7 Questions With Bryan Iams  -  How PPG Humanized Their Brand

In this installment of our CMO Media’s Marketing Leadership series, we are joined by Bryan Iams, VP of Corporate and Government Affairs (and former VP of Corporate Communications and Marketing) at PPG for 7 Questions around marketing innovation and leadership.

Bryan joined PPG in 2012 after having worked at Bayer and FedEx and has led the global rebranding of PPG earlier this year.

PPG (NYSE: PPG) is a global innovator in paints, coatings, and specialty materials, they’re an American Fortune 500 Company that operates in over 70 countries across the globe. It was founded in 1883 by Captain John Baptiste Ford and John Pitcalm, Jr. as the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company and is now the largest coatings company in the world (by revenue).

Bryan, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick off with a general introduction and some background on yourself, how you got interested in marketing, and what your current role at PPG entails. 

My first introduction to marketing was during a summer internship with the Pittsburgh Zoo following my sophomore year at the University of Pittsburgh. From writing news releases about the animals to developing marketing messaging and collateral materials about various zoo events, I quickly learned how marketing can drive engagement and shape reputation. 

After graduating from Pitt, I began my career at Burson-Marsteller, where I worked on several b-to-b and b-to-c accounts. This is where I learned how to develop and implement integrated marketing communications programs for our clients in a range of diverse industries. I worked at Burson for 5 years before moving to the client side at Bayer Corporation, the U.S. operations of the global Bayer Group. 

My last role at Bayer was head of strategic and external communications. I then worked at FedEx Ground, before joining PPG as vice president of Corporate Communications and Marketing. During my four years at PPG, the company has made several acquisitions and divestitures to become the world’s leading paint and coatings company. In addition to supporting these major business actions, my function within the last year has led a complete corporate rebranding initiative, created a new global community engagement initiative called ‘Colorful Communities’ and announced an arena naming rights deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins, among several other marketing initiatives.

I’d love to chat about the major rebrand that took place earlier this year. The PPG tagline was changed from “Bringing innovation to the surface” to “We protect and beautify the world” and looking at the different PPG channels you now recognize much more of a “human” touch.

Can you walk us through what led to the decision to execute on this now? Is there anything you can share around the initial results?

As PPG underwent its business transformation, we wanted to make sure that the corporate brand kept pace. Just 10 years ago, less than half of PPG’s portfolio was paint and coatings. Today, this number is about 98 percent. 

The company today has a much larger consumer paints business with well-known brands such as Glidden, Olympic and Liquid Nails, to name a few. As a result, we felt it was time to take a close look at our brand and make sure it was communicating a more human b-to-c message. 

Our new tagline, “We protect and beautify the world” really communicates and brings to life the mission of our people and our products. Our paints and coatings protect surfaces around the world and they also add color and beauty. Our products can be found protecting and beautifying your car, home, cell phone, motorcycle, appliances, furniture and the airplanes, boats, trains you use to travel. 

Since launching the updated brand and several new marketing materials, we’ve seen an immediate impact in our visibility through higher engagement within our social media channels and other digital properties. Our new brand manifesto video, for example, has been viewed by more than 20 million people around the world.

Digging a little bit deeper, I know you conducted well over 5000 interviews across 17 countries and six different types of audiences as part of the rebranding process.

I found it interesting that, especially among consumers, many never heard of PPG (you may know PPG for her consumer brands such as Glidden and Olympic Paints) or were unfamiliar with the products it makes.

How did those insights influence the rebranding process and how did that tie in with the decisions around humanizing the brand and investing in education and brand familiarity?

That was a very important finding in our research and helped to shape our strategy. A key aspect to our brand strategy is to more effectively connect our master brand (PPG) to our product brands (Glidden and Olympic, for example). 

We have created a new brand architecture that connects these in a more visible way to our customers. For example, Glidden now has a “By PPG” logo expression on the front of its product packaging. The PPG logo is also being used and connected with all of our b-to-b brands around the world.  

This is an important step in raising the visibility of the PPG brand, an essential part of the rebranding strategy. We also heard through the research and our own executives that PPG should express itself and its impact in the world in a more emotional way. 

This translated to not only showing what we do as a company, but the human impact that our people and products have in society. The brand video is an example of how this messaging is brought to life. It also comes through our Colorful Communities initiative, which we highlighted in another video to tell this story.

What can you tell us about the overall rebranding process, the biggest surprises and the key challenges that were encountered in rolling out such comprehensive research?

First, since it’s a global effort, we needed to take the time to create a strategy and plan that would work effectively across geographies. Second, change is never easy and we needed to socialize the changes with our colleagues around the world and educate them on why this was an important step in the company’s brand journey.

This is a challenge that many Fortune 500 companies face, where the overarching brand is not as well-known as some of the sub-brands.

(Why) do you feel it’s important for PPG to invests in her “own” brand aside from some of the more well-known brands such as Glidden or Olympic? (PPG owns over 20 brands) 

Our research showed the PPG brings equity that can be transferred to the product brands and the product brands have their own equity that can be transferred to the master PPG brand. 

We also know that acting as “One PPG” is a much stronger approach than acting as thousands of individuals brands or businesses.

What kind of benefits do you feel this new brand architecture will bring to PPG and how do those tie in with the longer term, overarching corporate strategy?

First and foremost, this effort will immediately increase the visibility and familiarity of PPG. The research also showed that increased familiarity could lead to increased engagement and increased sales success for the company. Our focus is on growth and this is another important strategy to help the company achieve this goal.

During your tenure at PPG - what has been the biggest marketing success?

I think it’s been the team’s hard work and efforts to launch the global rebrand initiative. 

This has been a global effort that will help to transform the company and how it presents itself around the world. 

As a marketing communications team, it’s not every day that you get to be a part of such an important effort.

Earlier this month we heard about the Pittsburgh Penguins shifting their arena naming rights from Consol Energy Center to PPG Paints Arena - what can you tell us about the decision to pursue this opportunity and how does it fit in with the overall marketing and brand strategy for PPG?

This is the latest example of how PPG is working to increase the visibility of the master brand and its product brands. The naming rights at this arena present unique opportunities to increase our visibility, run product promotions and engage fans in our business. Hopefully, the Penguins will bring home another Stanley Cup this season.

Connect with Bryan and make sure to visit PPG and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn to keep an eye on their marketing activities! 

This interview was part of CMO Media’s Marketing Leadership Series “7 Questions” where we ask today’s marketing innovators and leaders about the secrets behind their success.

This article originally appeared on the Huffington Post.