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TV shows such as Changing Rooms have galvanised the British public's interest in creative DIY, which you would have thought would be good news for paint company ICI.

But the firm best known for its shaggy dog icon has found that, without help, consumers struggle to visualise their dining rooms in rainbow colours and tend to resort to magnolia, a colour for which the Dulux brand has less competitive advantage.

Dulux found that its brand share is 11 per cent higher when consumers choose their paint colour at home rather than in store, but 75 per cent of colour decisions are made in store. With this in mind, it set out to use its web site to lock people into a Dulux purchase before they visit a shop.

The target market was women aged between 20 and 40, although Dulux did not want to alienate men and older decorators.

With the help of Extraprise, Dulux developed the MousePainter, which allows users to decorate virtual rooms using a 'drag-and-drop' technique.

Users can order colour swatches, to be delivered free of charge, and locate their nearest store. The tool can also suggest co-ordinating colours.

About 18,000 consumers a month are using the MousePainter, and an email campaign delivered a 20 per cent response rate. Visitors spend an average of 21 minutes on the site, which is key to Dulux's lock-in strategy.

ICI Paints is also using the site to capture complicated colour-preference data.

Criteria

The judges of this category were looking for the best uses of interactive media including the internet to promote brands, products and services to consumers. This could include raising brand awareness, building brand values, changing consumer attitudes, enhancing customer relationships or building loyalty.