1. The Home Depot Celebrates Hispanic Culture Through Color and Paint With Colores
Origenes
ATLANTA, Sept 14, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- The Home Depot(R), the world's largest home improvement
retailer, today announced the launch of a new Hispanic color palette named Colores Origenes. Capturing the richness of colors
influenced from Latin America and the Caribbean, the vibrant palette will feature more than 70 colors. The color palette is the
first of its kind and was created after research demonstrated that consumers would welcome a paint line that reflects Hispanic
culture, with Spanish names to provide inspiration through a collection of shades they can relate to visually. Origenes, which
means the origin of one's roots, will be sold exclusively at The Home Depot in select stores beginning Monday, Sept. 19.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030502/HOMEDEPOTLOGO )
quot;Research shows that painting is one of the most common home improvement projects undertaken by Hispanic consumers,quot;
said Tom Taylor, executive vice president of Merchandising & Marketing at The Home Depot. quot;It was a natural fit for us to
create a color palette that would celebrate the richness of Hispanic culture as well as to further demonstrate our ongoing
commitment to being the company of choice for Hispanics.quot;
The use of international style themes is popular in home decor today. With Spanish names like Azul Cielito Lindo (Lovely Blue
Sky) and Chayote (Chayote Squash), the colors will help create visuals of Latin America and serve to inspire consumers who
are looking to capture that culture in their home decor.
In addition to the research that revealed painting is one of the most popular home improvement projects among Hispanics, it
also demonstrated that 59 percent of Hispanics speak Spanish all the time and are more likely to purchase brands advertised
in Spanish. Advertising for the new color palette will be featured in Spanish while signage and promotional materials in The
Home Depot stores will be bilingual.
The Home Depot has an increasing focus on serving and marketing to the rapidly growing Hispanic community with initiatives
such as a national hiring partnership with four of the country's leading national Hispanic organizations, bilingual signage and
how-to clinics in select stores, bilingual advertising, and community service projects. Hispanics are the fastest-growing
consumer segment in the nation, representing 14 percent of the U.S. population. It is estimated that by 2008, Hispanics will
have an approximate annual purchasing power of $1 trillion or 9.6 percent of the U.S. GDP.
The Home Depot partnered with Behr Process Corporation, the largest provider of premium paints and stains to the North
American do-it-yourself (DIY) home improvement market, to create the innovative, new line of colors. The new color palette will
be available in select stores across the country. The stores not displaying the color palette still have the capability to mix the
paint colors. Customers can call the BEHR customer care line at (800) 854- 0133 ext. 3 to receive a Colores Origenes color
card that they can take to their local store to match the paint color they have selected.
Founded in 1978, The Home Depot(R) is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer and the second largest
retailer in the United States, with fiscal 2004 sales of $73.1 billion. The company employs approximately 325,000 associates
and has 1,945 stores in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The company has
announced plans for retail expansion into China. The Home Depot has been recognized by Fortune as the No. 1 Most Admired
Specialty Retailer for 2005. Its stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones
industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index. HDG
SOURCE The Home Depot
Jen King of The Home Depot, +1-770-384-4390, or Jennifer_King@homedepot.com ; or
Brenda C. Mendoza of The Vidal Partnership, +1-646-356-6614, or
bmendoza@vidalpartnership.com
http://www.prnewswire.com
Copyright (C) 2005 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.
News Provided by COMTEX