National Color Day is coming up on October 22nd! Color is everywhere, and this funky day of the year is a great opportunity for promotions, marketing and education for any industry–especially ours. In the creative materials industry, celebrating color might mean detailing the history of a specific pigment, refreshing your customers’ color theory knowledge, showcasing colorful artwork in your store or running a workshop that focuses on the “personalities” of color (like this). Get literal with it like this Gamblin’s article on lapis lazuli or go more conceptual, taking inspiration from the Pantone Color of the Day, which, for instance, on the day of writing this happened to be “hot sauce:” an “analytical, powerful, discriminating” color. Your options for celebrating the concept of “color” might feel overwhelmingly broad; to take the edge off, we’ve distilled from ideas, from tasks that take minimal effort and resources to slightly more in-depth initiatives.
Take Time For Color
- Add a fresh coat. Refresh the signage in your paint and ink sections: make sure you have examples of various hues clearly labeled and on display for color-curious customers.
- Tell a story. Peak the interest of fellow art nerds! Feature a specific color and provide some fun information on the color story behind the pigment; check out Winsor & Newton’s paint stories for inspiration.
- Connect online. Invite customers to enter a contest for a specific deal or coupon; they can create art and posting images of it online with your store’s hashtag and #nationalcolorday.
- Promote a specific color store-wide. Pick a color and pair it with a sale! There is something oddly satisfying about seeing an array of items with different textures and shapes in one color family.
- Pour it on! Paint pouring is a great way to explore color; schedule a demo for the week of October 22nd. If you choose to promote a color store-wide, select a color scheme that is compatible with what you have on sale!
- Showcase staff favs. Ask staff to wear their favorite color to work and create a National Color Day endcap featuring inks, paints, colored pencils or markers with staff recommendations as to why those specific colors are their favorite and what they work best for in terms of art and illustration!
If you celebrate National Color Day, tag us in your social posts, we’d love to see what you are doing. Don’t forget to enter the Art Dog sWag giveaway by September 30th for a pup-related goodie bag!
