PPG- Voice of Color

How a unique voice transformed a brand

There was a time when color was mute.

Sure it had a lot to say for itself. In fact,

it was screaming to be heard.

But giving color a voice of its own was something

n o b o d y h a d e v e r t h o u g h t o f b e f o r e i n a n y d e c o r a t i v e p r o d u c t c a t e g o r y. F r o m a m a r k e t i n g p o i n t o f v i e w, c o l o r w a s s o m e t h i n g t h a t w a s s e e n b u t

D y m u n + C o m p a n y p a r t n e r e d w i t h a g l o b a l l e a d e r i n c o a t i n g s , P P G I n d u s t r i e s . To g e t h e r w e g a v e P i t t s b u rg h P a i n t s a b r a n d a n d a v o i c e t h a t c o u l d b e h e a r d b y f e m a l e h o m e d e c o r a t i n g c o n s u m e r s a n d d e s i g n e r s .

not heard. That was before

Consider the possibility that

Blue isn’t just a color.

it’s a messenger of some sort. That when we see Blue, it’s trying to tell us something.

First of all, notice that Blue is always hovering around the idea of perfection. For example, a blue diamond is a perfect diamond. A blue flame burns clean and without impurities. Not a cloud in the sky means a blue sky. And there’s true blue.

The bluebird of happiness. My blue heaven.

Consider that

Of course, you pay the price for such perfection. Blue skies are untouchable. And never permanent. Things don’t always end up exactly as they were in the blueprints. Blue laws are unenforceable.

When Blue speaks to us , whether it’s through nature or art, it may be reminding us that perfection is beyond our reach.

It shows us beauty in its most sublime form. And then takes it away. And there’s no place on earth where the sky is blue 365 days a year.

If Blue is a messenger, it may be bringing us a sad but beautiful message. One we understand when the gray clouds filling a stormy sky break for just a moment.

And a patch of blue heaven peeks through.

The Voice of Color was a branding effort that spoke to consumers, interior designers, pro-painters and architects in their own unique and emotional language.

Reds screamed. Blues whispered. Yellows sighed. And a palette of nearly 2,000 tones spoke in languages all their own.

Now more than a decade later, the

Voice of Color continues to allow Pittsburgh Paints to occupy a premium position in the hearts and minds of all key constituents.

We created a revolutionary way of merchandising color through pre-designed micro-palettes that helped consumers find their own Voice of Color.

Yellow is different. Yellow is loud and clear. Yellow is brassy. Yellow is the closest to the brilliant purity of white, but with no pretense of purity.

Yellow is brazen. Nothing is more yellow than gold, and gold is the essence of Yellow. Like gold, Yellow is relatively rare in our world.

Like gold, Yellow is sudden and startling. And like gold, Yellow speaks of transience. The temporary yellow burst of Autumn seems to fade away just as we begin to wish it would last forever. The flame is hottest at its yellow tip, just where the heat passes into invisibility. The yellow flash of dawn in the desert gives way to a world that our senses more easily comprehend.

If colors are messengers, then what Yellow tells us is not simple. He is as much what we remember as what we see. He is the celebrity, The dazzler

the glamour boy.

who makes us catch our breath as he spins by on the great color wheel.

Yes, Yellow is potent stuff.

A shining morning sun among the colors that enter the room with fanfare and glimmer. And like any celebrity, he has

a double function. The first is to bedazzle us when he’s with us. The second is to make us miss him sorely when he’s gone.

The current generation of

Voice of Color promotions has extended into color decorating seminars for both consumers and interior designers

in leading Deco-Centers across North America.

By understanding the markets, and getting into the hearts and minds of specifiers and users, this same methodology might be the you need for any of

your own innovative product launch considerations.

Strategic Ingenuity

This is one of the many micro-palette mailings we created to whet the appetites of architects and other key specifiers.

(Cover)

(Inside)

We created the Voice of Color Design Center to give architects and designers all the color selection tools they needed. So they could make good choices on site or in the office.

If colors are messengers, then

what’s Green’s message?

Green seems to be about the organic.

Living things. Moss. Caterpillars. Cactus. Palm trees and pines. Shiny green frogs on bright green lily pads. Fields of clover.

A mountain greenery, where God paints His scenery. Cold green seawater full of dark green codfish. Orchards and gardens.

A thousand impressionist paintings with dabs, strokes, dots, splotches and splatters of overwhelming green.

There is something unconscious and undistracted about Green. In wavelength, she falls between frosty abstract blue and fiery passionate red. She’s the middle sister, the first and most often to be a mother. She does not enter our lives,

she’s just suddenly there. Before we know it, she is rooted and bearing fruit.

To be green is to be living in the here and now for the future. Green transcends a trend. Green is being one with the planet, the forests, the seas. Green trees feed the earth oxygen. Amazon jungle green. Evergreen. The green, green grass of home. Green is ethical and right and natural.

Color has the ability to transform. Its influence on our senses is seemingly limitless. Visually, emotionally

and

psychologically.

The Voice of Experience.

These are some of the many architectural, design, interior design and decorative coating clients for whom we have

lent our voice of experience:

Armstrong World Industries • Carolina Mirror/Gardner Glass • Eastman Chemical • Eaton Electrical • EverIron Fencing • Golden Artists Colors • Hurd Windows Lowe’s Home Improvement • Lucite Paints • Manor Hall Paints • MW Windows • Olympic Stains and Paints • Parkland Plastics • Pittsburgh Paints PPG Accu-Tab • PPG Industrial Coatings • Wagner Power Sprayers

If your brand or color offering needs an innovative future, think about us.

2 0 0 F i r s t Av e n u e P i t t s b u r g h , PA 1 5 2 2 2 Ph: 412-281-2345 w w w. d y m u n . c o m