Legendary Color Innovator Pantone Will Give Away Limited NFTs In Free Raffle

Pantone, a company known to artists and homemakers as the authority in color, has announced that they are celebrating this year’s selection for Color of The Year, PANTONE® 17-3938 by releasing their first ever NFT collection through a giveaway on Instagram.

The collection, which features nine unique NFTs created by Paris-based digital artist Polygon1993, utilizes Pantone’s “Very Peri” blue to capture humans and other scenes in lo-fi digital renditions—emblematic of the artist’s retro-futurist style.

“When I first saw PANTONE® 17-3938 Very Peri, it immediately took me back to my childhood. The blue and red undertones gave the color a retro vibe that inspired me to incorporate nostalgic effects that transport people to the past,” explained Polygon1993. “With digital tools, I was able to create something new that stems from the old but makes it new and futuristic.

The color, which Pantone describes as highlighting “personal inventiveness and creativity” makes a natural fit for the company’s first foray into digital art. The blue shade evokes the glow from a computer screen, and Pantone even goes as far as to say the colors undertones are “best rendered on high-definition screens and in 3D.”

Worth noting, Pantone has decided to forgo the corporate norm of minting on the Ethereum blockchain in favor of using Tezos, which they repeatedly describe as “eco-friendly”. And indeed, while popular platforms like OpenSea and Decentraland have driven Ethereum NFT dominance, increasing gas fees and environmental concerns have led increasing number of companies such as Gap
GPS
, Ubisoft and Red Bull to instead mint on Tezos, whose Proof-of-Stack consensus mechanism uses an estimated 26,000% less energy than Ethereum. As energy prices rise, and corporations look to mitigate cost (and score good PR), a switch to a Tezos or other PoS networks could become increasingly common.

Also worth noting is the company’s decision to give away their NFTs for free. While companies like Nike
NKE
increasingly look to get involved with NFTs as an additional revenue stream, Pantone’s foray feels more brand building in nature, consistent with much of the company’s strategy in the past. The art genuinely feels intentional, and in-line with the company’s description the color. Color Of The Year is Pantone’s most publicized event, making the decision not to monetize here an important one.

This actually could work out quite well for NFT collectors, as the release’s extremely limited quantity paired with Pantone’s strong brand reputation could make each token quite valuable. Digital collectors will perpetually be chasing the NFT raffle FOMO after Beeple’s now iconic ‘5000 days’ raffle, turned some winners into millionaires overnight off a $1 raffle entry.

However, corporate sponsored art tends to fight headwinds compared to other art, as we saw when skincare brand NIVEA launched their free NFT for “The Value of Touch”. Despite a touching message around the value of human touch for the visually impaired, and a beautiful design by Italian artist, Clarissa Baldassarri the artwork is currently only worth .0009 ETH ($2.47 at the time of this publication). Then again, there are 15,000 of them in existence, not nine.

While this is Pantone’s first foray into NFTs it’s likely not the last. According to Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute, Pantone is “always looking to the future…As our clients spend more and more time in the digital world, we recognize the influence this is having on the colors our clients are looking for and the tools they need to design and communicate”. How this will affect the resale price of Pantone art will remain to be seen.

Those interested in trying to scoop up one of Pantone’s art need only a Tezos wallet, and to follow the company’s Instagram page, which will go live with a link for the first two NFTs today at 12pm EST. Another three will be released tomorrow, March 10th at 7am EST, and the final four reserved festival goers at the Tezos Experience at SXSW 2022 next week.

All online releases will occur through Objkt, largest Tezos NFT marketplace.