Title: Colors In Branding

Hello,

If you’ve been studying marketing for long, you probably
already know that colors play a psychological role, but you
may be underestimating just how powerful color can really be.

Have you noticed that a lot of restaurants seem to use a lot
or red in their establishments and in their logos? That’s
because red can make one hungrier!

Red is also considered bold, exciting, and youthful.

Other companies that use the color red include:

Nabisco
Coca-Cola
Target
CNN
Netflix
Kellogg’s
Heinz
Frito Lay and Lay’s

Blue represents trust and dependability.

Companies that use blue in their branding include:

Facebook
IBM
Oreo
Walmart
Lowe’s
Dell
AT&T

Green represents health, peace, growth, and nature.

Brand that use green in their branding include:

Tropicana
Starbucks
Whole Foods
John Deere
Publix
Girl Scouts
Animal Planet

Yellow is used to represent warmth and optimism.

Companies that use it in their branding include:

McDonald’s
Best Buy
DHL
Subway
Sprint
Ikea

Orange is cheerful, friendly, and confident.

Companies that use it include:

Gulf
Harley Davidson
Fanta
Firefox
Nickelodeon 
Amazon

Purple signifies imagination and creativity.

Purple is used by:

Taco Bell
Cadbury
Welch’s
Yahoo

Monochromatic colors (black, white, grey) represent balance
and calm.

Companies that use it include:

Cartoon Network
Wikipedia
The Times
Honda
Puma
Apple

But you cannot go by these examples alone. There is a lot more 
to choosing colors than simply using color psychology.

Green may generally  signify health and nature to a lot of 
people, but it is also instantly related to money, so it works 
well as a color for financial products. That’s just one example.

You must also keep in mind that men and women perceive colors 
differently, so you must choose colors that appeal more to your
target demographic.

For example, a significant percentage of men (22%) do not care for 
the color purple, but 23% of women name purple as their
favorite color. If you’re trying to appeal mainly to men, you 
would probably want to avoid purple in your branding.

Interestingly, both genders seem to dislike three colors almost
equally, and those are brown, orange, and yellow. Ideally, you
would want to avoid those colors unless you had a specific 
reason for using them. (Sunkist uses orange, of course, because 
their drink is orange flavored.)

Now that you understand the importance of color in marketing, 
and a little bit about how to choose the right colors for 
your company, it’s time to discuss visual branding.

You’ll need to choose the color (or colors) for your logo 
before you develop your visual branding, so spend some time 
thinking about it, and tomorrow you’ll read all about how to
develop the perfect logo for your brand!

Until then, 

{YOUR NAME HERE}

PS- Tomorrow is our last lesson on branding, and you don’t want 
to miss it! 


