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How do Colors Influence Packaging Creation?

PAULINE VETTIER*

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* PAULINE VETTIER is a MSc in Management student at Grenoble Ecole de Management,

France. She will graduate with a major in Marketing in July 2012.

As part of her apprenticeship, she is also a Communication and Marketing officer at Itris

Automation Square, a software engineering SME based in Grenoble.

She can be contacted at pauline.vettier@grenoble-em.com.

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In a cross-countries and cross-cultures tone, this article discusses the types of packagings,

products and services that are influenced by the use of colors. It also discusses how cultures

and genders influence the color choice in the packaging creation process.

Key words: Packaging; Color; Colorimetry; Sensorial Marketing; Cultural influence; Gender

influence

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PREFACE

During my gap year 2010/2011, I interned for six months in Bangalore, South India.

This adventure was a real dream comes true for me, as India had always fascinated me. I was

ready to discover a vast country of holy cows, lepers, Hindu worshipers and chicken curries.

But what struck me from Day 1 was the omnipresence of color. I was surrounded with it:

bright colors painted inside and outside houses; women wearing bold saris that came in a

profusion of colors, textures, designs and ornaments; and an abundant exotic flora and fauna

sold at the local markets.

So, what has this experience brought me?

First, my six months in “Incredible India” was truly a multi-sensory experience -

sometimes even a sensory overload: sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch are undoubtedly

heightened there. Therefore, thanks to this trip, I have developed my senses and an aptitude

to pay better attention to the elements that surround me.

Also, the sense-stimulation found amidst India’s sensory excesses brought me to

think of marketing – more specifically, the five types of sensory marketing that correspond

to each of the five senses: visual marketing (sight), sound marketing (hearing), gustatory

marketing (taste), olfactory marketing (smell), and tactile marketing (touch).

Last, I worked on MarCom projects during my internship, spending months on

designing packagings, labels, user guides for various electrical products. As a Marketing

major, I had always observed packagings closely, but this experience made me pay even

more attention to them.

Given this Marketing experience in India and the fact that I am now an apprentice in

a B2B SME, I have chosen to study the influence of colors on packaging creation for my

final assignment of Advances in Consumer Psychology.

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INTRODUCTION

Humans trust their sight more than their other senses: with vision being the dominant sense in

our culture, marketers take advantage of shapes, sizes, colors and textures to increase sales

and influence consumers positively. In supermarkets for instance, an average shopper will

pass three hundred products per minute (Rundh, 2005). When standing in front of the shelf,

(s)he will consider 1.2 brands only, and twelve seconds will pass between the moment he goes

near a shelf and picks up a product to put it in the cart (Kahn, 2008). This is why visual

merchandisers and MarCom teams devote countless hours and resources to (re)design

packagings, (re)launch products, (re)arrange end-aisle display, try to distinguish their brand

and encourage consumers to put their product in the shopping cart. Sensory marketing takes

advantage of the supermarket to play with senses, emotions, memory and stimuli.

In marketing, color is considered as an information stimulus which will come interpreted by

the consumer (Cavelzani and Esposito, 2010). Many shoppers have favorite colors, a

phenomenon that may have been created via an association with a favorable stimulus, and that

will likely affect their purchase decisions (Geboy, 1996; Grossman and Wisenblit, 1999).

But, what is color in the first place?

In the fifteenth century, color was recognized as a perceptual function of light. The renowned

physicist Sir Isaac Newton was twenty-three when he studied, on a day of boredom, the

natural rainbow found in the light rays. He was the first to establish (1730) a color wheel and

describe a spectrum of seven colors linked in a circular arrangement. To date, his color wheel

remains standard in colorimetry (the science of identifying and cataloging the colors). It is

now held that the three primary colors (red, blue and green) create various colors and are

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considered as simple and secondary colors (yellow, orange, purple) (Moser, 2003). Colors

such as celadon, pumpkin, taupe and sea green are considered as sophisticated colors.

Multisensory marketing studies hedonic consumption - that is, the facets of consumer

behavior that relate to the fantasy and emotive aspects of one’s experience with products

(Hirschman & Holbrook, 1982). By engaging the consumers’ five senses and affecting their

behavior, the sensory inputs affect how customers remember, like and choose the products

and sensory marketing enhances consumer’s attitudes, perceptions and satisfaction.

Colors are rightly part of the identity of many products, packagings, services and brands:

firms spend more money on packaging than they do on advertising, and packaging is one of

the most distinguished marketing efforts (Dickson, 1994). The use of color in branding, to

differentiate and stand out, has taken on new importance as more companies go global. All the

more, in countries where illiteracy is widespread and where symbolism prevails, colors are the

number one levier on which marketers play when positioning international brands. Indeed,

because they are visual and non-verbal, colors bypass many problems, from language to

pronunciation. However, we will see through this paper that no color has a universal meaning,

as cultural considerations remain.

Marketers rely heavily on visual elements in advertising, store design and packaging. They

communicate meanings on the visual channel through a product’s color, size and styling.

They need to ask themselves whether their brand leaves a positive sensory impression in their

target’s minds.

