The mango move: How Insulet’s colourful strategy is ripe for attention

Insulet Corporation, a leading manufacturer of insulin pumps, has announced a partnership with Pantone, in making their “Omnipod Mango” into an official Pantone® colour shade.

The colour itself has been in use on product packaging since around 2020, so users of the product are rightly questioning why there is suddenly an advertising campaign surrounding the colour. Whilst Insulet's press release focuses on the colour's uplifting tone and the way it reflects “the feeling of liberation” that wearing their tubeless insulin pumps brings to its users (so they claim), there is no new product release or update for them to promote. So why is the colour suddenly of significance?

The real answer is that it isn't, well not suddenly. As above, the colour has been in use for around five years, and it is arguably unique in Insulet's marketplace. Brands in the medtech field typically tend to stick to more “serious” hues, and as blue is considered the “official” colour for diabetes, many of Insulet's competitors have followed suit. The bold Omnipod Mango does therefore arguably stand out from the crowd, but for me the campaign is about more than just promoting the product.

Brand recognition is big business, and if a colour brings your product to mind then that is something that should be protected. It is possible to register a colour as a trade mark in many jurisdictions, but in order to do so, the owner would need to demonstrate that consumers associate that specific colour with their product or service. Use over a period of around five years would assist with this, but Insulet's campaign is specifically educating the public to see the colour as an indication of origin.

I therefore suspect that this campaign is laying the foundations for seeking registration of Omnipod Mango as a colour mark in due course, in all of Insulet's key markets (at least where colour marks can be registered). If successful, they would join the ranks of Tiffany and Cadbury's, for whom a specific colour shade acts not just as decoration, but as part of their brand identity. With registration of a colour trade mark, these brands have an additional weapon in their artillery against competitors or copycats encroaching upon their rights.

Color has the power to differentiate a brand. Omnipod Mango is more than just a color—it is the bold, joyful and recognizable character of our brand and the community we serve

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