India’s summer of 2026 is projecting temperatures close to 50°C in several regions. Most paint brands would respond with a television commercial. Berger Paints applied the product to the walls of government school buildings in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan before running the campaign, and made the schools the proof of concept.
The Climate Problem the Product Addresses
India’s urban heat island effect has been intensifying for years. Concrete heavy cities absorb and radiate heat back into living and learning spaces, raising indoor temperatures well above outdoor conditions and driving electricity consumption upward in households that can least afford it. Conventional cooling relies on air conditioning, which is inaccessible to a significant portion of India’s lower income population and compounds the energy problem it is trying to solve.
Berger Paints’ Kool range addresses the problem at the structural level. Berger Anti Dust Kool reduces heat absorption through exterior walls. Berger Roof Kool and Seal targets rooftop heat ingress. Berger Tank Kool applies the same heat-reflective principle to water storage. According to Berger’s stated performance data, the range can reduce indoor surface and ambient temperatures by up to 10°C through passive heat reflection rather than active cooling.
The School Initiative
Rather than leading with household consumers, Berger Paints launched the May 2026 phase of the campaign by applying Kool range coatings to 30 government school buildings in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, implemented in partnership with NGO Smile Foundation. Both states are among India’s most heat affected regions during the summer months, and government school buildings in rural and semi urban areas typically have no mechanical cooling at all.
The intervention was designed to create measurably cooler classroom environments during peak summer conditions, with the stated aim of improving student attendance, concentration, and general well-being during the months when heat-related absenteeism is highest. The school programme works simultaneously as a community intervention and as a product demonstration at scale, applied in the exact environmental conditions for which the product is built.
Abhijit Roy, MD and CEO of Berger Paints India, described the strategic intent: “As a company that understands the evolving challenges of modern living, we see it as our responsibility to offer solutions that are both forward looking and deeply relevant to everyday life. With rising temperatures becoming a pressing concern, our focus has been on developing innovations that not only address immediate comfort but also contribute to long-term sustainability.”
Why the School Programme Is the Smarter Marketing Move
The structural logic of leading with schools rather than households is worth examining. Government schools in UP and Rajasthan are visible, high footfall community buildings in the exact regions where the Kool range is most commercially relevant. Applying the product there creates observable before and after conditions that local communities and media can verify independently. It also positions Berger Paints as a company that tested its product on the most vulnerable population first, rather than the most profitable one.
For a paint company selling a technical product in a category where most consumers have no basis for evaluating heat reflective performance claims, demonstrated impact in a public building is a more credible proof point than any laboratory specification sheet. The school is both the beneficiary and the advertisement.
Campaign Name: “Garmi Gone, Thandak On”
Agency Name: Not mentioned
Brand Name: Berger Paints India Ltd.
Location: Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, India (school initiative); National campaign rollout across India
