DURACOAT
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Welcome to
Duracoat.
Ask the experts
Duracoat 's New Campaign
Advertising age
Wpp Cream magazine article
Published: February 07, 2008
DuraCoat Gets Consumers to 'Ask the Experts' In Kenya,
Paint Brand Uses Knowledge to Challenge Market Leader
DuraCoat needed to differentiate itself from and challenge the market leader in the Kenyan paint market. Crown Paints was dominant due to lengthy market presence and strong brand equity. Duracoat used professional contractual painters in their ads, with the intended inference that because he's an expert, his paint must also be the best.
The target audience was consumers -- house owners and tenants -- whose paint knowledge is usually limited to color choice, beyond which they rely on the professionals to advise them on which brand to purchase. DuraCoat's insight was to build its strategic platform around "expertise," positioning itself as a brand endorsed by experts, in this case contractual painters. Their "hero" for the campaign is an expert painter who uses DuraCoat, with the intended inference that because he's an expert, his paint must also be the best.
Kenyans are not DIY consumers. They will ask a fundi or contractor to fix or decorate their office or home.
THE STRATEGY
Reposition Duracoat paint as more than just paint.
When you ask for Duracoat, you get the best advice in the market.
Thus, based on our insight, we train all fundi’s in the market and brand them as Duracoat experts.
The big idea: ask the experts
Creative Idea
Create a platform to enhance the idea that Duracoat is more than just paint.
Create a ‘mascot’ that can carry the brand forward for the next 10 years.
In line with our insight, we created a fundi called
Peter Marangi (Peter the Painter).
This character would drive the brand creative. This was also something we could produce on mass, as the client had small budgets.
reintroducing
DURACOAT
the work
TVC Strategy
As a brand, we needed a library of work that communicated that Duracoat was versitile, fresh and always saying somethine new and topical.
Print Strategy
First phase of the campaign would enhance product benefits, and then second phase would focus on why Duracoat Paints are the experts.
Festive Strategy
As a brand on the rise, we needed to link our core message together with our brand ambassodor and yet be colourful and fun.
Digital Strategy
Duracoat needed to always be seen as a brand on the move, hence we can up with campaigns like 'spray for change'.
Going Beyond Paint
Creating the platform of experts required believeability. Fundi's were generally seen as hard labour workers. We needed to create our own trained experts. Hence we created the Duracoat Training Academy.
Topical Strategy
As a Kenyan brand, we needed the brand to always have its finger on the pulse of the nation and be always fresh and informed.
UX Experience
Again, the brand needed to be in-touch with its consumers, so we decided to have Duracoat's very own store. Here you could sample your own colours as well as see new and interesting painting techiques.
Outdoor Strategy
To use exisiting new building hoarding sites as billboards. Message would be as colourful as possible, yet making it relevant.
This building will oneday be as colourful as this hoarding.
KEEPING DURACOAT INNOVATIVE
As a product in a very competitive market, we needed the brand to be seen as a fore-runner. So the communication had to balance being first with being knowledgeable.
SUMMARY OF CAMPAIGN
The campaign was executed through-the-line, using traditional and nontraditional media, riding all the way on the expertise theme.
A nationwide program targeted aspiring painters, training them in improving their painting skills, color co-ordination, etc. Participating painters were equipped with new branded overalls and tools, and given certificates of competence on completion.
Experiential methods for the public included in-store activations with experts demonstrating how to mix shades and paint properly.
A sponsored local TV program called "Extreme Make Over" is planned for the autumn.
The campaign was reportedly rated as the most effective and memorable in the past three months countrywide, with articles written across print titles referring to "ask the experts" as a way of engaging both consumers and professionals. Paint ceased to be the ordinary white or cream walls in most homes as people experimented with the variety of shades offered by DuraCoat.
Overall sales increased by more than 30%.
