Tamil Nadu is a key market for us: Amit Syngle on Asian Paints-Sun TV collab

Asian Paints, recently launched, a consumer-first initiative, Tractor Emulsion Varnamaalai, a unique shade guide crafted exclusively for Tamil Nadu. Tractor Emulsion ‘Varnamaalai’, meaning ‘Garland of Colours’, is inspired by the culture of the southern state and even popular small screen stars who depict strong women screen, in TRP topping shows.

What’s a well-known fact is that colours are vital to life, influencing emotions, moods, perceptions, stimulates minds and even physical well-being. And when it comes to homes, people look at colours for inspiration, how colours can make their homes look beautiful and is significantly influenced by cultural choice.

Zoning In On Tamil Nadu

With Tamil Nadu being a key market for Asian Paints, the brand has garnered a deep understanding of consumer preferences and is developing region-specific initiatives, and design tools rooted in local culture to help consumers imagine and create their living spaces. Asian Paints undertook a full-fledged research, for two months across Tamil Nadu, to catch the trends on colour choices and shade preferences that appeal to the people of the state.

The research looked at the inspirations taken from historical cultural traditions that plays a strong role in influencing people of their choices. Looking at the core insights unearthed from the research of the Tamil audience showed that textiles, fabrics, curtains, upholstery used to adorn homes have a large influence on shade selection across consumer homes in the state.

A big trend seen was that while darker shades were once the preferred choice, there's now a growing inclination towards lighter tones, such as pastels, as well. When it came to usage in spaces, darker shades suited shared spaces, while lighter tones were used in personal areas bringing in calm.

Amit Syngle, MD & CEO of Asian Paints, says, “Another trend we saw was that, people no longer wanted to use one shade in the entire home, but wanted to use multiple colours. In fact, people now want to use multiple colours even in one room.”

A trend that came to the fore and influenced by Gen Z and Gen Alpha who looked at inspiration online, with over 40 percent of online searches now focused on colours and shades, reflecting a strong demand for visualisation tools.

In addition, consumers are increasingly drawn to colour combinations that add depth and personality to their spaces with shade selection becoming a family activity, with everyone contributing to the final look. To support this, Asian Paints has made colour exploration more engaging and intuitive to help families choose combinations that reflect their style and story.

A ‘SUN’ny Collaboration

A key insight was the role of women when it came to taking decisions and the role of media. Syngle says, “Today’s media has a big role to play, particularly TV soaps, which has many women hooked on to women-centric content and these serials are seen to be inspirational.”

This insight, about the importance and role played by TV serials, led Asian Paints to look for collaboration with popular TV serials with strong inspirational women-centric characters. This was also aided by the fact that consumers often looked to television stars for inspiration, mirroring their lifestyles and drawing ideas from the characters they portray and also aspiring to recreate the look and feel of their fictional homes.

Another key factor that led to choosing television and daily soaps is the high TV penetration rate in Tamil Nadu. As per reports, 97 percent of homes in Tamil Nadu own a TV set with even the average daily time spent watching television higher than other states. Armed with these insights, Asian Paints decided to integrate the elements of consumer’s favourite Tamil TV-serials along with the celebrities in its colour guide, Varnamaalai featuring colour shades inspired by the sets of the serials.

The paint manufacturer chose to associate with Sun TV for their shows Kayal, Moondru Mudichu and Singapennae featuring popular characters Kayal, Nandhini and Anandhi to showcase the colour palettes in the guide in a way that is instantly relatable.

Speaking on the association with Sun TV, Syngle says, “Together, these three prime-time serials reach an audience of 41 million in a month, translating to 51% audience reach, making them a powerful cultural touchpoint across the state. The GEC genre is very important to us as they give us the eyeballs and at the same time serve the purpose in reaching this audience. We found that Sun TV serials had very powerful women characters in roles such as, Kayal, Nandhini, and Anandhi. Given the popularity of the shows, Kayal, Moondru Mudichu and Singapennae and the characters, we saw this as a good idea to associate with Sun TV.”

He adds, “We were very clear that we wanted to maximise the reach and looked at certain CPRPs (Cost Per Rating Point). More importantly, it was the content they were showcasing, which was exciting to us. Those were the basic things which went into our selection.”

Looking ahead, as the serial progresses, Asian Paints possibly could look showcasing newer shades by doing addendums. At the moment, the serials are only one source of inspiration and the guide gives consumers multiple combinations to use in addition to the look seen on the serial.

Commenting on what he the role he sees Asian Paints’ play in the lives of consumers, he says, “We want to play a big role of being an enabler, so that we are able to help the consumer in their decision making. We can help the customer to visualise based on whatever they are using.”

Finally, on his expectations from this initiative Syngle says, “Tamil Nadu is a strong market for us. We want to build affinity for the brand in a very big way and look to be part of owning homes as we go ahead. We want to own the visualisation piece in terms of saying that color is a big enablement, and at the end of it, say that this is a zone which brings joy and happiness to people.”