Awareness of Global Connectedness and Environmental Responsibility Projected to Drive Consumer Color Preferences

Strong feelings about increasing cultural unity and personal commitments to a better environment can be expected to make consumers more receptive to bright, layered colors, contrasted with earthy, neutral tones, according to the 2009 edition of ColorForward™.

This Clariant Masterbatches color trend analysis and design tool is released annually to help designers and marketing professionals make informed color choices. ColorForward 2009 is the collaborative effort of color specialists from North and South America, Europe and Asia. It is an invaluable service available through Clariant’s global network of ColorWorks™ design & technology centers.

Each year, the ColorForward team explores global cultural influences and lifestyle trends to gauge their impact on color directions for future consumer products. “These color forecasts are meant to be used as a guide, linking color preferences and social trends and showing how these relationships impact the path of color trends.” explains Carolyn Sedgwick, Clariant ColorWorks Business Manager. “ColorForward does not tell you what color to choose. Rather, its goal is to provide information and inspiration that can be interpreted, adapted and applied to suit individual marketing objectives and product requirements.”

The 2009 edition of ColorForward focuses on four key societal trends:

- Grow Your Own Future recognizes that people have begun to take personal responsibility for environmental issues, making positive changes to improve the world we share.

- Global Repositioning acknowledges the growing influence of Asian traditions and cultures as well as the enhanced cross-cultural connections made possible by the Internet and modern communications media.

- Duality develops from the way in which people today accept and even celebrate multiple facets of their own personality, embracing opposing concepts and synthesizing different ideas and influences into a new whole.

- Mosaic reflects how strict global identities are loosening their hold on people, allowing enlightened intermingling of ideas and ethnic influences without losing unique cultural roots.

LINKING COLOR TO CULTURAL TRENDS

Once they identified the societal and mass-market concepts that can be expected to resonate with consumers in 2009, the ColorForward team considered how these ideas are likely to play out in color.

“People tend to respond well to colors that reflect the broader influences on their lives,” explains Cristina Carrara, ColorWorks Designer. “Since brand managers are working now on products and packaging that will be on the market in 2009 and beyond, we need to help them anticipate which colors will be most effective in gaining consumer attention a year or more from now. ColorForward 2009 identifies a total of 20 colors – four basic colors and one effect color for each of the four societal and lifestyle trends.”

To represent Mosaic, for instance, Clariant selected strong saturated hues including All Night Long dark blue, Pumpking orange and Leaping Leprechaun green. Carrara notes that each color is strong and independent, but works well when balanced with other colors in the global palette.

The Duplicity family includes both brilliant, vibrant colors and contrasting light, neutral shades. Here Carrara points to Isis, a very light blue/green that expresses a quiet state of mind, while Lolita is a vibrant, glossy, somewhat ironic fuchsia. Other colors in this group include Insomnia, a mysterious blue/purple, and Bosporus Dusk, a neutral light blue/lilac.

The 2009 edition is the first ColorForward release to include special effects that incorporate non-color ingredients that add sparkle, reflectivity, depth and other qualities to enhance the base color. For instance, in the Mosaic group a pink pearlescent is added to white to yield an effect called Dessert, while the Duplicity effect color is called Velvet Fog. Carrara describes it as “a deep gray with purplish interference that seems translucent, but which develops more depth and character when viewed from a different angle.”

Clariant offers ColorForward seminars at the seven ColorWorks locations as well as at selected conferences and customer sites. The ColorForward social trend themes, images and color directions are also captured in a handsome booklet along with a set of polypropylene color chips to provide a tactile experience.

Clariant Masterbatches products are marketed under six global brand names: REMAFIN® masterbatches for olefins; RENOL® masterbatches for engineering resins, styrenics and PVC; CESA® additive masterbatches; HYDROCEROL® chemical foaming and nucleating agents; OMNICOLOR® universal color masterbatches; and ENIGMA® special effects. These brand names and ColorForward™ and ColorWorks™ are all registered trademarks or trademarks of Clariant.

More information on Clariant Masterbatches products is available at www.clariant.masterbatches.com.

Contact:

Laurie Reid, Clariant Masterbatches

Phone: +1-401-438-4080

Fax: +1-401-438-4680

[email protected]

Clariant – Exactly your chemistry

Clariant is a global leader in the field of specialty chemicals. Strong business relationships, commitment to outstanding service and wide-ranging application know-how make Clariant a preferred partner for its customers. Clariant, which is represented on five continents with over 100 group companies, employs about 21,000 people. Headquartered in Muttenz near Basel, Switzerland, it generated sales of CHF 8.5 billion in 2007. Clariant’s businesses are organized in four divisions: Textile, Leather & Paper Chemicals; Pigments & Additives; Functional Chemicals; and Masterbatches. Clariant is committed to sustainable growth springing from its own innovative strength. Clariant’s innovative products play a key role in its customers’ manufacturing and treatment processes or else add value to their end products. The Company’s success is based on the know-how of its people and their ability to identify new customer needs at an early stage and to work together with customers to develop innovative, efficient solutions. www.clariant.com