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Plascon: The New Earth

Plascon’s 2026/27 colour story for Micatex exterior paint. Eight new colours, told from the ground they came from.

Sector: Paint & coatings
My part: Co-creative direction with Alan Ford; platform & grammar
Inside: Episode 1, the reels, posts, the in-store board and the brochure

Two Plascon in-store tent cards on a pale stone ground: one shows The New Earth campaign face, a mountain landscape above “The skin of the home.”; the other shows the Micatex range and eight colour chips under “the new Earth palette”; a fan of the eight colour chips lies in front — In-store board, both faces / Visualisation made with the approved artworkA double-sided A3 tent card for paint stores, approved by Plascon in September 2026: the campaign on one face, the eight colours on the other.

01 / The idea

The brief / Paint & coatings

Plascon asked for an umbrella name for its new colours and the story behind them, carried through a television series, social and brochures. This year, it would not be a forecast.

The approach

Start where the colours come from. Paint forecasts arrive every year from Stockholm, London and New York; this palette was already in the ground here, in slate, stone, clay and haze. Name the campaign for that ground, and give every piece one grammar: origin, craft, life.

The New Earth.

The newest colours on Earth, drawn from some of the oldest ground on Earth: a palette that has already weathered everything, now in Micatex for the outside walls of a home.

Named with Alan Ford in the first brainstorm. The line: Colour, four billion years in the making.

Not forecast.They’re found.

Each colour is told through the ground it comes from. The landscape proves the colour; Micatex protects it on the wall.

Brochure page headed “The palette already lives here.” over a misty escarpment, above eight pairs of a landscape photograph and a colour swatch, from Grey Current to Coastal Haze — The palette already lives here / Digital brochure, desktop, page 2

02 / The system

Origin. Craft.
Life.

One grammar for every episode, post, page and board: the colour found in the land, the product and the hands that put it on, then the home that lives in it.

Shot like an editorial, not a paint ad.

The visual language, Mineral Editorial, keeps the land in the lead and Plascon red to the logo alone.

The land leads

Big-sky landscape: escarpment, veld, weathered rock and coast
Architecture set in the land: the wall and the rock face in one frame

Colour you can feel

Texture close enough to touch: striation, grain, the drag of a roller
Everything graded to slate, stone, clay and haze; red only for the logo

Thunderstone: the texture, at home / Instagram carousel, Meet the collection
Ocean Sage: the landscape, at home / Instagram carousel, Meet the collection
Fossil Clay: the landscape, at home / Instagram carousel, Meet the collection

Eight colours, in Plascon’s order.

Named by Plascon’s colour team. On air and in print, each one carries the ground it came from.

Grey CurrentBBO 624#939AA0River stone
Granite CrestBBO 620#58595BKoppie granite
ThunderstoneBBO 618#7B8288Storm ridge
Ocean SageBBO 625#65706DCoastal scrub
Weathered RidgeBBO 621#858680Escarpment
StoneveldBBO 622#A29588Dry veld
Fossil ClayBBO 619#BF9A7AClay pan
Coastal HazeBBO 623#9DA5ABSea haze

03 / On air

Eight weeks
on Expresso.

An eight-part Plascon series on Expresso, SABC3, weekly from October 2026, produced by Alan Ford Productions. Episode 1 put the platform on air, with Phillip on the couch as co-creative director.

Episode 1, excerpt / Expresso, SABC3, October 2026. Film: Alan Ford Productions

Episode 1 reel / Posted with @expressoshow, 9 October 2026. Presenter: Palesa Tembe. Film: Alan Ford Productions

The episodes reach Instagram as reels, posted with Expresso.

Watch the Episode 2 reel on Instagram (opens Instagram in a new tab)

Broadcast graphic “the new Earth palette”: eight tall landscape photographs over the eight colours, each labelled with its name, the ground it came from and its BBO code — The palette on air, each colour with its ground / Episode 1

04 / In the world

In store, on screen,
in the feed.

The same ground on a double-sided board for paint stores, a five-page brochure for desktop and phone, and posts on Plascon’s Instagram.

In storeA3 tent card, double-sided

A Plascon tent card on a pale stone ground: the Micatex range, the 135+ Trusted Quality badge and a 20-litre tub above eight colour chips under “the new Earth palette”, and the 250 ml colour tester — Front: the eight colours / Visualisation made with the approved artwork

The board’s campaign face: “the new EARTH, Colour, four billion years in the making.” over a misty escarpment; a painter rolling a wall under “The skin of the home.”; a house in a dry landscape under “The truest colours aren’t forecast. They’re found.” — Back: the campaign / Approved artwork, September 2026

Digital brochureDesktop and phone, five pages each

Brochure cover: “the new EARTH, Colour, four billion years in the making.” on a lichen-covered rock face, with “Eight new Micatex colours. Found in nature. Made for your home.” — Cover / Desktop edition

Brochure page “Find your colour.”: a table of the eight colours and their BBO codes, a 250 ml colour tester and a link to find a Plascon retailer, beside a clay-coloured house — Find your colour / Desktop edition

Phone page 1: the cover, “the new EARTH” on a rock face

Phone page 2: “The palette already lives here.” with the eight colour and landscape pairs

Phone page 3: Ocean Sage on a house wall, and “Bring the landscape home.”

Phone page 4: “Find your colour.” with the eight colours and their codes

Phone page 5: “The skin of the home.” and the Micatex range

Digital brochure, phone edition / Pages 1 to 5

On Instagram@plasconsa, October 2026

Instagram post: “the new EARTH” and Thunderstone, BBO 618, “A cool grey with a grounded presence.”, beside a grey house with a stone bench — Thunderstone / Post

Instagram post: “the new EARTH” and Granite Crest, BBO 620, “A deep grey beside warm natural timber.”, beside a dark grey house with a timber door — Granite Crest / Post

Instagram post: “the new EARTH” and Fossil Clay, BBO 619, “Warm clay tones and natural stone.”, beside a clay-coloured wall and window — Fossil Clay / Post

Colour, four billion years in the making.

05 / Credits & contextBack to top ↑

What went
into it.

Campaign platform & grammar
The name, with Alan Ford
Visual language & campaign lockup
Social rollout plan
Instagram posts & carousel
In-store board & digital brochure

Co-creative direction by Phillip, with Alan Ford, for Plascon.

Phillip and Alan Ford were the campaign’s co-creative directors and named The New Earth together; the platform and its grammar are Phillip’s. Alan Ford Productions produced the Expresso series and its reels; Plascon’s colour team named the eight colours. Shown here: an excerpt from Episode 1, the Episode 1 reel, the Instagram posts as published, the approved in-store board and the digital brochure. The board in its setting is a visualisation made with the approved artwork.

Next identityWashWorxExplore the case study

The New Earth.

Not forecast.They’re found.

Origin. Craft.Life.

Shot like an editorial, not a paint ad.

Eight colours, in Plascon’s order.

Eight weekson Expresso.

In store, on screen,in the feed.

What wentinto it.

Let’s makea little magic.

Origin. Craft.
Life.

Eight weeks
on Expresso.

In store, on screen,
in the feed.

What went
into it.