Minwax Step-Up Strategy

Associate Creative Director

In 2004, after years of development and innovation, Minwax debuted a new step-up strategy in its stain and topcoat programs, introducing two signature products: Wood Finish Color Series Premium Oil-Based Stain and Polycrylic Max Protective Finish. Color Series is an oil-based stain tintable to the entire 240+ color Minwax palette, delivering an improved formulation giving users exceptionally even one-coat coverage — allowing them to get more done faster when compared to traditional Minwax Wood Finish. Similarly, Polycrylic Max boasts a faster dry time and one-coat protection when compared to the popular Polycrylic line.

Since both products are sold at a premium over Wood Finish and Polycrylic, we needed to deliver a label that quickly showed the difference in attributes while also showcasing a premium look. We did so by adding gold and platinum finishes to Color Series and Polycrylic Max, respectively, also using a mix of matte and gloss coatings to further telegraph a premium product offering. In place of the traditional red Professional Results Guaranteed seal, we use a gold/platinum medallion that tells shoppers "Complete Projects up to 2x Faster" when compared to Wood Finish and Polycrylic.

Beyond the label development, the introduction of Color Series and Polycrylic Max meant a new color card at Lowe's, new images for product detail pages at major retailers, sell sheets to help channel team members learn about the products, a special landing page on the Minwax website and revised print collateral and in-store signage.

Creative Director: Stefan Woerle
Words: Teda Jenkins
Product: Andrew Marsden & Sharad Guarav
Account: Chrissy Ingalls & Stephen Wojtila
Brand: Minwax
Channel: Multiple

Click each image to enlarge

Color Series (right) is a step up from Wood Finish (left)

Polycrylic Max (right) is a step up from Polycrylic (left)

Color Series Color Card — Lowe’s

Sell Sheets

Color Series PDP Images

Polycrylic Max PDP Images