Perhaps the most recognizable feature of jewelry brand Tiffany & Co. is its robin egg blue motif, which is consistent among its packaging and advertisements. The company officially trademarked the color in 1998 and it remains to be the main identifier of the brand. Given its iconic status, it's hard to imagine the company switching color...but it actually did once; just this year, on April Fool's Day.
Tiffany & Co. revealed the new color during the launch of its new Acqua Di Parma frangrance on social media. Naturally, people were taken aback by the odd new color choice: yellow. It even opened a pop-up store a month later in the same yellow, with not a single trace of robin egg blue in sight. Everything from the store's furnishings to its shopping bags had been completely changed, and it really felt we had stepped into an alternate universe.
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Yellow was chosen as a nod to the legendary 130-carat yellow diamond that Charles Lewis Tiffany, the founder of Tiffany & Co. purchased back in 1878. The switch to yellow also coincided with the company's sale to LVMH, the luxury group that also manages popular names such as Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Gucci, and Saint Laurent. Currently, Louis Vuitton executive Anthony Ledru and former Rimowa chief Alexandre Arnault lead Tiffany & Co. as CEO and Executive VP of Communications and Products, respectively.
In addition to the aforementioned changes, the company also recruited some high-profile celebrities to serve as brand ambassadors, including Blackpink's Rose, Chinese actor Jackson Yee, and The Queen's Gambit's Anya Taylor-Joy. With their help, the company hopes to usher in a new era for the brand, with plans to renovate its 320 Tiffany & Co. boutiques across the globe.
A revamp could be just what the jewelry brand needs gain some traction in today's market, but will it be enough to sway the most important demographic of all, Gen Z? If the April Fools Day test was any indication, the company could be onto something, as many netizens have expressed excitement for the new color. That said, it's unlikely that Tiffany & Co. will make an official switch to the yellow as the robin egg blue color is arguably the biggest pull for the brand.
"It’s not a wise decision to dilute that iconic heritage image of Tiffany, as this is what Tiffany is known for, and that is why people are buying it," said Sally Maier Yip, the managing director of 11 Consulting marketing agency. "If it is a departure from the old, it must balance modernity and heritage."
