How to Use Color in Branding?

• Color is an important branding element• More than a quarter (26%) of the world’s 100

most valuable brands use blue as a dominant color in their logo.

• Companies that rely on blue to create a strong brand presence include IBM, GE, Intel, Nokia, HP, American Express and Gillette.

Why Blue Color?

• Blue is a color readily found in nature, and reminds people of the sky, it is often considered to be a universally acceptable color.

• In many religions, blue is associated with peace or is believed to keep bad spirits away.

• In some parts of Eastern Europe, the color also has positive meanings – loyalty, virtue, and wisdom. Several African cultures associate blue with peace and love.

Blue Color is Acceptable Almost Everywhere

• Blue can also create a somber or sobering effect.

• Blue can make people in some Western and Asian cultures think of cold and icy winter days.

• In Iran, blue is a color of mourning. Blue is sometimes associated with authority or discipline – think of the many shades of blue used by police officers and military personnel.

What about Green Color?

• The color green is rarely found among the world’s leading brands.

• Just five out of the top 100 global brands—Google, eBay, Sprite, Heineken, and Starbucks—use green.

• And, for most of these companies, green is not a dominant color, but rather, used sparingly in combination with other colors.

Green is going to be acceptable everywhere

• Despite its lack of dominance among top international brands, green is actually one of the most positive colors that marketers can choose on a global scale.

• Long associated with nature in nearly every culture, green is linked to good health, life, and vitality in many places.

• In China, green is thought to repel evil. • In the Muslim world, green is linked to spirituality, heaven,

religion and God.• Starbucks, which ranked 97 out of the Top 100 brands in 2010,

is the only top global brand that chooses green as its most dominant color. In contrast, the second most valuable Chinese brand, China Life, has a logo that is predominantly green.

What about Black?

• Although not everyone would consider it a true color, basic black was just as popular as blue, with 26 out of the top 100 brands—including companies such as Microsoft, Disney, Louis Vuitton and Apple—using black as their most prominent hue.

What about Red?

• Attention-grabbing red is the next most popular shade for top global brands. While only one top 10 company—first-ranked Coca-Cola—chose red as its most dominant color,

• it was used by a total of 15 other companies in the top 100 brands throughout the world. In China, red is even more popular among leading brands, with exactly half of the country’s top 10 brands using this color.

Reference URLs

• http://www.interbrand.com/en/knowledge/best-global-brands/best-global-brands-2008/best-global-brands-2010.aspx

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