ANC wins Shalimar Paints; brand to undergo revamp

The development followed a pitch process that involved seven-eight agencies including Lowe Lintas India, and Mudra. Nitin Sawale, vice-president, sales and marketing, Shalimar Paints, remarks, "At Shalimar, we plan to launch premium brands, along with the repositioning exercise. We looked at ANC's previous work on Marico and Lodha in particular, and found it brilliant."

Alok Nanda, founder, ANC, tells afaqs!, "This is a repositioning exercise for the company and its approach to paints as a category. We will work upon the strategy on the corporate positioning, and will create the whole brand architecture from scratch."

So far, Shalimar has concentrated on individual paint products and hasn't really undergone corporate or mother branding. "ANC's abilities in both brand architecture and branding work, as well as in advertising, helped us clinch the business," adds Nanda. "Our approach is from a business perspective and not just advertising. It is the job of transforming a company," he says.

Furthermore, Hyphen, the company in the brand engagement, product creation and design space, which was formed after Nanda teamed up with Prasanna Sankhe, will also work on the design aspect of the brand. Currently, Shalimar Paints sports a blue and white logo. While the colours will largely be retained, the blue used will be a more vibrant variation in order to make the brand look more zestful and sport more vigour.

Sankhe, founder and partner, Hyphen and Brand Canvas, has an advertising background and has worked on a paint brand before. He will consult ANC on the Shalimar Paints business.

Adds Samarjeet Shimpi, senior vice-president, brand services, ANC, "Our agency's forte lies in successfully repositioning companies/brands. For most of our clients, we have either helped create a new category or become category leaders. Given its new vision, Shalimar Paints recognised ANC's unique ability and saw it as a perfect meeting of minds."