Brand Colors, Colors and Brands, Customer and brand colors, Color psychology, Coca-cola, KFC, Green Dust, Green, Yellow, Gold, Pink, Purple, Red, Black, Barbie,

1. The Brand Color Code
What comes first into your minds when you think of “Yellow Arches” or a “Red Can”? Some
brands are instantly recognizable by their color itself.
Mc Donald’s and Coca-Cola haven’t impressed the world only with their products but the colors
they have selected to represent their brands, has also helped them to grab eyeballs around the
world. Ever wondered why social media websites prefer blue as their brand color, it is to send
out a soothing message to the customers that “we are a communication company and you can
trust us with your personal data”. Blue is also the color of freedom, cleanliness and smartness.
Every color has a different feel and it gives a unique type of association to the customer. We
can’t imagine KFC to be black, purple or any other color except red, the same follows for every
brand.
Colors are instantaneous method of delivering meaning and message without words. According
to a survey (conducted by University of Loyola, Chicago) customers make a judgment about any
product within 90 seconds of initially viewing it and 62%-90% of this judgment is based on color
alone. A survey by QuickSprout also revealed that 90% of consumer’s product assessment has to
do with only colors. So color does play an important part in making a brand a real BRAND.
Every color has a message, while red sends out the message of being hot, powerful, bold and
rebellious (Coca-Cola, KFC), Coca-Cola conveys that it is a strong brand and it has been proved
through the blind test where people selected Coca-Cola over Pepsi because they found a
powerful relationship with the brand, in a similar way KFC can be said to be hot because of the
hot, spicy chicken recipes it’s known in the world for, Apart from this the color red also
stimulates appetite, and that is the reason it is a preferred color choice by many fast food
companies ; Orange says its warm and friendly ( Amazon, BlogSpot), Amazon is warm and
friendly because of the smooth customer friendly interface it provides; Yellow is for the chirpy,
happy, young and energetic (best buy, Mc Donald’s), Mc Donald’s brings happiness to people as
it is a hangout spot where people can enjoy food at affordable cost ; Green is for the environment
friendly brands (Green dust, Star Bucks), Green Dust is helping the environment by repairing
and selling goods that is considered as part of the defected goods by the company; Pink refers to
feminity and joyfulness and that is why we see Barbie dolls and other girlie products in different
shades of pink. Other popular colors are purple which symbolizes value and timelessness, black
symbolizes royalty and mystery and white generally means pure. There are many brands which
use multi colors in their logos like Google and eBay most probably to say about the variety of
products they have, for instance, Google has its own search engine, maps, TV, app store and a lot
more. This is one way of seeing how colors may explain the features of the brand, this may vary,
as everyone has their own viewpoint in viewing things.
Have you ever noticed that many of the laundry detergents include blue and orange colors in
their logos and packing, this is because blue symbolizes cleanliness and orange refers to instant
powerful energy, this makes the customer feel that this detergent will clean up their laundry
quicker.

2. The first thing the customer notices in any brand is its color. Many times, we ourselves don’t
even know the product of the company but recognize the product because of its color. Colors
increases the chances of brand recognition by 80%. While bold color attracts a lot of attention,
they are also the ones which are most widely used and thus the chances of one being unique
using those colors is less. Not only the colors, but different shades of colors also give a different
message, a lighter shade of yellow conveys a feeling of innocence and that is the reason it is used
in baby oils as well as on the cover packets of various cooking oils. The packing of the product
also tells about the company, many garments showrooms and many chocolates companies follow
this, this is especially done by e-commerce companies which try to steal the customer’s attention
through the product packing itself. The product packing also gives the customer an insight about
the quality of the product.
A Study on World’s Top Brands (determined by the brand value) revealed that blue is the most
popular color preferred by companies for their logos and around 33% of top brands use blue
color in their logos, followed by red which is used by 29%. Black and grayscale is used by 28%
and yellow and gold by 13%.
Purchasing intent is greatly affected by colors due to the impact they have on how a brand is
perceived. This means that colors influence how consumers view the "personality" of the brand
in question. Choosing a color for your brand isn’t just depended on the message it conveys, one
must also keep into mind the cultural associations of the color, for example, while white
represents purity and peace in certain parts of the world, it also represents sadness in certain
other parts, that is the reason most of the fairness creams which represent themselves with white
color in Western world, opt for either pink or a greyish white shade in parts of Asia. Your brand
color may not necessarily depend upon the color of the industry you belong, you can opt for
various colors provided they do send out the message, that you want customers to know. Every
brand wants to be unique and in order to be so your brand color must also be different, especially
than that of your competitive brand, so that people don’t get confused in recognizing you.
There are many famous and strong brands that have failed because of using wrong colors, some
of the famous examples include, Pepsi. Pepsi in order to capture the market of South East Asia,
changed the color of its vending machine, coolers and cans from “Regal Blue” to “Light Ice
Blue” to show that the drink is ice cool, but the “Light Ice Blue” color in South East Asia is
associated with death and mourning and thus because of choosing a wrong brand color without
doing proper market research Pepsi lost its huge market to Coke.
A brand color does not only send out the message of what you aim to sell, but it also helps in
creating a bond, an association with the customer, and if you are proved right at this point, then
your brand has a long way to go.

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
 http://personal.stevens.edu/~rchen/creativity/impact%20of%20color%20on%20marketin
g.pdf
 https://blog.kissmetrics.com/psychology-of-color-and-conversions/
 http://www.businessinsider.com/which-brands-own-these-signature-colors-2014-7?IR=T
 http://www.helpscout.net/blog/psychology-of-color/
 http://www.columnfivemedia.com/work-items/infographic-true-colors-what-your-brand-
colors-say-about-your-business