FCB Inferno Colours Outside the Lines with Beautiful Valspar Paint Ad

To support their UK & Ireland launch, through 360 B&Q stores nationwide, Valspar tasked FCB Inferno to help position them, the number 2 paint brand in North America, as the challenger brand in a market where they remain relatively unknown. Today, FCB Inferno launches a TV ad, website, online banners and social media presence for Valspar, encouraging a change in attitude towards paint and colour, and to ‘Colour Outside the Lines’.

The vibrant campaign urges us to remember what it was like choosing colours just because we loved them, that colour should be an expression of personality, to reflect our mood or create change in our lives. Who cares if a colour is fashionable or not? All that matters is if it means something to you. In an up-tempo TV film we see ‘colour ambassadors’ doing just this, and living their life through colour. 

Deadly Knitshade the graffiti knitter, the flamboyant Sue Kreitzman and the owner of neon light shop God’s Own Junkyard are all seen having fun with colour and embodying Valspar’s creative philosophy. 

Set to a voiceover from Imelda Staunton, the film ends with the line “stop blending in and colour outside the lines. Say hello to Valspar.”

Online is a significant element of the campaign. Five of the colour ambassadors are also featured in a series of films made for the website and social media, where their story is told in greater detail, offering tips and inspiration for users. The Valspar website is fully interactive and paint colours change with the wave of a mouse. 

Produced by Bare, the film was shot in five locations across Britain and features a familiar soundtrack by Penguin Café Orchestra, ‘Perpetuum Mobile’. The TV film will be seen in 40 and 30 second ads, first breaking on Friday 13th through a media plan managed by Havas Media. 

FCB Inferno Executive Creative Director says Gary Robinson says “I love the ambition of Valspar, to become the number one paint brand in the UK, they certainly have good enough product and distribution and now with Colour Outside The Lines they have a communications idea to help them achieve just that.”

Valspar UK Marketing Director Jane Ryder says “We’ve always felt very passionate about colour and how it can affect people’s lives, because colour is inspiring, whether you're a fan of the brightest orange or the coolest shade of grey. We wanted our campaign to empower our customers to feel as brave as they like about their paint colour choice, and for me ‘Colour Outside the Lines’ does just that.”