AKZO NOBEL DECORATIVE COATINGS EARNS MERCHANDISING AWARD
Troy, Mich., March 31, 2003 – Akzo Nobel has won a bronze award for a retail point-of-purchase display promoting its Sikkens brand of wood care products. The Point of Purchase Advertising International (POPAI) recognized Sikkens with its Outstanding Merchandising Achievement in the Home and Garden category.

A component the company’s re-branding campaign that it launched in late 2001, the display reflects the brand’s premium market position in its use of color, graphics and materials. Its design provides merchants an appealing display and helps retail sales personnel explain Sikkens products. It aids customers in visualizing colors and effects, and invokes pride in the Sikkens field sales force.

“To receive this award from POPAI is an important recognition of our re-branding campaign. It validates the feedback we’ve received from our dealers, who have been delighted with the look and functionality of the display,” said Antoine Barreto, marketing manager, Akzo Nobel Decorative Coatings. “Best of all, the display helped our dealers increase their sales last year.”

Unlike most merchandise displays, which typically are simple racks, the new Sikkens display has the feel of a piece of furniture. It segments various products with the use of color-coding and graphic icons and features the entire spectrum of available colors. It also incorporates samples of product applied on wood chips, direct color deposits and wood boards, allowing the customer to touch and feel the product and see how it looks on actual lumber. These elements make the displays far more interactive than typical merchandisers and enable the customer to imagine the product’s performance in their particular setting.

The display was fabricated by Evolve Marketing Group, Birmingham, Mich., following strategic direction and design established by the Sikkens marketing department in partnership with McElfish + Company Graphic Communications, Troy, Mich.

Akzo Nobel, based in The Netherlands, serves customers throughout the world with healthcare products, coatings and chemicals. Consolidated sales for 2001 totaled EUR 14 billion. The company currently employs more than 66,000 people in 80 countries.