THE night before a launch usually involves making last minute adjustments to a gorgeous venue, nervously anticipating a last minute tube strike might scupper the turn out, a social team poised to live report…
But this year, all was still.
Covid 19 forced us to reimagine the launch of Colour of the Year – one of the biggest days in the agency calendar and at 10am today our hard work and determination came to fruition, and the Dulux Colour of the Year 2021 was revealed as Brave Ground™.
This is our third colour launch for Dulux, and each one has delivered outstanding results for the brand. Last year, the launch of Tranquil Dawn™ was a standout success. The buzz around the launch contributed to it knocking Polished Pebble off the number two spot in colour testers.
For the team at Democracy, the task of transforming a real world occasion into a digital one without compromising on the experience was both intimidating and exciting.
Launch events for journalists are a PR staple, but taking those online doesn’t come with a best practice guidebook. There’s no top tips to creating the same buzz and excitement at a virtual launch. We were on our own.
Fortune favours the brave
Today marks a first. A first for the agency. A first for Dulux, and a first in the industry. We have just launched a colour online.
More than 100 journalists and influencers joined us for the reveal, which combined the emotive story as to how the colour was chosen and an interactive Q&A with Marianne Shillingford, Creative Director at Dulux.
The digital element meant that we could tailor each of the videos to launch to different audiences simultaneously. Multiple versions of the videos were played to retail internal staff, journalists and influencers, specifiers and customers all screened at the same time.
The film allowed us the space to tell the story of Brave Ground™. Why it was chosen by the Global Colour Team and what impact the pandemic had on the story.
Using beautifully designed room sets (thanks to the incredible Pippa Jameson), Marianne talked through each of the colour palettes that support Brave Ground™ and how they can be used in the home or workspace to create areas that nurture and spaces to relax.
The video, shot by long term partners Orillo, connected the audience to the story beautifully. In the following Q&As, many journalists confessed to experiencing an emotional reaction.
We broke off into chat rooms for informal group Q&As over Zoom with a handful of long form interviews scheduled throughout the day.
Brave Ground™ all round
It’s been challenging. But we did it. And we delivered an event we’re hugely proud of in record time.
Brave? Yes, we certainly were.
Did it break new Ground? Absolutely.
Would we do it all again tomorrow? Undoubtedly.