Setting the Tone: How Color Shapes Success

Imagine you're wandering down the aisles of your local grocery store doing your weekly shop. It's thirsty work so you decide to treat yourself to a can of Coca Cola™.

You head for the soft drinks aisle, quickly grab a can off the shelf, and place it in your basket.

But when you get to your car, you look closely at the can, and discover something odd. You didn't buy Coca Cola at all. You bought Coco Coola, a chocolate-flavored soda pop.

How did you end up with this oddly flavored drink?

You picked it off the shelf because you recognized the color.

When you walked down the soft drink section of the store, you grabbed a can that looked like Coca Cola. But was actually Coco Coola.

Instead of reading the words on the can, you based your choice on what the can looked like. As far as you're concerned, if it's red, and it's in a can, it must be Coca Cola.

Of course, it's no accident that you think that way. It's exactly what Coca Cola want. After all, they've worked long and hard to make sure the color of their brand is firmly established in your brain.

So how can color shape how people perceive your brand?

The way we react to color, especially in the West and Asia, is ingrained through a combination of psychological, biological, social and cultural factors. There are exceptions, but generally our response to color is the same.

Consider the following:

Red: action, power, excitement, urgency, aggression, passion, speed, danger, anger, heat, fire, blood

Yellow: happy, bright, playful, easy-going, optimistic, sunny, cowardice

Green: nature, life, money, renewal, hope, power, fresh, cool, abundance, envy, sickness

Blue: calm, tranquil, relaxed, wise, trustworthy, loyal, reliability, belonging, dignity, authority

Orange: mental clarity, warmth, happiness, fun, contentment, fruitful

Black: elegant, mystery, death, strength, evil, seductive

White: clean, pure, youthful, light

Purple: power, nobility, luxury, wealth, extravagance, wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, magic

Brown: life, earth, wealth, unclean, home-grown, dirty

Colors encourage us to act in a certain way. They influence our mood and affect our purchasing decisions.

There's a reason why popular brands use certain colors. Think about it...

McDonalds: red and yellow = excitement, happiness, playful

Starbucks: green and white = nature, fresh, pure, clean

US Postal Service: red and blue = urgency, speed, trust, reliability

IBM: blue and white = trustworthy, tranquility, authority, pure

Google: blue, red, yellow, green = hmm...they really do want to take over the world! :)

So what can we learn from this?

1. Start looking at color around you. Why do banks favor green carpets? Why do you never see a green fast-food restaurant? When you start looking at color objectively, you'll begin to see how you can use it to engage and persuade your customers.

2. Choose colors wisely. Some colors just don't work for certain products or services. Forget red for anything remotely medical. It signifies blood, emergencies and bad health. It also signifies stop. Something you may want to think about when using call-to-action buttons on your website.

3. Once you've chosen your colors, stick with them. The more your customers see them, the more they'll remember your brand. Even small, local companies can use color to make themselves stand out.

4. Keep colors consistent unless the product name is different. You can use different colors for different products within your line, but only if the name is different.

5. There's no hard and fast rule. If you want your product to be black go for it. Just be sure to be aware of the connotations.

6. Remember your customers. Understand that customers make choices based on color. Come on, who doesn't know that green stands for go, yellow stands for caution, and red stands for Coca Cola! :)