Smart Paints with a Heart

Design: Wife
Creative Director: Neha Mewawalla
Graphic Designers: Dwayne Almeida, Madhukar Khare
Copywriter: Royden Dias
Project Type: Produced
Client: Skora
Location: Mumbai, India
Packaging Contents: Paint
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Plastic
Printing Process: Heat Transfer

Skora’s positioning was defined strongly as a brand that was Smart with a Heart as it diversified the paint category due to its unique offerings. It was hence key that the product itself had to be dressed to impress.

Since a very core part of the packaging is execution, we put our gears in reverse this time. We first began in-depth research when it came to what the paint bucket is made of, who are the manufacturers, what are the print limitations, and also what exactly are the MOQs since that was integral for a paint brand of this size.

One critical takeaway of it all was that there were only a handful of manufacturers who supplied to most paint companies in India, which explained why most of them looked alike and why all of them were white.

By working out the details, we broke the MOQ monopoly that is pertinent in the industry and decided that a paint brand doesn’t need white buckets unless of course, it held meaning. This finally led to the buckets being produced with coloured enamel PVC, a first in the Indian Paint industry. Each bucket was colour-coded to Skora’s product categories, where red aptly represented exterior paint, purple represented interior ones and white represented clear protective coats. Matt buckets contained matt-finish paint just like glossy buckets did glossy-finish. This went beyond form and lent function, as now a quick glance was all it took to clearly differentiate interior coatings from exterior ones and matt from glossy and at the same time help the brand stand-out.

With the body in place, only a face was missing to the brand. And right in front of us, lied the answer. Each product was personified – named and faced, basis its core attributes, and just like that, it was the identity that every Skora product deserved. The product army’s names were prefixed with the “Mr” title-treatment to cement the idea that these aren’t just paints and coatings but unique individuals. These included the likes of Mr Perfect for the paint with Lifetime Guarantee, Mr Value to suit tight pockets, Mr Protect, the base of the paint system, and Mr Bond, for the bond.

These individuals were positioned ‘macho’ as Skora sets foot primarily in the B2B market and the on-ground building material industry is majority male and hence this would be most culturally relatable. Very carefully furthermore, all content on the packaging reads in first-person. Almost like each product is talking to the reader when it comes to who he is or how to use him most effectively.

All of this making Skora’s paint buckets one of the most memorable ones revelling in India’s building material industry.

What’s Unique?
The paint bucket is something that’s remained unchanged for years. It’s always the same format, the same shape and has even been the same colour no matter which paints brand decides to use them. The coloured paint buckets are a first in the larger Indian Paint market which makes the packaging as unique as Skora’s Smart with a Heart paint offerings.