We had to promote the SICO paint product line and its plethora of colours at Reno-Depot. So in order to do that, we developed Live Swatches, an app that could pair any colours detected by a mobile device with an actual SICO paint colour in real time—drawing on and displaying the whole world of SICO paint colours. It put all 1,800 SICO paint colours in the palms of consumers’ hands. They can save colours in their camera roll if they like them or share them with friends if the paired name is funny enough.

The concept is simple: all detected colours are matched with SICO paint colours in real time. This allows users to find inspiration and select the paint colours they want, but also to have fun exploring a world of colours. How does it work? Colours are identified by averaging the pixels in images captured by the camera, and then paired with their closest SICO paint match. The app launched on December 19, 2016, and has been available online since.

The app was launched on both SICO and Reno-Depot’s social platforms which have accumulated more than 50,000 fans in Quebec. The app will be promoted later this year through print advertising, pre-rolls and social media communication.