The World Series generated more interest and excitement in 2016 than it has in several years. Not only were two great teams involved, neither franchise had won the World Series for many decades.
What does this baseball championship have to do with painting, you ask? Besides that fact that specially formulated paints are used to mark the lines and team logos on the baseball field, paint is also an important tool used by fans to express support for their teams. In Chicago, for instance, Cubs fans were using large quantities of spray paint to create the team logo, Cubby Bear faces, and large W’s on their lawns and walls across the city.
Why a large “W”? “W” stands for win to Cubs fans. Since 1937, flags with a large blue “W” have been flown at Wrigley field whenever the Cubs have won a game. Even in the age of the Internet, the tradition has continued, as has the singing of “Go Cubs Go”.
After the Cubs won their first World Series in 108 years, sponsor Benjamin Moore took the idea of using paint to support the team even further. Working with The Martin Agency, the company put up numerous posters at various locations around the city of Chicago the morning after that exciting and historic game 7. It also encouraged fans everywhere to #PaintTheW using the official Chicago Cubs colors from the Benjamin Moore Sports Colors Collection. To make it as easy as possible, the company distributed 20,000 16×20 inch #PaintTheW stencils at the celebratory parade on November 7th.
The official Chicago Cubs colors from Benjamin Moore include Fly the W Blue SC-63, Fly the W White SC-64, Cubbies Blue SC-60, Marquee Red SC-61, and Wrigley Field Green SC-62.