepsi Sometimes crisis management is used to protect a company from its customers. In 1991, a Pepsi customer claimed to have found a syringe in a can. Once the story hit the press, there were numerous reports of people finding screws, syringes and bolts in Pepsi cans. The Pepsi Company immediately denied that this was possible and that these claims were fraudulent. Pepsi started running ad campaigns against these incidents saying that they were "copycats" and Pepsi cans are "99.9% safe." This gave Pepsi enough time to discover what was happening. A grocery store surveillance camera caught a customer placing a syringe in the Pepsi can. Pepsi now had the proof they needed to refute the claims that their soda was unsafe to drink.

- Mr. Arun Nair – PR Executive of Asian Paints- Mr. Rajdeep – PR Executive of Asian Paints- Prof. Pillai