As the global authority on color, Pantone’s role within industry is indispensable.

Our campaign called for a creative and innovative approach to content, one that went beyond static storytelling to a dynamic and engaging new space. We had to look beyond traditional methods to create hundreds of images to be used globally across partner products and brands. We needed to engage the design community and the world at large to spur conversation. We had to position Pantone as a forward-looking brand partner across industries. And we needed to do it all using just one color.

For over 60 years, Pantone has led the global industry conversation of color. But the advent of AI brought new tension to the world. And with it, the need for a new dialogue.

Our brief was to launch Viva Magenta as the 2023 Color of The Year, using the moment to lead the global design community and wider public in an educational conversation. Examining the Zeitgeist, we’d need to leverage Viva Magenta’s boundary-breaking story to bring the color to life in a way that sparked exploration.

Our task was to develop a holistic, unified campaign that went beyond the ordinary to showcase how Viva Magenta manifests across art, science, and technology.

The objective was to position Pantone as a forward-looking brand partner. Success included awareness, relevant coverage, like-minded brand partnerships, and sales of co-branded products. Key KPIs included global impressions and organic social conversation.

In 2023, Pantone partnered with AI to redefine the way we see color. Welcome to The Magentaverse.

Viva Magenta is a hybrid that bridges organic and digital. For its launch as Color of The Year, we had to create what it envisioned. So we turned to the unconventional, partnering with AI to explore the edges of art and science.

Our experiment pressured the relationship, and tension, between new technology and human creativity. Working with generative tool Midjourney, our team created the visual manifestation of Viva Magenta, incorporating its ideals to curate a world that examines the connections between nature and technology.

A key visual served as an invitation into an optimistic new ecosystem dubbed “The Magentaverse.” This world was brought to life through an interactive exhibit at ARTECHOUSE, brand partnerships spanning vertices including NASA, Cariuma, Hydrow, Globe Brand, and Motorola, and a live event at Art Basel Miami Beach.

Each Pantone Color of The Year launch begins by examining the cultural climate and global Zeitgeist surrounding it. Viva Magenta highlights the need for brands and consumers to be bold, boundary-breaking, and look toward the unconventional as we re-writing our lives post-pandemic. With that, and Pantone’s goals of transforming its business for a digital future, the need was to create a campaign that mirrored the cultural context by showcasing how Viva Magenta manifests across art, science, and technology with like-minded partners.

Leveraging 23 years of launch learnings, insights, and focus group research, we identified concerns and curiosity surrounding the emerging role of AI. Social listening and media landscape analysis confirmed our findings and galvanized the need for a bold approach.

Our approach was to highlight Viva Magenta’s message of embracing the unconventional, to break beyond what “normal” used to be, and create new ways of seeing the world through experimentation.

Our experiment resulted in hundreds of dynamic and euphoric images that were then transformed into a multi-sensory exhibit, immersing visitors in the world of Viva Magenta.

Sprawled across 10,000 square feet, interactive installations by ARTECHOUSE Studio allow visitors to explore color in a space where the digital and natural collide. Each offers a unique approach to creative collaboration with technology. In C22H20O13, guests can interact with digital visuals projected onto a larger-than-life CNC-milled flower, triggering a digital world with organic life. Vis Viva allows anyone to introduce gravity into a galaxy of planets, impacting orbits in real time. In Vibrant Strings, explorers play an LED instrument made of magenta strings. Throughout, co-branded partner experiences offer everyone a deeper look at Viva Magenta through the lens of culture.

The Magentaverese is a space where art, science, and technology intersect, allowing all to revel in an experience that challenges and inspires.

In the first 24 hours, Pantone’s Color of the Year received 10 billion impressions, totaling 53 billion to date. The campaign earned 739 digital and 344 broadcast placements. Additionally, over 65,000 people have immersed themselves into the brand message via the Magentaverse ARTECHOUSE experience.

With over 20 million organic views, our Instagram hero image garnered more engagement in the first 12 hours than the 2022 image in the first 12 months. Additionally, searches for Pantone Color of The Year jumped 25%, making Viva Magenta the most searched in Pantone history.

Additionally, Motorola's special edition Viva Magenta phone sold out in just 10 minutes as our conversation spanned the cultural spectrum, making its way to both Good Morning America and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.