Asian Paints Royale Play: Painting Inspiring Stories

In its new digital campaign, #MakeRoomForTheNEU, Royale Play aims to connect with the 21st century woman who is dynamic, independent and a lifestyle surfer at heart.

Asian Paints Royale Play's digital campaign brings to life inspiring stories of women who have believed in their aspirations and made room for something new in their lives. Conceptualised by FoxyMoron, the digital campaign, called #MakeRoomForTheNEU, promotes the annual new range of wall texture variants under the NEU series - 2015 Spiral, Splash, Timber and Disc. The campaign commenced on August 28 and will continue till September 22.

With this campaign, Royale Play aims to connect with the 21st century woman who is dynamic, independent and a lifestyle surfer at heart who constantly absorbs inspiration to curate the best of it in her life and living space. The campaign brings together some compelling stories of women including Neenu Kewlani who overcame personal challenges and became the first ever Miss Wheelchair India, Neha Arya Sethi, a banker turned baker who owns the famous chain of dessert stores Sweetish House Mafia, and Upasana Makati, founder, publisher and editor of White Print - India's first English lifestyle magazine in Braille. The campaign tells us how all of these women welcomed the spirit of something 'new' in their life, by foregoing what they had been doing all these years and followed their heart by doing something that they had wanted to do since long.

The TG for the ad campaign is modern, contemporary women, from metros and non-metros, working as well as non-working. Commenting on the choice of women featured in the video, Amit Syngle, president, sales, marketing and technology at Asian Paints, says, "We were looking for beautiful stories that have been realised by women which have made room for new things in the society we live in. We were pleasantly surprised that there are many such inspiring stories around us just waiting to be discovered. We could do justice to just three of them, but using these we want to salute every single woman who is transforming the space around her and bringing in a fresh new perspective."

As part of the campaign, Royale Play is also hosting contests across all social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, asking people to share their stories of how they have made room for something 'NEU'. The contest winners stand a chance to win gift vouchers and discounts, as well as a makeover for their walls. The campaign has already garnered 11, 99,470 impressions on Facebook from August 27 to September 15, while the average click through rate (CTR) has been 11 per cent so far. On YouTube, the campaign has received 1, 16,000 impressions and 20,055 views.

Talking about the marketing challenges, Syngle adds, "The biggest challenge was to come out with a campaign that talks about the stories of inspirational women without it looking like brand speak. Also, 80 per cent of our fans on social media were men, a large number of whom are contractors, dealers and painters; so tapping into the 20 per cent female fan base and engaging them was of paramount importance."

Talking about the creative brief, Suveer Bajaj, co-founder and director, media operations, FoxyMoron, says, "Royale Play was launching the annual new range of wall texture variants under the NEU series -2015. Though the textures were launched offline, there was never a dedicated launch for the same digitally. This year, we had to run a campaign promoting the NEU range keeping the Royale Play woman at the heart of it."

Advertising for a product segment like paints, especially decorative wall paints, is often a difficult task. Commenting on the same, Bajaj opines, "Advertising in this category mostly revolves around showing how beautiful the paint looks, or talking about how long-lasting the paint would be, if we are talking about exterior paint. Showing the tangible benefits or putting the product on a pedestal is what traditional advertising does. When it comes down to digital, things have to be real, because this is a medium where people choose what they watch and share. Our challenge was to bridge the gap between having a completely functional campaign and something simply metaphorical."

Royale Idea?

According to Gopa Kumar, vice president, Isobar India, the execution of the ads seems simple and believable. He says, "I like the way the DIY aspect has been blended with the storyline. Using the lady to do it shows really how simple it is. A good metaphorical use of 'paint your dreams'."

However, he adds that the location should have been different. "Instead of a closed room, a better choice would have been the shop. If you notice the subject mentions her inner desire to move out of the cubicle while she looks at the same space," he notes.

Kumar says that this ad is a good example of breathing life into a category which is low-involvement and seasonal. "These categories give creative teams an option to think out of the box and create great piece of content and work," he adds.

Asian Paints' Royale Play comprises a collection of innovative and ready to use special effect finishes for interior walls. FoxyMoron, a digital marketing and media solutions agency founded in 2008, has grown to become one of India's leading independent digital marketing agencies. Some of its clients include Ariel India, L'Oreal India Group (L'Oreal Professionnel, Maybelline New York) and Rajasthan Royals, among others.