PPG Comex to Paint Mexico in Rosa Chilango

PPG Comex has taken up a broad campaign to help Mexico City paint murals and other walls throughout the capital in celebration of the city’s being named the 2018 World Capital of Design by the World Design Organization.

The WDO is an international non-governmental organization that promotes the profession of industrial design, based in Quebec. Mexico City is the first city in Latin America cited by the group for socially responsible design achievements.

To help celebrate, Comex launched a new color in June – Rosa Chilango – which the city will use to paint 15,000 square meters of wall space this year including structures in each of the 16 administrative zones. The etymology of the word chilango includes both the concept of a rich hot sauce and the slang term for residents of the Mexico City.

“This particular pink is in tune with the character of the chilango, as well as the Mexican culture in general, as it can be found in a cotton candy, in the meringues (dances), on the roofs of the markets and, of course, in the bougainvillea,” said Héctor Escamilla, director of the ColorLife program of PPG Comex, in a company statement.

Comex also recently launched its latest “Macromural” urban repainting initiative, which will include 40,000 square meters of color to form the “largest Macromural in the world” in Pachuca, Hidalgo state, the company said. The company is providing 8,659 liters of paint for the project.

This Macromural Palmitas-Cubitos included the participation of 900 families from the city of Pachuca, various local artists and the National Crime Prevention Program. Many of the participants are being trained as painters by Comex. Out of the country’s 190,000 registered painters, some 20,000 have been trained by the Academia del Pintor Comex, through a recurrent program it sponsors for the federal Secretaría de Educación Pública.

Comex has been repainting cities around Mexico for the past several years, including Puebla, Cholula, La Paz, Saltillo, Tuxtla, Zacatecas, and Villahermosa. The Macromural program is part of the company’s México broader Bien Hecho initiative, which seeks wide social impact.

Mexico is particularly important to PPG Comex. PPG Chairman and CEO, Michael McGarry was bullish on Mexico during an April 19 conference call on the company’s first quarter 2018 results: “Well, I think when I walk around the world with some of my commentary, Mexico, even with the challenges with the election, is still going to be a good market for us,” he said.

“Sales grew a solid mid-single digit in Latin America with contributions from our Mexican PPG Comex business, Brazil and Central America. During the quarter, we opened an additional 45 stores in Mexico and Central America,” McGarry added. “Our coating services business, because of all the wins they had in Mexico, they’re doing well… And Latin America will be strong, as you know, plus our share gain in Mexico,” he added.

Comex recent opened its seventh distribution center in Mexico, a $1.8 million facility in Chihuahua. The center will reduce resupply time by 85 percent for 125 paint stores in the region, the company said. Country-wide, Comex has a network of 4,500 stores which it supplies with 1.3 million gallons per day.