Where will color with Sherwin-Williams take you?
Sherwin-Williams is the world's largest paint retailer offering expertise and high quality paints in over 1,500 unique colors. We took the universal symbol of paint —the color chip—and used it to build beautiful worlds of Sherwin-Williams colors.
"The fantasy strategy is a stronger differentiator than the practical applications of yesteryear."
– Joe DePreta, CMO, Pearl Media,
for Adweek on the Sherwin-Williams Color Chips campaign.
Color Chips TV
Our amazing friends at Buck were able to take our vision of a colorful world of Sherwin-Williams and bring it to life through color chips. The cast of Sherwin colors themselves created an infinite universe of possibility and storytelling, breaking through the noise of traditional advertising with moments of solace, exploration, curiosity, and nostalgia.
"Adventure" :30 TV Spot
"Rollercoaster" :15 Desktop and Mobile Pre-Roll
"Kaleidoscope" :30 TV Spot
"Color Travels" :30 TV Spot
"Migration" :30 TV Spot
"The last Sherwin-Williams I saw is actually pretty cool. Glidden better step its fucking game up."
"Holy shit. That @sherwin-williams
commercial just changed my life."
– Jordan Desharnais @jrichdesh
– Ryan Rasnick @Raz4207
"Just when I thought spring was finally here for good, I woke up to snow on the ground. This colorful ad for Sherwin-Williams is helping me break through this winter funk."
– Amy Corr for MediaPost
Color Chips
Print
Our Color Chips spots were making quite an impact on our audience and it only made sense to feature still shots of the television campaign in print. Print ads ran in popular home magazines such as Coastal Living, Redbook, Elle Decor, Architectural Digest, Real Simple and Traditional Home.
Click through slideshow below.
"Color Passport" Game
We extended the color journey into a fun interactive game that features scenery made of color chips as seen in the television spots. Players have to spot the 5 differences in each scene to earn a Color Passport stamp. The timer keeps track how quickly they travel the world. The "Color Passport" game also ran on popular home sites such as HGTV.com and FoodNetwork.com
Click through slideshow below.
Facebook Page
Concept Art
Intense concepting goes into what would make a captivating TV spot using color chips. One of our ideas was to honor well-known artists such as Vincent van Gogh and their use of color. After much exploration, research and lively debate regarding demographics, the decision was made by the client to not proceed with this idea.
We take a journey through Vincent van Gogh's world starting with the color chips forming his iconic sunflowers. We zoom out to reveal his bedroom. We exit the bedroom through an open window to the Provençal city below and fly past its cafés as night falls. The sky transforms into the epic "Starry Night" scenery.
Click through storyboard below.
With our animation partner, BUCK, we determine the colors for each scene and BUCK starts creating concept art to turn into models. We meticulously review everything for accuracy, color, composition, movement, build, transitions and readability. These serve as blueprints and it is important that we get them right. The concept art also helped align on the personality of the animals and characters, such as making the dragon in "Color Travels" more friendly. Just like The Goonies, the octopus didn't make it into the underwater scene of "Adventure."
Click through slideshow below.
"@SherwinWilliams Your commercial just made me want to go to your store & give you a bunch of $ even though I have nothing to paint #bestad"
– Kara Schilling @karagschilling
Store Redesign
Sherwin-Williams stores vary greatly in design. The storefront graphic used in advertising needed updating to live in the color chip worlds. We worked with BUCK to create a store design that would resonate with a wide audience and still feel like their neighborhood Sherwin-Williams store. The storefront also served as the main visual for retail advertising. Since sales events happen every month, we updated the storefront to appear in a number of diffferent seasons.
ACD/Art Director: J.D. Humphreys, John Hagerty
Copywriter: Chad Temples, Leslie Gray, Roger Fish, Robyn Gunn, J.D. Humphreys
Creative Director: Ellen Steinberg
ECD: Jonathan Cude
Broadcast Production: Josh Eggleston, BUCK (Animation), Beacon Street Studios (Music)
Agency: McKinney, Durham
Client: Sherwin-Williams