Colour Can Be A Powerful Thing

 

We’re Talking About The Difference Between Bright Bold And Vivid And The Subtleties Of All The Other Various Shades Of That Same Colour

I hadn’t thought much about the subtleties various colours meant until my statistics professor (also a renowned expert on colour and human emotions) told us a story about the colours he had chosen for the phone companies new phone launch and how the phone executive in charge had totally ignored the exact colour match and had gone out and ordered the cheapest red, green, blue etc. plastic parts he could find. Then he couldn’t understand why sales were so awful. Probably like me before I heard this story, That executive had no clue about the meaning of colours.

I hope this article will begin to bring that colourful meaning to light for you.

 

Have you ever noticed how colours make you feel?  You may be drawn more to one colour than another.  That is because colours stimulate the brain in different ways and elicit specific emotions.  Advertisers know this all too well and have been using the psychology of colour to their advantage for decades.

Although colour is one of the most powerful methods of advertising, it is important to note that the effects are not entirely universal.  Colours that elicit certain emotions of a consumer in western cultures will not have the same effects on a consumer in India or Asia due to the symbolism of the colour.   Let’s look at the colour RED as a prime example.  In western cultures such as America, UK, Australia and South Africa, the colour red is used to ignite a sense of urgency, which is why it is seen to promote clearance sales.  Red stimulates appetite and is effectively use as such in restaurants. Red is a fire colour, it denotes passion, energy, danger and anger and is known to increase one’s heart rate.  In Chinese culture however, red has a completely different connotation.  Red symbolizes luck, vitality and long life and is believed to ward away evil.  Red is a traditionally symbolic colour of happiness and is used for festive occasions and weddings.   Using red ink is reserved only for use on official seals as the names of the dead were previously written in red.  In India, red is a symbol of purity, fertility, love, beauty, wealth, opulence and power.  Like the Chinese it is used in wedding ceremonies and is used by woman as a sign that they are married.

When new products are being marketed, one of the most fundamental elements to consider is that there are factors which influence a consumer: visual appearance and colour rank at a whopping 93%, whilst sound and smell registers at a measly 1% and texture comes in at 6%.   Research has shown that colour increases brand recognition by 80%.  If I was to say the word Coca Cola, the colour red instantly comes to mind.  It is interesting to note that over the course of the last few years Coca Cola have spent more than $3 Billion a year promoting a word so that every time you hear this word, our association with their product had a dual effect, thereby boosting their brand recognition.  So, what is this word?

It’s Happiness!

In 2013, Coca Cola released their 52 Songs of Happiness.  International Day of Happiness is on 20 March and for the 2014 FIFA World Cup™, Coca Cola released their Happiness Flag.

Consumers have cited colour as the primary reason why they buy a particular product and 52% of consumers don’t return items purely based on aesthetics.  It has also been proven that adverts seen in colour are read up to 42% more compared to the same advert in black and white.  Studies have concluded that people make a subconscious judgement about an environment or product within 90 seconds.  Between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on colour alone!  Colour can improve comprehension by 73%, learning by 55-68% and reading by as much as 40%.

The fantastic infographic below is courtesy of ufunk.net.  Here, the emotions elicited from each colour are clearly detailed together with information pertaining to marketing, branding and recognisable company logos associated with each colour.

Source for article and info graphic

Colour Can Be A Powerful Thing