BACKGROUND

The Swedish paint market is undergoing rapid change. From being a traditional reseller business, new players are building direct relations with consumers online. Colorama, the leading paint retailer in Sweden, saw a need to be part of driving these changes — adjusting to new consumer behaviors while driving growth.

The idea of a new kind of paint brand was born — to win on the market and disrupt it forever.

SCALE

The identity and work included brand strategy, brand platform, name, logotype, imagery, motion and film, packaging, website, store concept, and more. The new brand was built in a digital-first manner — while also being rolled out to 150+ stores across Sweden.

BUDGET

The total project budget was approx. EUR 1 million.

Sweden is a part of Scandinavia. If you don't know Scandinavian and Nordic design, it's primarily defined by minimalist aesthetics, understated design that follows function, and light, neutral colors. It's beautiful — but in this case, something we wanted to challenge with color, boldness, and edge.

Aside from newer, smaller players, bigger paint brands tend to be traditional and, therefore... humdrum. Packaging that looks the same, palettes with the same colors, and imagery showing the same kind of rooms painted with the same shades.

CREATIVES EQUALS CASH

Our target audience was “the creatives,” a high-spending and influential group making up 24% of the population and 38% of the total value. They spend time and money on their homes — and they're picky, with high standards.

GO BIG OR GO HOME

Our way to create a brand that could solve the business problem at hand was not only to differentiate — but to build it on something that wasn’t represented in the market. Something bold, sleek, innovative, and unconventional with a different palette and a premium quality.

Something the client chose to label as "a nice slap in the face".

Staying true to the strategy and what we set out to do, we created four guiding principles:

1. BOLD: we stand out, are confident, and dare to challenge conventions.

2. LIFESTYLE: we go beyond color and inspire people to live a more creative lifestyle.

3. PREMIUM: We are committed to quality, sustainability, and high-level value creation.

4. CREATIVE: We are innovative creators who awaken the target group's creative desire.

This gave us the opportunity to work with both coherency and flexibility. The visual identity itself is essentially black and white, giving the paint colors room to shine. By using transparent packaging, these became the center of attention, with the CANCAN logo as a (big) window. Instead of nice and tidy, we went wild and messy — getting really close to the paint itself to awaken and unleash creativity. When you see it, you know: this is CANCAN.

At the point of writing this, CANCAN has been live for about three weeks. This makes it somewhat difficult to list KPIs and impact — it's too new. However, we can say this:

— 40,000 liters of paint has been rolled out to 150+ stores.

— The brand has received extensive media coverage.

— Very ambitious sales goals are hit according to plan.

— Internal commitment is beyond positive.