Colour Picker

For 90 years Dulux has been on a mission to add colour to people’s lives. A fresh coat of paint goes a long way, bringing new life to our homes, boosting our mood, wellbeing, and outlook. Achieving this requires attention to detail and expertise, and quality results are worth paying for.

In a heavily competitive field, it was important for Dulux to defend their leadership position by supporting the online decorating journey, staying relevant in a changing consumer environment.

In 2019 there were two challenges facing Dulux and the category. The first was category penetration, which was at its lowest in 15 years. We identified 285,000 time-poor ‘Reassurance Seekers’ who needed encouragement to complete the home improvements they’d been planning for so long. The second was preference; we identified 750,000 brand-agnostic households in need of guidance on which brand to choose.

We identified a major challenge in the consumer journey which was proving a sticking point for consumers to get past - it was the point at which their minds were not made up; on colour or brand. We had an opportunity to ease a real pain point around colour selection and ensure Dulux was top of mind and brand of choice.

Bringing Dulux forward in the decision journey and creating opportunity to helpfully engage prospective consumers was identified as a key objective to increase preference. Alongside driving engagement, we needed to focus on improving perceptions of Dulux as a leader in colour and setting it apart from other brands.

We started by working out what was holding people back from refreshing their homes. We know our audience, Reassurance Seekers, lack confidence in home decorating decisions; we also know they ‘struggle to imagine what colours come together’. With limitless availability and little time to shop around, there was an opportunity to help Reassurance Seekers be more confident in understanding colour and design during the ‘Visualise’ phase of the journey, which often proves to be a barrier to purchase.

We then needed to justify that Dulux is worth paying more for by giving our audience reasons to choose us over the competition, bringing their homes to life through what we know best – colour.

We know our audience look online for home décor ideas, so we decided to create the Dulux Colour Picker Tool enabling our audience to view Dulux colours during their online journey, seamlessly integrating Dulux into trusted sources of inspiration. In doing so the aim was to remove the laborious step of searching for colours to match those seen in inspiration spaces elsewhere. By reducing the barriers to purchase we could help Reassurance Seekers take that final step and pick up the paintbrush.

Readers inspired by an idea could use the Tool to discover the colour scheme and match it exactly to the corresponding Dulux shades. They could then explore complimentary colours, save and share their palettes for later, or purchase a tester pot there and then. At the same time as purchasing testers on the Dulux website, users were also encouraged to use the Dulux Visualiser Tool allowing customers to bring their chosen colours to life in their own homes.

Putting Dulux and the Colour Picker Tool front and centre in credible environments, integrated with helpful and informative content, would showcase the quality colours more often associated with high-end competitors and ensure Dulux remained present and front-of-mind throughout the consumer journey.

The first stage was creating the Dulux Colour Picker Tool. Working with product design specialists Code, we were able to create for Dulux a proprietary tool that is future-proofed and can be continuously improved. Owning the Tool allows Dulux the freedom to integrate it across multiple publishers, on their own sites and in various other 3^rd party environments – giving it long-life value even after this partnership.

With the Tool at our disposal, it was now time to unleash it to a captive audience seeking out inspiration.

Indexing at 173 vs. our audience, Ideal Home proved an obvious choice – they had reach, audience affinity and an ability to position Dulux within trusted, relevant editorial content. Like Dulux, it’s a heritage brand with a premium contemporary feel, offering a natural synergy for its readers.

Ideal Home readers are provided with a showcase of the very best ideas and products across a range of styles, tastes and budgets, meaning they can create the home they want. Across 6 months the Tool was integrated within all editorial content and imagery across four Ideal Home pillars: Living Room, Bedroom, Kitchen, Bathroom. This integration in a trusted, quality environment promoted Dulux’s premium product and put the brand front of mind for those considering doing up their homes.

To aid awareness, a range of online articles were published at launch to highlight the benefits and capabilities of the Tool to Ideal Home readers and encourage them to investigate. This extended through the brand’s social platforms (who we know are avid Pinterest users) in order to provide inspiration for our Reassurance Seekers in a moment of down time.

Through the partnership we were able to promote the colour range, encourage conversations surrounding on-trend shades, and prove that Dulux could be a perfect match for everyone’s desired home décor look.