This is Nude.
A campaign that redefined the color nude, and further helped PANTONE become synonymous with being inclusive.
PANTONE.
Recognized globally for their color expertise, PANTONE Color Institute continually reviews the color names in their palettes to make sure they properly resonate with the times.
However, we noticed they had missed one name, which was outdated and exclusionary – a beige color chip, Nude. This mishap had to be corrected.
CHALLENGE
Keeping up with the times
With a proactive approach, we created a campaign that would aid PANTONE on their mission, and contacted the global office with a solid plan. After a green light to proceed, we produced the assets in no time.
Our overall goal with the campaign was to empower and enlighten each other with the true meaning of the word nude, and all it took was a simple renaming: Nude to Peach Taffy.
The way we use a single word can have a big impact on the world we live in. Nude isn’t just a beige-hued color. It stands for a variety of shades of, for example, a piece of clothing that resembles the wearer’s skin, making it something very personal.
When the world's leading color expert renames one of their most valuable assets, it creates a strong message to everyone in the fashion, beauty and design industries, and beyond.
GROUNDWORK
A renaming that kicked things off
INSIGHT
Nudus (Latin) – naked, plain
FIRST
The color Nude was renamed.
THEN
The newly expanded SkinTone™ Guide got released.
AND BEST OF ALL
The supporting campaign went live.
The campaign celebrates people of the world – no matter their personal color code. The powerful name change by PANTONE was followed by a series of beautiful portraits and BTS footage of six individuals – each confident in their own skin. The simple, yet punchy campaign message supported the thinking behind the goal – to empower each other.
The campaign helped launch the newly expanded PANTONE SkinTone Guide with 28 new shades, making it a total of 138 – all sampled from real people around the world in order to successfully represent the full spectrum of human skin tones.
CREATIVE IDEA
This is Nude.
RESULTS
360 campaign with no media budget
PANTONE shared the campaign on Instagram (3.6M), linking to the campaign article on pantone.com. The article also starred in Viewpoint Color design magazine both print and online as a double-page spread, and received multiple industry press mentions. All of this with zero media spend and a very limited budget.
“Updating our color names, expanding the color palette in our PANTONE® SkinTone™ Guide and developing PANTONE SkinTone Validated software that can faithfully reproduce skin tone color in a print and digital environment are just some of the steps we have taken to highlight the recognition that the color nude is different for everyone.”
Laurie Pressman
Vice-President, Pantone Color Institute