Colour Theory: The Psychology of Colour in Branding and Marketing

We witness countless brand advertisements throughout our daily routine. Whether on a billboard while travelling or as pop-up ads after visiting a  website, even amidst our daily, mindless social media scrolling. One thing many fail to realise is how quickly we are able to associate the brands being advertised with the industry they are from. But how does that happen? Of course what’s written on the advertisement plays a vital role, but there’s something else that makes us perceive the brands exactly as how they wish for us too. Colours!

Irrespective of the colour, a certain emotion gets attached to it when you  first lay your eyes on it. This is called The Psychology Of Colours, & it plays a vital role in Brand Development. Let’s understand in more detail how colours can help how your brand is perceived by the audience.

Colours affect everything! They make what was previously colourless, shine brighter & enhance the appearance of something which was previously good into something beautiful. Just like that, colours when added in brand design, leads to a much better response form your customers.

As per the colour theory, each colour is associated with a set of emotions, enabling us to identify the various sets of emotional responses one might get from others upon seeing, let’s say, blue, green, red, purple, black or even white.

Our behaviour is directly influenced by our emotions & feelings. So much so that a simple dash of colours can completely change the way your brand messaging comes across. As a matter of fact, colours play such a vital role in brand marketing that simply by employing the use of right colours in your marketing efforts can increase your brand recognition by 80%.

Brand Development & Brand Marketing are not just logo, name, design, digital ads etc. The essence of developing your brand lies in the story you wish to convey to your customers. Every brand needs a story & what better way to tell one than by using colours.

But every colour resonates differently with each individual, & colour psychology can vary so much that same colours can invoke two completely different emotions based on brand, culture, context, age, gender etc.

Let’s try to understand this in more detail. Imagine a new brand has launched its first line of products in the market which are some everyday wear sneakers. Their main target audience’s age is from anywhere between 16-28. So what kind of colours should they pick for their products, packaging & advertising?

One real life example of a brand that uses bright colours & targets mostly younger audiences is Coca-cola. Its colour has become so iconic that immediately upon hearing the name its bright, signature red fills your mind completely.

But what would you do if you were targeting a much older audience, let’s say from 40-50 years of age? Well for such instances brands should ideally go for calming & a subtle colour palette for their brand services & marketing. Colour Psychology shows that yellow & blue are two of such colours that are vastly associated with the feelings of warmth, optimism, trust, professionalism, security etc.

During the development of your brand strategy taking into account the message it will convey & how it will be perceived by your audience is an extremely sensitive issue. Simply by picking wrong colours or using them in a wrong context can completely render your digital marketing efforts ineffective.

Therefore, it is crucial to think of the message your brand wants to communicate with the rest of the world. Some important tips that you should consider during this stage are:

1. Brand Authenticity:

Picking a colour that is authentic to your brand & your industry is important. The goal is to stand out but going out of your way to create a construction company with pink as their signature colour is hardly going to get you the results that you’d wish for surely.

2. Embodying your Brand Personality: 

The colours you choose to associate with your brand should align with the type of personality you wish for your brand to have. Do you want your brand to come off as welcoming & open for trying out new market trends or do you want it to come off as more sturdy & strong, something that you can trust with utmost faith?

3. Audience Appeal: 

As mentioned previously, what kind of audience you wish to target heavily influences the type of colours that you should focus on integrating into your branding efforts. Identifying your audience based on their gender, age, region, culture etc, and then asking yourself, “What colours will they resonate well with?”, is the key to appealing your brand to your audience.

4. Brand Differentiation:

While this is a bit counterintuitive to the first point, exploring your competitors’ colour palettes & looking for opportunities where you can stand out among the rest without putting a red ball on your nose is something we heavily advise looking out for. Any small advantage that can help your brand stand out in the market should be seized immediately.

Colours can help make or break your brand, therefore, choosing the right colour is important. Thoroughly understand the Psychology of Colours & research before settling for a colour.