Asian Paints Wins The Hub Cup

The Hub Magazine honors “Colour” store for excellence in the retail experience

WESTPORT, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Asian Paints, India’s largest brand of household paint, has won top honors in the second annual Hub Prize competition, honoring excellence in the retail experience.

“It’s our responsibility to ensure that we answer all of their questions.”

The winning entry is a retail concept called the Colour store, which re-imagines the retail journey as an interactive, home-décor magazine, offering shoppers personal solutions without directly selling a single can of paint (the paint itself is sold via a network of nearby dealer stores).

Fitch, based in Columbus, Ohio, is the design firm for the store.

The Colour store features interactive dashboards that allow shoppers to see how color transforms space and light affects color. Shoppers upload their style preferences, color ideas and other details onto RFID cards as they move through store. At the end of their journey, the card is used to create a customized magazine that they can take to an Asian Paints dealer to purchase paint, or use as a discussion tool with their architect or designer.

“The basic concept is to develop color-confident customers and transform the process of painting into an enjoyable experience,” says Amit Syngle, chief marketing officer of Asian Paints. “It’s our responsibility to ensure that we answer all of their questions.”

The Colour store was judged “best of the best” from among more than 100 entries, 36 of which were honored as Gold, Silver and Bronze medalists. As winner of the Ultimate Hub Prize, Asian Paints is the recipient of the coveted Hub Cup, a handcrafted, solid-bronze trophy.

A diverse panel of 30 judges, including leading academics and high-profile veterans of major brands and retailers, evaluated the entries based on criteria including innovation; the shopper insight and emotional connection; how much the initiative improved the retail experience; and results achieved.

All 37 winners will be featured in the November/December issue of the Hub Magazine, which is available by subscription, in Barnes & Noble stores, as an iPad app in the iTunes store, and online at http://hubmagazine.com/prize.

Founded in 2004, The Hub Magazine is written for senior-level marketers at the world’s largest companies, and is dedicated to exploring innovation as the ultimate driver of business success, especially at retail. The Hub also sponsors the Hub Top 20, an annual ranking of excellence in shopper-marketing capabilities.