Asian Paints GTM
My Role
Research & Strategy
Timeline
Nov 2025 - Dec 2025
Team
1 classmate from Design Management
Type
College project
Description
This project shows research & a proposed GTM strategy for Asian Paints in the current market scenario. It is a college project for the course 'Business Studies-1' completed during M.Des Sem 1. Our brief was to select one consumer-facing brand/business (existing or hypothetical) operating in a clearly defined market. The end goal was to arrive at the go-to-market strategy & should include the following:
Key details of the company rationale behind choosing them
Customer segment & value proposition
Customer acquisition & marketing
Porter's five forces & SWOT analysis
Strategic alignment along with a new Go-to-market strategy
Note: Click any image to enlarge it.
About the brand
Asian Paints is a legend in the business world, famous for its innovation, pioneering tech and culture. Apart from that, it has also made the highest returns in the country, for its investors consistently for decades now. We researched about the brand through online articles & podcasts to research for this project. This section provides key details about the brand like the founding team, key facts & figures, financial performance, competitors & product portfolio.
Why we chose Asian Paints for this project?
One of India’s oldest, most trusted paint brands with long-standing market leadership.
Delivers strong financial results and remains a consistent investor favorite.
Pioneer tech adopter: first in the sector to use a supercomputer for demand forecasting and supplychain optimization.
Facing rare disruption from Birla Opus, making this a timely case to study how Asian Paints will protect and evolve its leadership.
Asian Paints Vision
"We want to be an innovative, agile, and responsive world class research and technology organisation that’s aligned to future customer needs and catalyses the growth of the company across existing and future businesses."
Why customers choose Asian Paints over other brands?
Wide product range & segmentation
Quality, trust & heritage
Strong distribution & availability
Innovation & service orientation
Who is their customer & what value do they provide them?
Asian Paints started with making a revolutionary washable distemper for middle-class Indian households later evolving into a broad product portfolio. Their robust distribution system is their value proposition, serving efficiently even in tier 2 & 3 towns of India. This section defines the ideal customer persona along with key use-cases. It explains how the company customizes offerings & positioning to meet the unique needs & desires of segments. It also articulates their value proposition.
How do they acquire their customers?
They have the largest dealer network in the industry. Plus, they have created a culture where they care for their dealers, going out of their way to do so during bad times. They believe if they take care of their dealers, the dealers take care of the customers! This section analyzes the company's marketing & customer acquisition strategy & defines the main channels used. It demonstrates how marketing efforts are tailored to target segments, incorporating messaging, campaigns & experience design.
Customer acquisition channels
Traditional media:
Strong presence in TV ads, print media. Consistent high-visibility on television with flagship campaigns like “Har ghar kuch kehta hai”, reinforcing brand’s emotional connect with homeowners.
Influencer marketing:
Deepika Padukone and Karan Johar for the Royal Glitz ad campaign, the brand was also recognized at the Trendies Award 2025 for exellence in influencer marketing.
Website + interactive tools:
Paint budget calculator
Paint selector
Shade visualizer
SEO/content marketing:
Content around color trends, design advice, how-to application, and renovation tips helps educate and attract homeowners, driving top-of-funnel engagement.
Porter’s five forces & SWOT
This section summarizes internal strengths/ weaknesses & external opportunities/threats tied to the market thesis. It applies Porter’s Five Forces to assess industry attractive-ness and how it fares against competitors.
A strategy for the rebound…
Here, we propose a GTM strategy for Asian Paints to rebound & revive its footing in the market against new competitors. We also compare the brand’s position vis-à-vis competitors and link the analysis to market-expansion moves.
What I learned along the way…
Continuous improvement: Asian Paints was the market leader in decorative paints for 6+ decades along with being a stock market darling. But tough competition from new players hammered their business & market share in recent years. You may be a giant, but you can't be complacent in business. Continuous improvement is key.
Foresight: Their business was built on foresight. They were the pioneers in a bunch of things over the years, from cutting-edge tech to innovative operations & supply chain processes. This helped them stay light-years ahead of competition. Legendary businesses are not built on product alone, foresight is equally important.
Concentration risk: May it be a market, customer segment or a raw material, concentration risk can make or break businesses. Diversification & de-risking is important.
Macro-economics & consumer preferences: Rise in labour cost & increase in DIY preferences will play a major role in Asian Paints pivot. No matter what your business is, keeping up-to-date with macro trends & consumer preferences is a non-negotiable for businesses.
Research: I learned how to thoroughly research about a company's fundamentals, its market & how changes in the market affect a business in real-time. I also got a chance to shape business strategy around real-life market & competitor landscape resulting in maturing of my research & strategy skills.