Colors and brands

By on October 30, 2011

Colors play an important role in human lives, both as marketers as well as consumers. Colors are expressive and carry meaning. Every color has its own meaning and when the colors are used for a brand, they associate it with that meaning. For example: red symbolizes passion and energy while green reflects environment-friendly and natural. The colors are said be very powerful and memorable force (Funk and Levis, 2009, p.67).

Perception of color

Colors are used in brand’s logo, products’ packaging, various promotional media, and tagline etc. Consumers’ comprehension of a brand is influenced by three set of factors:

  1. The characteristics of the message.
  2. The characteristics of the message receiver.
  3. The characteristics of the environment i.e. the situation.

Colors come under the physical characteristics of the message. Colors are said to influence the likelihood of consumers’ attention and comprehension of a brand. The color that is one’s favorite will attract his attention quickly (Babin and Harris, 2010, p.63).

Brand personality

Colors are used in branding so as to evoke emotions of consumers and express personality. Every brand has a personality of its own which is reflected largely through the color. That is why, Coca-Cola uses red so as to reflect energy and youth. Color is said to stimulate brand association and accelerates differentiation. Colors help the customers to connect to it and colors also help to differentiate the brand with that of the competitors’. Researches have confirmed that the human brain first registers the shape, then color and then reads the contents of a product (Wheeler, 2009, p.128).

References

  • Funk, D., Levis, A.M. Conscious Branding. 2009. New York: Business Expert Press.
  • Babin, B.J., Harris, E.G. CB2. 2010. South-Western Cengage Learning.
  • Wheeler, A., Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team. Third Edition. 2009. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
  • A Guide to Choosing Colors for Your Brand. Retrieved from: http://www.usabilitypost.com/2008/09/29/a-guide-to-choosing-colors-for-your-brand/
  • Carper, V. Learning from Your Animal Teachers. 2005. U.S.A.: Animal Teachers Enterprises.

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