Saint-Gobain meets creative agencies

The pitch is for brand Gyproc.

Saint-Gobain is currently in the process of meeting with creative agencies. The pitch is for its brand Gyproc. Part of the Saint-Gobain Group, Gyproc India has interests in the construction space (light weight interior construction practices in the Indian construction industry) and offers ceiling, drywall partition and gypsum plaster solutions.

The process is underway in Mumbai and a few agencies have started receiving creative briefs.

The creative duties of brand Saint-Gobain (glass and mirrors) lie with Lowe Lintas & Partners. The agency has been handling the account since its entry in India and has created some memorable work for the brand since.

The popular ads include those for its transparent glass (the 'Ha!' ad in which a waiter is trying to find the door and the one featuring a lady throwing cleaning water on the glass outside a restaurant, only to have the men inside flinch as she does so) and those for its mirrors, which showcased the product's clarity of reflection (recall the ad in which a small boy entering a men's toilet urinates on the reflection of the toilet, instead of the actual commode).

Released a few years back, Saint-Gobain's ads for the product Sun Ban, a solar control glass, are also memorable. The films conveyed the product benefit (the product not only reduces the amount of sunlight that enters homes through windows, but also cuts down on the heat transmitted in the process) in a humorous yet convincing manner. The product was targeted at SEC AB, males, 25+ working within the building/construction area as well as direct consumers.

Saint-Gobain established its presence in India by acquiring a majority stake in Grindwell Norton in 1996. In India, the company currently operates in two business sectors, namely, innovative materials and construction products.

Within these sectors, a variety of products are manufactured by eight different companies, including Saint-Gobain Glass India (which manufactures and markets float glass and mirrors from its plant near Chennai), Saint-Gobain Sekurit India (which offers a range of automotive glass products), Grindwell Norton (which manufactures and markets abrasives, silicon carbide, high performance refractories and performance plastics from its four manufacturing locations), Saint-Gobain Crystals & Detectors India (which manufactures and markets radiation detection and measurement products), SEPR Refractories India (which manufactures and markets electrofused refractories), Saint-Gobain Gyproc India (which manufactures a range of construction products such as gypsum plasterboards, ceiling tiles, mineral fibre tiles, metal framing systems, jointing and finishing products and gypsum plasters for partitions, wall panels, ceilings and internal wall linings), Saint-Gobain Weber India (which offers facade and tiling solutions and technical mortars) and Saint-Gobain SEVA Engineering India (which manufactures top rolls, tempering furnaces and toolings for the automotive sector, moulds for containers and some building hardware products).

The first five names on the list fall under innovative products and the latter three names are involved with the manufacture of construction products.