BRANDIT
the meaning of colour in branding
In my column last month, I began a conversation about the power of colour in branding. We established colour to be a powerful element of the business brand having a phenomenal direct impact on not just the perception but as well on the bottom-line of the company.
BY MARVIN SISSEY
Further, we were able to establish that colour denotes five key personalities in a business: sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication and ruggedness. I finalised that particular piece with a reminder on why a colour audit was an important exercise to your business. I then promised to embark deeper in this month’ column on what various colours may mean to your brand and ultimately your business.
I’ll delve straight into the deep end analysing some of the most popular colours that are normally utilised by business brands globally and locally.
Let me start with a small quiz. Without reading ahead, please think about your three favourite colours. I can almost guarantee that, most often than not, blue is one of them. Research has established blue to be the world’s most favourite colour, by a distance.
Blue is the colour of the sky and the sea and hence one could rightly say, is the most ubiquitous colour in the world. The colour blue is associated with depth and stability. It is a symbol of freedom, intuition, trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence and heaven.
Such is the power of this colour that the three major social networking companies, Facebook, Twitter and Linked-in all use blue as their primary branding colour. In all the three instances, the branding is combined with white. White communicates clarity, simplicity and efficiency and is in the same family as blue, hence the frequent combination.
The second favourite colour in the world is also the second most ubiquitous – green, the colour of nature. Green symbolises growth, harmony, freshness and fertility. It is the colour of growth and rejuvenation associated with new life and vitality. While lighter versions of green symbolises health and the environment, darker versions of green denotes value, prestige and money (hence the term green buck).
An excess use of green, however, can arouse a feeling of envy and greed (hence the phrase green with envy). Green is an easy colour to use for your branding work because it can be very versatile and can fit with many other colours to create either a blend or a class contrast. One of the greatest contrasts with green is with the colour red. Such a contrast has very successfully been utilised by the giant East African telecommunication behemoth, Safaricom.
As the former CEO, Michael Joseph was once quoted, the choice of the colour green to brand Safaricom was one of the most inspired decisions the company ever made. In a way, such a colour, which is well appreciated by the masses already, is also a very easy one to sell to the masses.
When I talk about danger, excitement, passion, action and energy, which colour comes to mind? It must definitely be red – the colour of blood and fire. Red is a universal sign of danger and warning effectively showing and creating aggressiveness and anger. Put it also implies beautiful passion and is often used as a colour of love. Red is oft seen as the masculine version with its lighter version, pink occupying a more feminine feel.
Red is a very emotionally intense colour and when it is used in business branding, it denotes a very bold character of the enterprise. Red is a famous corporate colour with many globally acclaimed companies picking up the bold colour to represent them. The unmistakable Coca Cola red, Toyota’s original logo is actually red, CNN, Virgin, The Red Cross, The economist, Canon, You Tube, Adobe, even a fraction of Google is red. When considered it its various shades, red is the third most likable colour hence the much application of the colour.
For today’s column, I’ll finish with the most powerful colour in the world. It is the colour of finality and utmost sophistication. It implies self control and discipline, independence and a strong will and gives an impression of authority and power. Ladies and gentleman, I give you the colour BLACK!
The write I a Management and Communications Consultant at MsCg.
