Asia Paints' '902 Love Festival' Unveils Retail Blueprint! Strategic Partnership with Global Giant RPM! Six-Business Promotional Carnival Kicks Off!

Amid fluttering colorful flags and thunderous cheers, Hua Hai, Director of the Group’s Brand & Marketing Department, delivered the opening speech. He briefly outlined the background and origin of Asia Paints’ ‘902 Love Festival’, noting that it represents a mutual journey of affection between Asia Paints and all its partners—‘Love’ as both the name and the spirit. Internally, it is ‘Asia Paints Day’, designed to boost employee initiative, vitality, and corporate pride—making Asia Paints a milestone source of pride for current and former employees alike. Externally, it serves as a brand day (or even brand month), raising broader awareness, understanding, and affection for the Asia Paints brand. Seizing this ‘902 Love Festival’ as an opportunity, Asia Paints collaborates with ecosystem partners to co-create shared value and explore lifelong business opportunities rooted in love—while simultaneously launching a time-limited, large-scale promotional campaign across its six core businesses. Wu Xiaoyan, General Manager of Asia Paints’ C-End Marketing Management Center, shared the strategic vision for Asia Paints’ retail business. She explained that, given China’s vast market size, profound geographical depth, multi-tiered distribution channels, and diverse consumer needs, a single brand cannot adequately meet mass-market demands. Asia Paints pioneered the industry’s first ‘Grand Retail’ strategy: maintaining the core identity of the flagship ‘Asia Paints’ brand while building a diversified brand matrix—including premium and economy-oriented sub-brands—to complement it. This dual engine of comprehensive product offerings and a multi-brand portfolio enables full-channel penetration and meets the needs of customers across all tiers. Asia Paints Grand Retail sets the strategic goal of ‘One Distributor, One Hundred Million RMB, One Hundred Years’: selecting 300 city-level distributors across prefecture-level cities within three years; establishing over 3,000 Grand Retail specialty stores within ten years; reaching over 100,000 sales outlets and 1 million master contractors; and achieving an annual revenue scale of RMB 30 billion. Asia Paints Grand Retail has already taken a solid step forward in building its brand matrix—introducing Rust-Oleum, a world-class consumer brand under RPM Group, targeting the premium segment and young DIY consumers. Within three years, the two parties will jointly establish 800 Rust-Oleum branded specialty stores; within five years, aim to exceed USD 100 million in brand revenue; and within ten years, achieve USD 1 billion in annual revenue—jointly writing a brilliant chapter in brand collaboration and market expansion. In front of the entire audience, Asia Paints officially announced its strategic brand partnership with Rust-Oleum, a top-tier global consumer brand under RPM Group. Nigel Meakins, Managing Director of RPM Consumer Group Asia-Pacific, attended the ceremony in person, introducing RPM Group and the Rust-Oleum brand—and expressing firm confidence and determination in co-creating the future together. He stated that RPM Group ranks among the top three paint and chemical companies in the U.S. and fifth globally, with fiscal year 2023 sales exceeding USD 7.3 billion—ranking among the top 0.05% of the highest-performing listed companies on the New York Stock Exchange. Its Consumer Group is one of the largest players in the U.S. decorative retail and DIY markets, headquartered in Chicago. Its products are distributed across major retailers including Home Depot, ACE Hardware, and Walmart—as well as professional neighborhood hardware stores. The group owns numerous century-old brands, such as DAP (founded 160 years ago) and Zinsser (founded 175 years ago). Rust-Oleum is RPM’s largest consumer brand, boasting a distinguished 103-year history. It enjoys over 97% brand recognition among North American consumers and delivers end-to-end, whole-home coating solutions—from aerosol sprays to wall paints—for U.S. consumers. Its products even support color-changing applications on textiles, toys, furniture, and automobiles.

Asia Paints’ Brand Matrix Takes a Solid Step Forward! Strategic Partnership with Global Coating Giant RPM!

At Asia Paints’ second ‘902 Love Festival’ on September 2, the company made a major announcement: a strategic partnership with RPM Consumer Group, a global industry leader—and the introduction of Rust-Oleum, a world-class consumer brand—marking a solid step forward in building Asia Paints’ brand matrix. Given China’s vast market size, profound geographical depth, multi-tiered structure, and diverse consumer preferences, a single brand cannot satisfy broad-based demand. Asia Paints pioneered the industry’s first ‘Grand Retail’ concept—building a multi-brand matrix while preserving the core positioning of its flagship brand—to address segmented consumer needs and scenario-specific demands, thereby achieving deep, comprehensive coverage across all home-decorating contexts. Asia Paints’ Grand Retail brand matrix centers on the flagship ‘Asia Paints’ brand—positioned in the mid-to-high-end segment—with complementary premium and economy-oriented sub-brands. Premium sub-brands include internationally renowned consumer brands (such as Rust-Oleum) and ultra-premium brands infused with traditional Chinese cultural elements. Economy-oriented brands primarily consist of regionally acquired local brands. RPM Group ranks among the top three paint and chemical companies in the U.S. and fifth globally, with fiscal year 2023 sales exceeding USD 7.3 billion—and is a Fortune 500 company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Its Consumer Group is one of the largest players in the U.S. decorative retail and DIY markets, headquartered in Chicago. Its products are sold at major retailers including Home Depot, ACE Hardware, and Walmart—as well as specialized community hardware stores. Its portfolio includes numerous century-old brands, such as DAP (160 years old) and Zinsser (175 years old). Rust-Oleum—the largest consumer brand under RPM—is celebrating its illustrious 103-year legacy. It operates 13 supply chain and logistics centers across North America, maintains over 88,000 distribution points and sales channels, and enjoys over 97% brand recognition among North American consumers. Rust-Oleum provides holistic, whole-home coating solutions—from aerosol sprays to wall paints—for U.S. consumers, with products even suitable for color-changing applications on textiles, toys, furniture, and automobiles. This powerful alliance with the century-old Rust-Oleum brand marks a pivotal milestone in Asia Paints’ brand matrix development. The two parties will jointly focus on China’s premium decorative coatings market and young DIY consumers, co-building a one-stop, American-style whole-home coating brand—delivering high-quality, full-product-line, and cost-effective coating solutions for China’s middle-class households and small-scale premium commercial clients. They aim to jointly open 800 Rust-Oleum branded specialty stores within three years; surpass USD 100 million in brand revenue within five years; and achieve USD 1 billion in annual revenue within ten years.