The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2025–2026
Tiffany turns its trademarked blue into an ocean-conservation campaign — 3 D&AD Pencils
L&C and Pantone map endangered seas whose blues match Tiffany's exclusive '1837 Blue', turning the brand's most guarded asset into an ocean-protection platform.
Tiffany & Co. · The Tiffany & Co. Foundation
What it had to solve
Tiffany Blue was trademarked in 1998 and standardized in 2001 as Pantone custom colour '1837 Blue' — exclusive to the house and unavailable to anyone else. The Tiffany & Co. Foundation, 25 years old and with more than $100M in grants, wanted that precious colour to drive awareness for ocean protection.
How it works
Tiffany Blue has shaped the house's identity for nearly two centuries — registered as a colour trademark in 1998 and standardized in 2001 as Pantone custom colour '1837 Blue', created exclusively for Tiffany and not publicly available. The campaign's insight was that the same shade of blue exists naturally in many of the world's oceans, especially where marine life is at risk.
L&C and Pantone built '1837 Tiffany Blue Conservation' around real geographies in Africa, Australia and the Caribbean where the sea matches the brand's blue, using imagery drawn from the Foundation's own grantee research. A hero film tied those blues to the colour's meaning as a symbol of love, and executions appeared in Times Square, at The Landmark flagship store and across social.
The creative choice was deliberate: while many conservation campaigns open with distressing images of trash or entangled creatures, Tiffany kept the tone on love and optimism, mirroring the brand's own voice. The Foundation's director Annika Dubrall described the messaging as succinct and the imagery arresting — an invitation to action rather than despair.
The colour gave the Foundation a platform for its 25th-anniversary milestone: more than $100M awarded to over 170 organisations across more than 50 countries, a commitment to protecting 30% of the world's oceans by 2030, and $100M committed to ocean restoration with 13 square kilometres actively restored. In 2026 the idea won three D&AD Pencils — Yellow for CSR, Graphite for Branding and Wood for Integrated.
Why it lands
- The asset was already precious and exclusive, so lending it to the ocean made the cause feel as valuable as the brand itself.
- The mechanism was literal and discoverable: real maps and real grantee research tied each blue ocean to an actual restoration site.
- Love and optimism kept the campaign on-brand while other conservation work leaned on distress imagery.
- It converted a colour trademark — a legal asset — into a platform with a measurable commitment: $100M and 30% of the world's oceans by 2030.
What it did
The campaign tied the colour to the Foundation's commitment to protect 30% of the world's oceans by 2030 and its more than $100M in grants; it won three D&AD 2026 Pencils — Yellow for CSR, Graphite for Branding and Wood for Integrated.
What you can take
Lend the signature asset to a cause it genuinely matches: exclusivity — 'the colour isn't available to others' — became urgency, and the brand's most guarded property became its most shareable one.
Since then
The campaign launched in March 2025 with OOH in Times Square and at The Landmark flagship, extending through social; the Foundation continued its work under the 30%-by-2030 ocean commitment. In 2026 the idea collected three D&AD Pencils (Yellow CSR, Graphite Branding, Wood Integrated), establishing the colour trademark as a durable conservation platform rather than a one-off activation.
Sources
- 1837 Tiffany Blue Conservation | D&AD Work
- Tiffany & Co. Raises Awareness for Ocean Preservation with Its Signature Colour in Latest Campaign
- Tiffany & Co.'s Oceanic Branding: A Deep Dive Into '1837 Tiffany Blue Conservation'
- Tiffany & Co. goes blue for ocean preservation
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