B&Q Competition Winner announced

Posted by Rushian on May 24, 2005, 02:01:15 pm

The winners of the RAWK and B&Q's Match Perfect Paint competition are Carl and Cathy Culling and family. They won £150 and their living room painted in a perfect Liverpool Red ahead of the Champions League Final.



RED IS THE COLOUR
Football fans paint Britain red

It seems blue is no longer the colour as football fans go crazy for red ‘football strip’ paint colours. Since the launch of its ‘Match Perfect Paint’ service just four weeks ago, B&Q has seen a 23% increase in sales of red paint as Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool fans prayed for success in the FA Cup Final and UEFA Champions League. 

The service, where paint is mixed to the exact colour of your football team strip, has proved most popular in the North West – home of UEFA Champions League finalists, Liverpool.  With B&Q stores in the area reporting a high level of interest in ‘Liverpool’ red paint and a B&Q survey showing that a third of Liverpool fans are fanatical about their team, it isn’t surprising to see them sporting their team’s colours in their own homes. 

Liverpool supporter, Carl Culling (40), from Southport is so passionate about his team that he proposed to wife, Cathy in the centre circle at Anfield and has now painted his home in ‘Liverpool’ red to show his support in the run up to the Champions League Final.  Carl said: “I've been looking for a big way to celebrate the boys getting into the final, so I was made up when I heard about this new B&Q service.  I took my shirt straight into store to have the paint mixed up.  It’s a great way to show how much I love Liverpool FC and I feel as though I'm permanently on the Kop now!   If we beat AC Milan on Wednesday it won't be just my house I'll be painting red!”

Red paint sales have also rocketed in the North East since Sunderland’s promotion to the Premiership and Middlesbrough’s battle for a place in the UEFA cup next season. 

What’s more, as Norwich and West Bromwich fought for survival in the premiership, tins of yellow and green paint also flew off the shelves – B&Q has seen a 5% rise of both colours.  But if passionate fans spur their team to victory, Wigan look set to beat Premiership Champions Chelsea next season – blue paint sales are 3:1 higher in the North West than in the Capital. 

Post Match Analysis
In the last four weeks, B&Q has sold:

Over 13,000 litres of ‘football strip’ red paint, enough to cover 21 Anfield’s
Over 5,350 litres of ‘football strip’ yellow paint, enough to cover 9 Carrow Road’s
Over 2,000 litres of ‘football strip’ blue paint, enough to cover 4 Stamford Bridge’s

The service is proving to be the latest craze in supporting your team, as research1 that led to the initiative showed that of the 35 million footie fans in the UK, 75% would use their team’s colours when decorating their home. 

The research also revealed that twice as many women (50%) as men said they would paint their house in their football team’s colours. The over 60s were set to get red carded by the neighbours as they said they would be more likely to paint the whole interior and exterior of their homes with their team colours.

The bedroom was voted the most popular room to decorate in ‘Match Perfect Paint’ gaining possession of 67% of the votes. Bathrooms came second but, most surprisingly, the whole house and the house exterior were twice as likely to get a football strip makeover as kitchens and living rooms.

Lorian Coutts, director of communications at B&Q, said: “The initial research showed that Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool are the most popular premiership teams.  As a result, we predicted a sales increase in red paint of 20% within the first six months, but we never expected to achieve a bigger increase within just four weeks! It’s proof we really are a nation of football enthusiasts.”

B&Q launched ‘Match Perfect Paint’ in response to customer demand. To match paint to your football team strip simply take your shirt into your local B&Q Warehouse. To find out if your local B&Q offers a paint mixing service visit www.diy.com

© B&Q/RAWK 2005

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