Pantone Queen
Pantone
Issue 26 | March 2013
Agency
Leo Burnett London
Creative Team
Creative Team: Will Thacker, Blake Waters Creative Director: Justin Tindall
Production Team
Print Producer: Chris Dale Art Buyer: Leah Mitchell Artwork, creative Imagining and colour management: Mundocom
Date
June 2012
Background
Pantone is the definitive industry guide to colour, and has recently made small collectable products such as mugs, bags and kitchenware.
But could the brand be made more engaging to new and current customers in a way that’s innovative and surprising, while keeping its unique ability to colour match at the heart of the concept?
Idea
Queen Elizabeth II.
For 60 years Her Majesty has colour matched her clothes perfectly. For instance, if she wore yellow, then her dress, hat, and coat would be that same yellow.
To celebrate 60 years of her reign Leo Burnett redesigned the iconic Pantone swatch book into a unique and limited edition Pantone colour guide detailing 60 of her famous single colour outfits.
Working alongside Pantone’s expert colour technicians, the agency painstakingly matched the exact Pantone reference to the exact date and location she wore them through the 60 long years of her reign.
Results
Leo Burnett approached Buckingham Palace with Pantone Queen. The idea was received with so much enthusiasm by the Palace, the book was made official Diamond Jubilee memorabilia, placing it in a very exclusive group of royally endorsed products. The highest honour the Palace could bestow.
To gain ultimate coverage for Pantone, the books were posted to a select group of influential design blogs, magazines, newspapers and designers.
Within 24 hours they had reached 1.2million websites and blogs. With Pantone Queen trending on Twitter.
Our Thoughts
Okay, so this idea isn’t exactly hot off the press but we still wanted to include it in Directory 26 because it is just fabulous and we all love it. It tapped into the whole furor of the Queen’s Diamond jubilee with a beautifully novel perspective. Everyone who sees this piece can’t help but smile.
Somebody was poo-pooing me the other day for suggesting that Mail and Social media go together like horse and state carriage and here’s the proof of it. A mailing to a hundred or so bloggers, journalists and commentators and whoosh, within a day Pantone’s name is on the lips of over a million loyal subjects.