Innovation in the Tech Era: Fulfilling the Color Needs of End-Users in a World of Fast Fashion and Revolving Apps
(Room Ballroom 500)
09 Apr 18
12:30 PM
-
1:30 PM
Tracks:
Keynote, Keynote Lecture (Michael H. McGarry, PPG)
The human experience that comes from the coatings industry is vast and driven by color ! Color is personal. It’s individual. It’s emotional. It is a huge part of our everyday lives. It can be playful or can make a statement. It’s part of who we are as humans. Artists and advertisers have long understood the role color plays in conveying a mood or a message.
People buy color, not “protection” or “low-temperature cure” and their preference for colors has become more diverse and more rapidly changing than ever before. Our response to this need for color has been traditional versus being proactive and visionary. And, while we react to societal evolution and changing tastes by delivering new tones, new textures, and new effects, change is often far too slow to keep up with new tastes and behaviors.
We tend to think of trends lasting years and the delivery of color in the same manner. Today’s trends, in reality, may last only a few months or even just one month. This “trend among trends” has left gaps and unmet needs in our industry that are being fulfilled by alternative sources and “band-aid” technologies from companies that may be the first movers but, hopefully, are not long-term solutions.
That’s the opportunity our industry must seize and become leaders in shaping. We must become nimbler and more in tune with our customers and their customers. In other words, how can we fulfill the color needs of end-users in a world of fast fashion and Snapchat ? Our challenge is to reimagine coatings technology and learn from other industries that have already evolved toward servicing a millennial generation that is constantly in search of that next big trend.