In 2013, Can Image Media Tech came up with this new technology of Digital Wall Painting (DWP), hence capturing all the forms of traditional advertising used for outdoor and indoor branding. Slowly getting in the groove of advertising world, DWP Media has emerged as a revolutionary technology that was invented by Dayaram Mahajan and launched in partnership with Ketan Desai – both have an experience of almost 30 years in this industry. During their early days in to wall painting industry, they came across various issues regarding skilled labour, colour-differences, difficulties in drawing graphics or images, spelling mistakes, etc. Due to all this, campaigns of wall painting generally get delayed thereby not completing the consumers’ requirements in time resulting in customer dissatisfaction and loss of business.
Together all this induced Mahajan to look for an appropriate alternative solution. He started working on an innovative product. It took him 8 years of research to come up with a technology dubbed as Digital Wall Painting, which could easily overcome all the above mentioned difficulties. In our quest to know more on this innovative technology and the company’s journey so far, we, at Sign & POP World, got hold with one of the partners, Dayaram Mahajan. The edited excerpts are here to follow:
When did the idea hit your mind?
It has been an interesting story. Those were the days, when we used to do wall painting by hand. In the process, we came across many limitations such as, every painter has his own style, wall painting by hand could have products name, slogan and company’s logo but it was rather impossible to have the brand ambassador image in the same. Further, the colours used in hand wall painting used to differ in many shades bringing dissatisfaction at the customers’ end. All this together, induced us to innovate and bring forth something that could overcome all these shortcomings, and the outcome was pretty exciting.
What made you think that it can be an opportunity?
With 60% of India still residing in villages, advertising in rural areas has a very vast scope with mobile, TV, manual wall painting and hoardings are the most popular names of advertising mediums. But all these mediums have their own limitations. For instance, hoardings can only be posted on highways, while TV and mobile advertisement are limited to a particular period of time with an assumption that every household owns one.
Most of the companies use TV ad, magazines, newspapers, etc. as their marketing tool, because wall painting had many loopholes. But marketing tools like TV, magazine, paper had an impact on a particular section of audience for a very limited period of time and also was pretty expensive. Despite all this, organisations didn’t have any other option but to continue using these tools as medium of marketing. This was the point when I realised that this could be a huge opportunity to marketing world.
How different is the experience of Digital Wall Painting (DWP) when compared with normal Signage Printing? Does it need any special technique? Please discuss.
There is huge difference between normal hand wall painting and digital wall painting. DWP is a ‘technology’ on its own which makes it feel like the painting is done by a very experienced artist that too with lot of hard work & time invested. This is because; it melts on all types of surfaces making them look very original. For hand wall painting, various colours and brushes are required for completing the wall painting project. But when it comes to Digital Wall Painting, the entire process is reversed.
First, there comes a white layer of paint (as primer) that is applied on the wall. Then the given print is printed on digital wall printing machine. Next the wall is sprayed with water and the print is applied on the wall in a manner that the Print dissolves with the wall and gets stuck. After the print is dried up, the beautiful media impact can be seen.
Which printer are you using for the purpose?
DWP is a type of media, which can be printed on any type of printers like solvent printers, eco-solvent printers, water-based printers, screen printers, offset printers, flex printers, etc.
What about the life and eco-friendliness of your DWP solution?
This media is fully eco-friendly as it does not include any hazardous chemicals. What makes it even more exciting is that this product is PVC-free, UV- and rain-resistant.
Where is the potential for DWP coming from?
DWP is an even & uneven technology in Print Media Market. This media can be applied on any kind of surfaces and thereby gives Print media market a new experience, which was very well needed.
How do you see DWP’s prospects in time to come?
Having crossed the barrier of applications on challenging surfaces, especially in comparison to the current set of process media like manual wall painting, vinyl, and hoardings, DWP media has emerged as a powerful tool for advertisement for any organisation irrespective of its area of operations. It is flexible and easy to apply on both – even and uneven surfaces like walls, shutters, trucks, containers, wood, ply, etc. with high durability. In the coming period, there is a huge opportunity for DWP. It can open many doors for the Printing world.
How are you reaching to your customers with these solutions?
As of now, we are only reaching end-users directly and ad agencies. However, awareness is catching up fast through various mediums and this technology of ours is slowly getting known to many people across myriad industries, we hope an expanded customer base in time to come.
How has been the response from the market?
So far this media has been very well accepted in FMCG, Automobile, Cement, Mobile industry, Banking, Insurance, etc. Today, our DWP is already been massively used for advertising especially in rural India, and we are proud to cater to some of the biggest brands in the country including Patanjali, HUL, ITC, Colors, Swatchh Bharat, Finolex, Kingfisher, etc.
Do you also cater to the needs of overseas markets? If yes, which all countries are you supplying your DWP solutions to?
We have already started exports to Nepal & Africa. This innovative technology is manufactured and patented in India and 12 other countries.