Are You Using Colors the Right Way?

Did you know 93% of buyers focus on brand color when buying a product? That is because color increases brand recognition by 80%.?

For instance, whenever we see bright red and yellow together, our mind perceives those big, beautiful golden arches and our mouths start salivating, thinking of those crispy fries and burgers. You know the brand we are talking about – McDonald’s.?

They have, time and again, used their creativity, wit, and attention-grabbing colors to deliver their message effectively and uniquely position themselves among their target audience.?

Here is an example of how brilliantly McDonald’s used the power and recognizability of their brand and product colors in the form of abstract art in one of their recent ads.?

?(Image credit: TBWA\Paris)

In the above 70-pixel abstract images used to announce the opening of McDonald’s in France, they neither used their logo nor brand signature. But instead, they played on the recognizability of the famous products on their menu – french fries and burgers, and their only copy read “Guess who’s coming to your town?”?

Brand colors paired with proper messaging can help brands evoke the right emotions, thereby helping create a direct and emotional bond with the target audience.?

Reboot, an online marketing agency conducted an experiment where they hired a graphic designer to create logos of 5 made-up companies and showed them to their participants. The participants were given 10 minutes to study the logos. Upon asking to recall the logos, 78% of them were able to recall the primary color of the logo in comparison to 43% who remembered the name.?

Apart from brand recall and recognition, how exactly do colors affect consumer behavior? And most importantly, how can you, as a brand, leverage the real power of colors to improve brand recall and recognition??

For that, we will have to explore and understand the psychology and emotions behind colors. Different colors evoke different emotions. For example, McDonald’s uses its primary brand color, red, to evoke various emotions like passion, and warmth. McDonald’s tapped into the ‘warmth’ side of red by positioning itself as a place for families. Similarly, Coca-Cola, whose primary brand color is also red, has tapped into the ‘passion’ side of red that evokes passion and power among its relatively young audience. And it does not hurt that their reds are easy to spot.?

So, how can you, as a brand, use colors to evoke the right emotions among your target audience??

Colors have always been intricately linked to emotions; they can make us feel happy, sad, ecstatic, or hungry because of biological conditioning and cultural imprinting.?

By strategically using the right colors, brands can evoke emotions like trust, happiness, joy, love, FOMO, or loyalty through their ad creatives which can help them stand out in the noise of social media.?

Let us explore a few fundamental emotions associated with colors.?

1. Passionate?

Warm, bright, and happy colors like red, orange, and yellow can make people feel passionate and optimistic. Such colors are known to increase heart rate and make people excited.?

Red is closely related to passion, love, and excitement which is why it is widely used by brands during valentines and announcements of offers, sales, or discounts. Coca-Cola, H&M, Netflix are among the top brands having red logos that evoke emotions like passion, excitement, love & comfort, respectively.

Red is one of the most dynamic colors — meaning it can evoke opposing emotions. For example, red symbolizes love and is widely used during Valentine’s. On the other hand, it is also used to grab the attention of drivers in danger and other traffic signs.?

If your goal is to draw attention to a certain element, then red can do the job. But since it is a tricky color, use it in moderation. Netflix’s sign-in page is a fitting example of the usage of red to grab attention and pursue visitors to click on their call-to-actions. And since it is used strategically, in moderation, it is not overwhelming the visitors.?

2. Joy and Happiness?

While red is associated with passion, one of the other warm colors, yellow, is used to communicate playfulness, friendliness, and happiness. Brands like Snapchat, McDonald's, and Post It use yellow in their logos to communicate youthfulness, happiness, and playfulness, respectively.?

Yellow, bright and intense, is the color of happiness, optimism, creativity, and warmth. It can quickly grab attention and is also known for invoking strong feelings.?

However, it is a tricky color to use in marketing considering as it can be abrasive and cause visual fatigue when overused. In addition to that, according to an article published by HubSpot, 22% of people consider the color yellow cheap.?

Nonetheless, when used strategically, yellow can draw attention to the right information and can invoke happy, warm, and energetic feelings. Yellow also makes for an effective color for CTAs against white backgrounds.?

3. Trust & Loyalty

Blue is strongly associated with trust, loyalty, calmness, and safety since it is found in nature that represents strength, wisdom, and trust. It is also considered the color of reason which is why it is one of the most frequently used colors for logos, especially in the technology industry. Brands looking to project stability and reliability add blue to their marketing efforts and advertisements.?

(Source: TurboLogo)

PayPal, IBM, GE, Intel, and HP are a few famous brands that have blue logos to communicate security and dependability. Dark blue is used by more professional brands, whereas light blue gives a friendlier and more social feel, and is used by brands like Twitter, Flickr, etc.?

Seeing blue can cause our brains and body to create calming chemicals. It is one of the reasons why it is described as the favorite color by many people. But since blue is a cool color, its overuse can evoke sadness, grief, and pensiveness among the viewers, and your brand might come across as aloof and disengaging.?

4. Feminine and Vibrant?

If you plan to launch or market a feminine product or a brand, then pink is a safe bet. Pink is a young, playful, and romantic color used to express femininity. It is a sweet color that can be used by brands targeting women and a few LGBTQIA+ communities.?

Brands like Barbie, Cosmopolitan, and Victoria’s Secret that target mostly women have their logos in pink. Additionally, many brands like Lyft, Vineyard Vines, and Lemonade, targeting both men and women, are breaking stereotypes and using pink in their logos.?

Pink is also often associated with childhood memories and sugary treats. This is why brands like Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robbins have pink in their branding and marketing.?

5. Powerful and Edgy?

(Source: LogoMaker)

The color black is associated with power, edginess, elegance, and sophistication. Brands that want to assert themselves as powerful, timeless, and traditional often use black in their logos. For instance, brands like The New York Times and Hugo Boss. This color is often used by lifestyle and clothing brands and rarely by health & fitness brands considering it also reflects heaviness, mourning, and oppression.?

In marketing collaterals, black is used either sparingly for CTAs or as background due to its high-contrast nature. Similar to purple, black exudes luxury and sophistication and much bolder confidence.?

Ready to Harness the Power of Colors??

It is important to note that while colors help enhance the messaging and the attention of the ad, overusing them could easily off-put and alienate your customers. Moreover, too much color also steals the attention from call-to-actions which might negatively affect ad’s performance. So, ensuring intentional and balanced use of colors is the key to harnessing the real power of colors.?

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on Incivus Blog.?