In the UK, no brand is allowed to advertise a product using the Queen’s imagery. Whether it be on TV, online, in print or other media. The Queen must not be used to sell a product in any form. The rules are very strict in this matter.

During the Queen’s Jubilee many brands tried to use the Queen in their advertising and were turned down by Buckingham Palace or were forced to create royalty themed campaigns that highlighted the Jubilee celebrations without mentioning the Her Majesty.

The Queen has always colour matched her clothes perfectly, but it’s something we never truly notice, until someone points it out. Being the icon of colour matching, Pantone were the perfect people to highlight the Queen’s colour matching ability.

By turning sixty of the Queen’s single colour outfits into an iconic Pantone swatch book, we were able to stand out with wit and humour. And not just being a spectator to the Jubilee but part of it we introduced a global audience to the celebrations, who may not have been interested before.

The Queen and Pantone are a perfect match.

But since the laws are strict in using the Queen’s image to advertise a product/brand we approached Buckingham Palace with the idea. And going against all tradition, they loved it, so much in fact we were given access to the official photo archive of the Queen and Pantone Queen was made Diamond Jubilee memorabilia, royally endorsing Pantone Queen. The highest honour the palace could bestow.

After a day of posting them out we’d hit 1.2 million sites and trended on Twitter. At the latest count we are on 1.68 million websites.

And finally the Queens were numbered from 1 to 60, and right now resting in Buckingham Palace is Number 1, the Queen’s very own Pantone Queen.

Not bad for zero marketing budget.