This is nude – a campaign that redefined the colour nude, and further helped PANTONE become synonymous with being inclusive.
Starting point
Recognised globally for their colour expertise, PANTONE continually reviews the colour names in their palettes to make sure they resonate with the times. However, we noticed they had missed one name, which was outdated and exclusionary – a beige colour chip, Nude.
Approach
This is nude celebrates people of the world – no matter their personal colour code. Our goal was to empower and enlighten each other with the true meaning of the word nude, and all it took was a simple renaming of a chip from Nude to Peach Taffy.
Impact
When the world's leading colour expert renames one of their most valuable assets, a colour chip, it creates a strong message to everyone in the fashion, beauty and design industries. This is nude together with PANTONE’s newly updated SkinTone Guide offered a chance for billions of people to be included and appropriately represented in the works of designers and artists across the globe.
PANTONE shared the campaign on Instagram (3.6M followers), linking to the campaign article on pantone.com. It received industry press mentions and was featured in Viewpoint Colour magazine. All of this with zero media spend and a very limited budget.
Awards
2023 Golden Drum Bronze (Sustainable Business Solutions)
2024 One Show Shortlist (Design-B2B Communications)
2024 One Show Shortlist (Design-B2B Communications)
2024 One Show Shortlist (PR-B2B Communications)
2024 One Show Shortlist (PR-Digital & Online)
2024 One Show Shortlist (Design-B2B Communications)
2024 One Show Shortlist (Design-B2B Communications)
2024 One Show Shortlist (PR-B2B Communications)
2024 One Show Shortlist (PR-Digital & Online)
Nude – the world’s most inclusive colour.
The way we use a single word can have a big impact on the world we live in. Nude isn’t just a single beige-hued color. It stands for a variety of shades of, for example, a piece of clothing that resembles that of the wearer’s skin, making it something very personal.
The powerful action of renaming a chip was followed by a series of beautiful portraits and behind-the-scenes footage of five individuals – each confident in their own skin.
Nudus (Latin) – naked, plain.
The imagery was highlighted as part of the launch of the newly updated PANTONE SkinTone Guide, which has been expanded to include a total of 138 diverse shades of nude, all sampled from real people – helping people across fashion, beauty and design industries represent diverse and inclusive skin tones.
“Updating our colour names, expanding the colour palette in our Pantone® SkinTone™ Guide and developing Pantone SkinTone Validated software that can faithfully reproduce skin tone colour in a print and digital environment are just some of the steps we have taken to highlight the recognition that the colour nude is different for everyone.”
- Laurie Pressman, Vice President, PANTONE Color Institute