The CRM & Marketing 101 WebLog

The Psychology of Color in Marketing and Branding

The psychology of color as it relates to persuasion is one of the most interesting--and most controversial--aspects of marketing.

The reason: Most of today's conversations on colors and persuasion consist of hunches, anecdotal evidence and advertisers blowing smoke about "colors and the mind."

To alleviate this trend and give proper treatment to a truly fascinating element of human behavior, today we're going to cover a selection of the most reliable research on color theory and persuasion.

Misconceptions around the Psychology of Color

Why does color psychology invoke so much conversation ... but is backed with so little factual data?

As research shows, it's likely because elements such as personal preference, experiences, upbringing, cultural differences, context, etc., often muddy the effect individual colors have on us. So the idea that colors such as yellow or purple are able to invoke some sort of hyper-specific emotion is about as accurate as your standard Tarot card reading.

Related: How to Use the Psychology of Color to Increase Website Conversions

The Importance of Colors in Branding

First, let's address branding, which is one of the most important issues relating to color perception and the area where many articles on this subject run into problems.

There have been numerous attempts to classify consumer responses to different individual colors: ... / ... Psychologist and Stanford professor Jennifer Aaker has conducted studies on this very topic via research on Dimensions of Brand Personality, and her studies have found five core dimensions that play a role in a brand's personality: