Behr Paint Company shifted its annual “Color of the Year” announcement from a traditional press event to an integrated creator ecosystem, generating a reported 480 organic social posts that reached 99 million impressions. By inviting creators to an immersive in-person experience at Wildflower Farms, the paint brand established a new framework for creator collaborations in the home improvement sector.

Sharin James-Bartz, Behr’s Vice President of Brand Marketing, led the strategic transformation for the 2026 color, “Hidden Gem.” The campaign engaged 29 creators through an experience-based approach rather than prescribed content requirements.

“The ‘Color of the Year’ campaign is our flagship annual initiative, created to reflect the cultural mood of our consumers while sparking creativity and building DIY confidence,” explains Sharin. “We recognized consumers were no longer just passively receiving trends; they were actively seeking inspiration and planning projects online. Our goal was to meet them in that space, transforming our campaign from a brand announcement into a collaborative movement.”

Sharin James-Bartz

While conventional campaigns often rely on one-dimensional briefs and product shipments, Behr created a multi-sensory environment where creators could directly experience the color’s story.

“We created stylized showrooms from scratch – from a serene spa-like bathroom to a cozy living room – that showed the color’s versatility across different moods and lighting,” Sharin says. “By making these spaces intentionally photogenic, we ensured the experience and use of the color was perfectly framed for sharing.”

Beyond static displays, the experience included a fireside chat with creators who shared platform-specific best practices, interactive mood board workshops, and a custom charm bar designed to help creators translate their physical experience into compelling digital content.

“By providing hands-on sessions like the Pinterest mood boards, we moved beyond a transactional partnership,” says Sharin. “This collaborative environment empowered creators to produce content that was strategically aligned with their unique creative process.”

Sharin notes that “Pinterest is where many of our customers actively plan and seek inspiration for their home projects,” representing a “mindset perfectly aligned” with launching a Color of the Year. “The platform’s visual, search-driven format allows us to show up during this high-intent phase with relatable, creator-led content,” she adds.

This choice was supported by compelling data showing major growth in Pinterest searches for terms like “hand-painted wall patterns” (+10,100%) and “home bedroom refresh” (+343%).

Rethinking Influencer Selection and Management

Behr’s influencer selection methodology departed from typical brand-creator relationships that prioritize reach metrics above all else.

“Our primary criteria centered on content and brand alignment; we specifically sought out genuine DIYers and design enthusiasts whose aesthetic and projects already resonated with our core audience,” Sharin explains. “For our first-ever influencer trip, it was crucial that creators could naturally integrate the story of our ‘Color of the Year’ into their work, making the collaboration feel natural and genuine.”

The company was particularly strategic about geographic considerations. “Given the in-person nature of the launch, geographic location was a key factor, leading us to prioritize creators in the tri-state area,” Sharin says, adding that this balance between content alignment and logistical practicalities ensured the right creators could participate in the physical experience.

“Our vetting process was multi-layered,” she explains. “We analyzed audience engagement far more than simple follower counts, ensuring that our attendees’ communities mirrored our target consumer.”

Image credit: @chelseazeferina 

The Freedom-Within-Framework Approach

In typical influencer campaigns, brands often provide rigid content briefs with required messaging points, hashtags, and visual guidelines. Behr took a different approach.

“We deliberately prioritized creative freedom, trusting that this approach would yield the most effective content,” Sharin reveals. “We understood that modern audiences value genuine, creator-led storytelling far more than any brand-scripted messages.”

Rather than providing a prescriptive brief, Behr created an environment that served as an organic tool for creative direction. “We didn’t provide a prescriptive brief with required messaging or content expectations. Instead, we gave our creators the tools and context they needed to tell their own stories,” she says.

Image credit: @hummusbirrd

What is interesting about this approach is that trip attendees were not contractually obligated to create content at all. This complete creative freedom resulted in 480 organic posts that garnered 99 million impressions, all generated through genuine enthusiasm rather than contractual requirements. 

“While trip attendees were not contracted to create content, we specifically chose creators who were already organic fans of the brand or whose content and core values aligned with ours,” Sharin says.

Cross-Platform Content Strategy

For the campaign, Behr developed a cross-platform approach that recognized the unique characteristics of each social channel. For Pinterest specifically, Behr collaborated with creators to develop content that leveraged the platform’s unique discovery features.

“To optimize content for Pinterest’s visual discovery environment, our strategy focused on creating a diverse range of content that captures Pinners at different stages of their project journey,” Sharin explains. This included “before and after” content for visual impact, pins focused on color and project process for inspiration, and educational DIY pins for actionable insights.

The campaign’s Pinterest strategy included both creator content and paid amplification. “Beyond the on-site fireside chat and influencer partnership, we implemented an ad under the Pinterest Premiere Spotlight,” Sharin says. “This allowed us to advertise within the first ad placement on the page, driving mass awareness for our campaign supporting ‘Hidden Gem.’”

For Instagram and TikTok, Behr’s strategy recognized the distinct ways content is consumed on these platforms. The team created an environment that allowed creators to produce organic content well-suited for these platforms.

Attribution and Measurement Framework

Behr developed an attribution methodology that connects social activity to business outcomes. “We’re tracking success through creator reach and resonance, platform engagement, and ultimately evaluating retail impact,” explains Sharin. “Beyond social metrics, a big indicator of success is how well the color integrates into consumers’ lives, from the sentiment shared online to the paint sales data provided by The Home Depot.”

This measurement system recognizes the unique purchase journey in home improvement. “The journey from being featured in an influencer partner’s content, pinned to consumers’ mood boards, to showing up in real room makeovers is how we truly measure success,” Sharin says. “It’s more long-term, but we’re looking to spark inspiration, encourage consumers to take on their own DIY projects, and trust Behr to achieve their design goals.”

Behr used a combination of platform tools and third-party analytics to connect these various data points. “While we measure overall sales as a combination of our marketing efforts, we’re able to utilize tools such as link click tracking, saves, and repins that help us evaluate purchase intent,” she says.

Results and Outlook

The campaign yielded notable results for Behr. To reiterate, the 480 organic posts from the Wildflower Farms experience reached a combined audience of 99 million. Moreover, the campaign exceeded its performance benchmarks by a huge margin, with view and coverage KPIs surpassing targets by 110% and 200% respectively.

“Since all the content created at the event was purely organic, these awareness-first metrics were crucial,” Sharin explains. “We saw them as the powerful first step towards brand affinity that would ultimately lead to more direct business outcomes, as positive consumer perceptions of the social content would inspire them to act and purchase our paint.”

“The most distinctive element was the seamless integration of a live, in-person activation with a digital strategy, a model that has not been executed at this scale in the home improvement space,” Sharin says. “We didn’t just tell people about our ‘Color of the Year’; we empowered a curated group of creators to discover it for themselves and share their interpretations with their audiences, turning a color launch into a collective design movement.”

Looking to the future, Behr views this campaign as the starting point of a refined approach to creator partnerships. “Influencers will continue to be a part of our marketing strategy, and we are closely analyzing the full results of the campaign to guide our plans, including future opportunities with platforms such as Pinterest,” Sharin shares.

“The collaborative and highly-engaged nature of the event generated organic content that surpassed what traditional marketing could have achieved,” she concludes. “We look forward to continuing to invest in this type of hands-on storytelling.”