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Keeping focus on ANZ Colour Matching Competition

After almost 30 years of providing a platform for budding apprentice spray painters across Australia and New Zealand to exercise and refine their colour matching skills, the annual PPG Colour Matching Competition in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) has been stopped in its tracks by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.


But following cancellation of the 2020 event, the PPG ANZ automotive refinish marketing team brainstormed alternative strategies to keep new tradespeople engaged through to the 2021 event.

"We wanted a framework that would let us keep eligible spray-painting students up-to-date with the latest news on the PPG Colour Matching Competition," explained Marissa Tasios, Marketing Assistant PPG refinish. 

“At the same time, it needed to provide a convenient avenue for us to reach out and provide ongoing communications, technical tips, etc. Chelsea Hilsberg (Graphic Designer/Marketing Assistant, PPG refinish) came up with the idea of establishing a special Facebook group. Everyone agreed it was a great way to create an exclusive, tight-knit community to support apprentice spray-painters."

Win, lose or draw, the annual PPG ANZ Colour Matching Competition is all about participation. In a normal year, a large number of apprentice spray painters take part in a series of regional and state-based events. This gives them the opportunity to hone their colour-matching skills under competition conditions and, ultimately, take that knowledge into their careers as qualified tradespeople. Winners earn the right to compete in the prestigious finale. Knowing this was not possible in light of COVID-19, the organizing team sought to bring in the expertise of technical staff based at PPG's Clayton, Melbourne, coatings facility.

“A key aim of the PPG ANZ Colour Matching Competition Facebook group is to continue the learning experience for young tradespeople," Tasios said. “Richard Harvey (Color Technologist, Refinish) and Manny Grillo (National Colour Auditor) were keen to be involved and, with their support, we are regularly posting a variety of thought-provoking discussion points, detailed color theory information and handy tech tips. 

Ultimately, we hope to create a unique online community where spray painters can communicate directly with PPG expert staff, have their colour-related questions answered, and continue to build their colour-matching skill base. Hopefully, the PPG ANZ Colour Matching Competition will be back in action in 2021, but until then, we are giving eligible apprentices something which is uniquely made for them by the PPG team."