Shaking My Head

With my feet up on summer I had no reason to stress the drive from Stamford to Cranberry, Pennsylvania and the corporate headquarters of Pittsburgh Paints.

But like Elvis at Walmart I was present in the building.

While I didn’t make the trip I’m still receiving updates on the machinations in that building, including chief executive Brian Carson’s displeasure with (my) coverage of the Pittsburgh Affair. That coverage has him looking for ways to enter a new narrative into the ether, perhaps in an effort to drown out my truths. 

More folly from the leaders of Pittsburgh.

His dilemma will come with his realization that the best way to reach an audience of Pittsburgh dealers and employees at the moment would be via my channels, currently approaching ubiquity within his demographic. 

And I won’t even charge him to reach you!

Carson’s words would fly furthest released from a perch on my podcast, which would likely end up my most watched episode considering current interest. A nice alignment with my love of the spotlight, though if I want him to appear I may have to offer more.

As enticement I would share the questions in advance, posting them here so he can have time to prepare and to placate any fears that I would engage in gotcha journalism.  I’d add my assurance that any follow-up questions would pertain to original, and that his responses would publish without edit.

Which is what got Charles Gassenheimer in trouble so I’d even warn him to be careful!

Allowing the collaboration would be an alignment of our stars, both well served by his appearance on my show. Not to mention the benefit to his dealers and employees, who might not even believe him unless he says it to me.

That alignment has convinced to extend my invite, though since I’m aware he’s still reading I thought I’d spare the email. So what do you say Brian?  Would you like to appear as a guest on my podcast?

If you like I can even come to you.

There’s another tribe of paint geeks recently uncovered by my screeds; the financial analysts who cover the coatings segment.  Part paint geek part finance bro they’ve been following my work at an increasing rate since the divestment of Pittsburgh. Seeking deeper understanding of the segment they purchase channel checks; one-hour calls where all questions are answered.

They show up prepared seeking knowledge on demand in the architectural coatings segment, the gallons which comprise the dollars of their financial analyses. They ask questions about the manufacturers in our space, such as Masco who last week reported paint sales down mid-single digits for the second quarter of the year.  The effects of a cratering of D-I-Y demand for paint at Masco's only customer, the Home Depot.

Like Sherwin and Pittsburgh, Masco is also struggling as the big boxes lose their grip on that market segment, great news for Dan Calkins and Benajmin Moore, the most likely benefactors of that shift.

Sharing consumer demographics with the big box stores it’s more likely that volume is going to Ace as opposed to paint and decorating retailers, who tend to focus on rezi-repaint and other professional segments as opposed to D-I-Y. But it’s all the same to #Dan, no doubt happy to be gaining share even if it's in a down market.

Fun Fact: It was the deal between Ace and Benjamin Moore which brought Dan and I together. Concerned that existing dealers might not be sweet on the news that his brand would be made available at Ace stores nationwide irrespective of their proximity to an existing Benjamin Moore retailer #Dan invited me to Montvale where he shared a presentation detailing the demographics of that consumer. Evidence he believed that existing Benjamin Moore retailers would not be adversely affected by this action, with limited exceptions.

He was right. 

And impressed with his empathy for those limited exceptions, an emotion previous Benjamin Moore CEO’s would not have been prone to, I offered him my services. The rest is history.

Shaking My Head

Conversations with the finance bros can border on compelling, plus the pay by the minute business model and I want to keep them going.  Contemplating offering subscription services I made a sample analysis I hoped they might find valuable and sent it to the lot asking only if they agreed? And if they did just how much value are we talking?   

A rough cut and wonky by my standards it’s not the sort of content I plan to post, though since it’s only you, you can watch it here. 

It’ll be worth exactly what you paid for it, though I hope the finance bros disagree, appreciating my analysis of the architectural coatings market and what it all means for the world’s largest paint maker their chief executive officer Heidi Petz? 

Who’s beginning to remind me of her predecessor.