California Paints

Massachusetts-based California Paints is a division of the employee-owned California Products Corporation, color experts and leading paint manufacturers since 1926.

During its more than 75-year history, California Paints has been an organization that has relied heavily on its sales force to market its lines of quality paint products and competes directly with paint giants Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams, among many others. Within the industry, the company is renowned; however they do not have the market penetration that they desire with consumers, so they continue to innovate new products geared to consumers' changing needs.

The Challenge

In the spring of 2005, California was preparing to launch its color sampler program, a new and innovative product that would allow consumers to buy small sample jars of paint to test on their walls. While other paint manufacturers already had similar products in stores, California sought to differentiate theirs by introducing specialized color palettes, geared toward specific demographics.

Since PAN has represented California Paints since 2002, they sought PAN's assistance and expertise in designing a press kit that would excite the media about the pending national launch, and smartly showcase the uniqueness of the Sampler Jar offering. PAN was charged with designing a press kit that would raise the image of the brand nationally, position the new product line as a "must-have" for consumers planning any paint job and focus on its continued innovation in the marketplace. The challenge included successfully capturing the originality and significance of the Samplers and what made them different than other manufacturers' samples.

The Approach

PAN planned the kit development, wanting to encapsulate the essence of the California Paints brand and of the Samplers, specifically. The team realized the necessity of creatively promoting the exclusive 4-ounce jars which contain the company's hottest hues, classic colors, and forward-looking trends in home fashion.

PAN also knew that they needed to reach California Paints' core consumer base through national consumer editors. The team felt that the press kit had to be fun and maintain the uniqueness of the brand, while outlining California Paints' Sampler key product differentiators such as:

• Offering of twelve expertly-coordinated color palettes, geared toward specific demographics such as empty nesters, teens and bachelors;
• Taking the guesswork out of choosing and matching paint colors;
• Allowing homeowners to apply paint to a small section of a wall and get an accurate sense of how it will truly look in the space;
• Availability in wide, easy-to-use, resealable jars that provide color accuracy and fully cover a two by three foot area with two coats.

To achieve this, we created an "art kit" that took the focus away from traditional paint cans. All of the following materials were housed in a light green, California Paints-branded gabled box:

• Two Sampler Jars of paint (from a chosen palette geared specifically to the targeted editor, for example an editor from Maxim got "The Bachelor" palette colors: All Nighter and Chic Magnet;


• A small paint brush


• A color card geared to the specific demographic with all of the paint colors and names


• The Sampler product launch press release.

Once the kits were assembled, we sent out a total of 45 kits to a variety of editors across the country.

Knowing the importance of securing targeted, national consumer coverage, PAN specifically targeted HGTV, HGTV.com and HGTV e-newsletters. HGTV.com reaches more than 5 million homeowners and is the most visited home decorating/improvement website, making it a perfect target to spread the word about California Paints.

The Results

An impressive press kit captured this paint company's spirit, secured national coverage, and contributed to an extremely successful product launch.

The team was able to produce the colorful kits under budget and ahead of schedule. An additional plus was the feedback California Paints received from consumer press who praised the innovativeness of the new press kits as well as the new product offering.

The client was thrilled with the results. The kits made a substantial difference in terms of raising the awareness of the Samplers and set the stage for one of the most successful product launches in the company's history. It also put a very positive light on the brand's future, helping convey their continued dedication to the consumer.

The press kits were very well received by editors and resulted in coverage in major media outlets including: Akron Beacon Journal, Buffalo News, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Contra Costa Times, The Myrtle Beach Sun-News, Wilkes Barre Times Leader, The Tallahassee Democrat, Providence Journal, and The Indianapolis Star.

The biggest coup was the HGTV features highlighting the Color Samplers and their expertly-coordinated color palettes. PAN hooked HGTV.com Editor Anne Krueger and secured three features in the HGTV decorating e-newsletter and on HGTV.com:

• "The New Bachelor Pad", May 13, 2005


• "It's My Room and I'll Paint It If I Want To...", June 10, 2005


• "The Color of Things to Come", November 1, 2005

The national consumer hits included product information and photos as well California Paints' Color Expert Aimee Desrosiers' expertise: "But this is a relatively new trend for men, says color expert Aimee Desrosiers of California Paints. That's why she's cooked up a whole line of bachelor-pad colors with names like All Nighter, Chic Magnet, Lounge, Old School, Techie, The Goods, Alpha Male, Player, My Place or Yours, Kung-Fu, Amp and my personal favorite: The Ego Has Landed."

Each feature reached more than 2 million consumer readers. This provided a solid foundation for the Sampler line and ultimately resulted in increased sales and renewed interest in the brand.

Additionally, California Paints requested extra press kits from PAN for use within their sales organization. The kits were utilized by the company's sales force as a tool to help successfully sell-in the product at independent retailer locations across the country.