Coral repositions brand and focuses on women
Gazeta Mercantil - 07/18/2008
Paints manufacturer Coral is repositioning its brand in the market, aiming at facilitating consumers' understanding in order to facilitate their choice at the time of the purchase. "That because the consumer is currently more concerned with home decoration and our purpose is to show that the paints have important role in decoration: it is a detail that makes a lot of difference. Sometimes, just by changing the color of the wall the environment looks refreshed", remarks Coral's sales director, Enrique Minola. Aware of this new trend, the company decided to change its behavior in order to meet the new demands of the consumers. In order to make choosing easier, Coral opted for making the use of each product's instructions on the paints' package clear. To do so, the company launched the Decora line, replacing the Coral Plus line, aimed at decoration and use of colors. Besides, other products of the brand are also bringing new packages and new names, which indicate fairly clear the correct use of each product of the line. The innovation also includes the launching of the Chega de Mofo (Mold No More) and Coral Sol & Chuva (Coral Sun & Rain) paints, which protect the external walls from the problems caused by the variation of the weather conditions such as temperature, rain, wind and humidity. The actions implemented by Coral aim at increasing the share of the brand in the market, in volume, which is currently led by Suvinil, with a market share of 29%, whereas Coral remains with 24%, and Sherwin Williams, 12%, according to data of the Brazilian Association of Paint Manufacturers (Abrafat). To meet its goal the company has a marketing fund of R$ 42 million (US$ 26.3 million) for this year, which represents an increase of 14% compared to last year's. Since January, 2008, the company is part of the Dutch AkzoNobel group, with annual sales of € 5.5 billion, in 80 countries. Last year, Coral had net earnings of R$ 712 million (US$ 369 million), the best result of the last ten years. According to data of Abrafat the market of decorative paints sells US$ 2 billion a year, with a volume of 800 million liters/year. The growth registered last year reached 8% and, for 2008, the perspective is that this number should be repeated.