Color psychology is the study of the significance and effects of colors on human emotions and behaviors. Human beings, being visual organisms, are highly influenced by colors. A newborn baby only sees colors like black, white and grey until the first five weeks. Red is the primary colors that the baby sees first. It takes the first 5 months after birth to completely develop the color vision and therefore the meaning and perception related to colors are acquired by the child involuntarily. These early associations with color form the basis of color psychology.
Colors have the quality to convey information, moods, and the capability to influence the decisions of the audience. Often colors cause increased blood pressure, high metabolism, and eyestrain. Therefore, it assumes the position of a powerful communication tool used to influence physiological reactions in humans. Introduction of color psychology in marketing and branding works as a growth strategy for any product by subconsciously influencing the customer’s decision. In terms of marketing and branding, color psychology primarily focuses on the impact of colors in creating an impression and persuading the consumers to make a purchase. The impression created does not differentiate any brand as a newly launched brand, a rebranding project, or a creative marketing asset. Colors exert influence on the views of consumers related to a product and express the personality and representation of the brand. The researcher Satyendra Singh analyzes that “People make up their minds within 90 seconds of their initial interactions with either people or products. About 62‐90 percent of the assessment is based on colors alone. So, prudent use of colors can contribute not only to differentiating products from competitors, but also to influencing moods and feelings — positively or negatively — and therefore, to attitude towards certain products.” Hence, it is important to understand the colors used to present a brand, taking into consideration the best first impression.
Color Preference
Color preferences vary with individuals. For understanding the influence of colors in marketing, it is important to understand the common factors that affect the preference – evolution, gender and ecological valence theory.
- Evolution: Color preferences of humans have a foundation rooted back in early evolutionary history. Studies show that the association of color and choices is dated back to early human history. It may have started with associating blue with night which in turn express passivity while, yellow to sunlight which expresses arousal. Even at the present, cool colors such as blue and green are considered to be calming while warm colors such as red and orange are considered arousing.
- Gender: Color preference also depends on gender. The parents and society impart the gender stereotypes in the young minds since birth. From the moment a child is born they are presented to a color stereotyped environment where girls are associated with pink and boys with blue. Grown with the stereotype ideas these kids as individuals would tend to prefer tier choices based on the inbuilt stereotypes.
- Ecological Valence Theory: Ecological valence theory suggests that “color preferences arise from people’s average affective responses to color-associated objects”. Hence with every positive experience, an individual receives from a material of a given color, the preference for that color increases.
Thus, when it comes to marketing the color preference should be crafted by keeping the expected consumers and their common color preference in mind.
Colors and Meaning
Each color is associated with meaning and it is this meaning that attracts consumers to the product. Three factors that affect the meanings attached to the color are culture, experiences, and context.
- Culture: Association of meaning to colors change with culture. Each culture associates a different meaning for each color and growing up in a particular culture makes the individual associate the meaning in accord to their culture. For example, A US washing detergent brand uses white color to explain the safe and pure nature of the product. While the same product, if marketed in China will fail to succeed to be established as a brand as the color white is considered unlucky in their culture. Hence, while choosing colors for marketing campaigns the cultural connotations of colors should be evaluated.
- Experience: The experience of people with colors and the associated meanings depends on the type of work and interest. Therefore, before a marketing campaign, it is important to have data analytics on the targeted consumers, their preferences, jobs, interest to evaluate a pattern and bring in a common experience associated with the color
- Context: Like culture, context also brings in changes to the association of meaning to color. For instance, the color red can mean power, passion, energy, courage, excitement, anger, danger, warning, pain and aggression. So while marketing a product in red, the color should be matching with the context of the product.
Association of color with Marketing and Branding
- Red: Red represents the intensity of all forms. Coca-Cola is one of the famous brands that use red in its design. The brand is often advertised in sports commercials and is related to energy, action, excitement, and passion. The main aspect of red in terms of marketing is that it is an action color. Red is in many instances associated with stops as in traffic lights, car brake lights, or stop signs encouraging people to quickly act.
- Orange: Creativity, adventure, enthusiasm, success, and balance are associated with the color orange. It should be used in marketing depending on the emotions that the consumers should perceive regarding the product. The brands like Firefox, easyJet airlines, and Penguin Random House uses orange.
- Yellow: Yellow is associated with happiness, positivity, optimism, youthfulness, and summer. At the same time, it perceives a warning or deceit based on the tone and shade of the color. The common brands that use yellow are McDonald’s, Best Buy and Nikon.
- Pink: Pink represents femininity, playfulness, and unconditional love. It is used in products that targeted female audiences. For instance, Victoria’s Secret named one of their brands Pink.
- Green: It is symbolic of nature, fertility, eternity, health, wealth, and generosity. Green is used by brands like John Deere, Whole Foods, and Perrier.
- Blue: Blue is one of the powerful colors utilized in brand marketing as it is associated with trust, harmony, stability, calm, and peace. On the other hand, it also represents coldness and depression. Brands that sell winter apparel and industries that are specialized in psychiatry uses blue. Other brands that use blue are Facebook, Visa, PayPal, American Express, Intel, and Dell.
- Purple: Purple is the color of royalty, power, nobility, luxury, wisdom, and spirituality. Thus, if overused it might be perceived as arrogance. Brands use purple for making prestigious offers.
- White: White is related to innocence, goodness, cleanliness, and humility. However, it has negative connotations in some cultures. In regard to e-commerce websites, white tends to be highly used due to its quality to enhance space and readability in contrast to the black.
- Black: The color of mystery, power, elegance, and sophistication in use in retail stores. Black, like white, is a neutral color and has a strong impact on spaces. It also causes sadness and anger depending on its use. Brands like Nike, Hugo Boss, Ralph Lauren, and Jack Daniels uses black color.
- Gray: It represents neutrality and balance and is related to depression and loss or used on products to appeal to a mass audience. It is used in comparing products or services.
- Brown: Brown is associated with earth, wood, and stone. It also symbolizes comfort and security. It is used in real estate, as people can connect it to homes and brands that sell natural products and food.
Importance of Color Psychology in Marketing and Brand.
Color Psychology helps to bring in organic growth with subtle differences. It is a common human trait to prefer recognizable brands. Studies have found that recognizing a brand is a by-product of active brain activity and so, it is important to make color an identity while creating a brand. Color increases brand recognition by up to 80%. Hence, color psychology in marketing is a critical factor in the visual look of product packaging, logos, website design. It is also used in brand identity, digital and content marketing, packaging, social media, and even landing pages and advertising. The few ways to use color in marketing and branding are:
- By highlighting the culture or image of a brand, product, or service as non-verbal information is trusted and perceived faster than verbal cues. Hence, by using the right color abstract can be communicated.
- By differentiating the brand from the competitors. Being creative with colors and differentiating your identity as better and superior to the competitor can bring in brand recognition.
By creating significant visibility for other products by means of color.
