Using a particular color to market a product or brand is nothing new — but it’s effectiveness has never been higher.
All colors have some sort of symbolism that contribute to traditions, cultures, religions, concepts, superstitions, and feelings. Some of these colors are even thought to stir physical reaction in people. This encourages companies and organizations to choose their branding colors carefully.
Mr. Marketing, Rob Weinberg offers this advice: “Extend your message with colors as you would your logo, tagline, URL or other branding tools. Reinforce your color choices at every turn and you should find people recognizing them…and you.”
Do you think this is true? To draw on an example from his article, Make Selling more Colorful (http://www.pomeradonews.com/2011/10/26/ask-mr-marketing-make-selling-more-colorful/), Weinberg points out how Tiffany and Company uses robin’s egg blue boxes to wrap jewelry. This has been so effective that the color is recognized as their own (even though no one can own a color). If another company chooses to use the same color, their products or services might be mistaken for the jewelry company. In this situation, the company who follows may generate business from doing so or they may be looked down upon as a cheap knock-off. In other words, they’d have to return to the drawing board — literally.
While this approach may not produce the desired results, the thought process is right on target. They noticed how a certain color attracts a niche market and encourages those people to buy a particular product. This means the start-up company is probably close to developing their own branding package with a carefully selected color scheme — just like Tiffany and Company.
Weinberg implies the chief reasons why companies and organizations use colors in their marketing campaigns and branding techniques is because they are effective tools for non-verbal communication. Since colors can evoke a physical response from individuals, company’s use all sorts of colors and color combinations to advance their purposes.
A good example of this is the color red, which is said to encourage the feeling of hunger. It also attracts attention, elevates heart rate and gets people excited. Therefore, is it a surprise that fast food chains like McDonalds, Wendy’s and Burger King all use red in their logos? At the time when fast food was becoming popular in American culture, a lot of thought was going into the cognitive and subconscious effects of colors. Confirming studies and business successes encouraged other companies to approach color branding with high regard. This is why American grocery stores like Costco, Jewel-Osco, and Winn-Dixie use the color red in their logos, along with pharmacy stores like Walgreens and CVS.
This branding technique is widely applied. With the competitiveness of the marketplace today, it is necessary for companies to perform some sort of market research, or in depth study of color before unveiling a campaign, logo or new color scheme.
After all, the secret is out. Colors are great marketing tools. Now, allow us to ask; what color defines and promotes you best?
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