 |
|
PaintSquare Daily News is available in three editions: Industrial Only Commercial Only Combined Industrial & Commercial Your free subscription also includes: Special topical editions and Weekend Brief—a recap of the week’s top news and some great in-depth reads. Subscribe now: paintsquare.com/psdn |
PPG Touts New Products, Strategy
PPG revealed its 2016 line of architectural coating products and announced moves to help consumers identify which brands are part of its family at a media event Monday (May 23).
The most notable marketing initiative PPG outlined is a decision to put the PPG logo on the packaging of consumer brands like Glidden paints and Olympic stains.
Officials said consumers don’t always know which brands are associated with PPG as a parent company.
The “by PPG” mark provides “a unique point of difference, an endorsement” from the well-known PPG brand, according to Max Wetzel, chief marketing officer and general manager of home centers for the company.
Working Together
David Cole, vice president of PPG Architectural coatings, said that 93 percent of PPG’s products are paints and coatings, and that the Pittsburgh-based company is currently the world’s largest coatings manufacturer.
He said that the company is focused on bringing its expertise in industrial fields, like aerospace and packaging coatings, into its architectural coatings business.
“I like to say, ‘If we can coat that Mercedes, that Southwest airplane, that shuttle—I think we can paint your wall,’” Cole noted.
“We’re working on cross-pollinating talent,” added Wetzel. “We’ll bring folks from aerospace into [architectural coatings] R and D.”
PPG provided a rundown of new products on the market from its architectural brands, all of which are on shelves now or are in the process of rolling out.
New Products
Glidden Diamond is a new acrylic available at Home Depot stores, touting “incredible hide,” according to PPG’s Dan Passinault, associate director, Innovation, Products and Execution. Passinault says the formula is less porous than competitors’ products, leading to improved stain resistance.
 |
|
Olympic Maximum can be applied to damp wood, and PPG says it only needs a window of eight to 12 hours of dry weather to cure correctly. |
Olympic Maximum Stain and Sealant, introduced this spring at Lowe’s and independent retailers, offers weather-ready application: As company representatives demonstrated at the media event, it can be applied to damp wood, and PPG says it only needs a window of eight to 12 hours of dry weather to cure correctly. It can be applied in temperatures from 35 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Break-Through is a newly improved interior/exterior paint offering from the PPG Paints brand, boasting a quick dry time, early block resistance and hardness, and the ability to stick to “virtually any surface,” according to Passinault. Break-Through had been available for years, but as of last fall, was reformulated with a lower VOC level, to comply with strict laws in some locations.
Other new products include Glidden Complete (a low-cost consumer-focused paint product available at Wal-Mart) and Liquid Nails Fuze-It (a construction adhesive that works on nearly any surface, PPG says, even underwater, as Passinault demonstrated at the event.)
Pittsburgh Campaign
PPG also rolled out a local-to-Pittsburgh marketing campaign called “Paint Local.” In the local media market where the coatings giant is headquartered, it will run billboard, radio, print and ballpark ads promoting the connection between PPG as a company—well-known in the Pittsburgh area—and some of its consumer brands.
 |
|
In the Pittsburgh market, PPG will run ads promoting the connection between PPG as a company and some of its consumer brands. |
Wetzel said market research showed that Pittsburghers don't necessarily make the connection between PPG and names like Glidden when they see them in stores. “Paint Local” is a local component of the larger effort to promote association of the PPG corporate identity with its many sub-brands.
The Glidden and Liquid Nails brands were acquired by PPG in a deal with Akzo Nobel in 2013.