Because colors elicit strong emotional reactions, the choice of a color palette is a strategic key

issue in package design. These choices used to be made casually: for instance, Campbell’s

Soup made its familiar red and white cans because a company executive liked the football

uniforms at Cornell University! (Solomon, 2010) A packaging’s colors tend to influence the

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customer’s expectations of what is inside. In addition to helping interpretation and

identification, a packaging’s colors also provide maximum visibility of the product on the

shelves and help do the right associations with the product type.

The marketing and psychology literature on the influence of color is both vast and

fragmented. This paper’s interest is to bring concrete real-life and literature-inspired examples

of how colors influence packaging creation, especially under the light of culture and gender

influences. We will approach packagings lato sensu: the envelope that delivers the product or

service. Using the literature review, I am first going to talk about the influence of colors

according to product categories. This will allow us to answer questions such as, what type of

packagings can color influence? Where does color have an influence in the process? In the

second and third part of the literature review, we will study the influence of culture and of

gender on color perception. Indeed, since there are many factors that can be taken into

account when deciding on client segmentation (age, personality, gender, moments of own life,

needs, wishes, expectations, culture, social status…), I have deliberately decided to work on

colors’ influence on culture and gender, in order to know how they influence the packaging

creation process. That will help us to answer the following research question: “How do Colors

Influence Packaging Creation?”

LITERATURE REVIEW

1- THE INFLUENCE OF COLORS ACCORDING TO PRODUCT

CATEGORIES

Today, the design of a packaging is the key driver of the product’ success or failure,

and an inappropriate choice of color for a product, service, package, logo, display and

collateral can lead to strategic failure (Ricks, 1983). Color is a subliminally persuasive force

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that sends powerful messages, captures attention, relaxes or irritates the eyes. Color is also a

potent cue for product and brand differentiation (Schmitt and Pan, 1994), for creating and

sustaining corporate identities (Garber et al., 2000; Madden et al., 2000) and consumer

perceptions (Grossman and Wisenblit, 1999).

We can therefore say that color preference is a powerful independent variable, crucial

and strategic when managing corporate image and marketing communication: it can predict a

consumers’ behavior and help companies position or differentiate from the competition.

Fashion trends strongly influence our color preferences and dictate what color is considered as

“hot” for a given season. Pantone Inc. is one of the firms that produce color forecasts for

manufacturers, retailers and services (http://www.pantone.com).

Indeed, in addition to serving their main purpose, products have to provide a hedonic

value to the customer, such as focusing on its emotional impact. Companies use colors as a

sensory marketing lever and pay extra attention to the impact of sensations on the product and

packaging experiences. For instance, with regard to food packagings, the color we see should

foretell the flavor we will taste (Stroop, 1935, Downham and Collins, 2000).

Whether at the car dealer (high involvement goods), the restaurant or the supermarket

(low involvement goods), the sensory experience helps to decide which products and services

are more appealing among competing options. Since consumers often believe that most

brands perform similarly (functional value), they weigh a product’s aesthetic qualities

(hedonic value) heavily when selecting a brand.

Why coloring a product in the first place? Kotler (1973) insists that color reveals a

product’s attributes, as the buyers respond to the total product (imagery and collateral

included), while the good itself is only a small part of the whole consumption experience.

Even more, imagery would be the medium that transfers the senses’ interests among the target

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population, so that the emotional response triggered by colors influences the consumer’s

perceptions of the product and the company (Cheskin & Masten Inc., 1987).

Attention to design and style is therefore essential to attract the eye, and has spread all

the way down to mass-market products and consumers. Cavelzani and Esposito (2008) warn

that although bold colors attract people’s attention more than dull ones do, they may have a

shorter lifespan since people may become bored sooner (clothing, interior decoration…).

Color will be the first element that grabs the shoppers’ attention and makes them stop

to take a look. Marketers should make sure that the chosen colors are the most effective for

marketing the given product or service. Otherwise, they will get the opposite reaction and the

unconvincing colors won't make people purchase. As seen in Appendix A, companies have

their motives when using specific hues to promote their product or service in a given color

scheme. All the more and interestingly, people’s interpretation of colors can change over

time. Tom Newmaster (2009), Consultant for the packaging design agency William Fox

Monroe, explains how important it is to pay attention to color trends, color shifts and the

meanings behind them. Citing the use of green on food packaging as an example, he mentions

that it was first the reference color for fat-free products, and is now more associated to organic

or natural products. We can conclude that colors alter the meanings of the situations with

which they are associated.

Therefore, it can be summed up that no matter the industry, it is essential to know the

consumer or target market, and what influences them and why (trend analysis). Color is

influential both consciously and subconsciously and can offer a useful insight when creating a

unique design scheme for the target. On this matter, marketers have often turned to color

consultants to determine the best packaging color for a given target (Funk and Ndubisi, 2004).

Companies such as Colorcom (http://www.colorcom.com) specialize in providing businesses

the data they need to select the best color for the right project. They use demographic data to

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select color associations and color preferences, depending on the message they want the color

to send.

Now that we know that colors are widely used by marketers to make both products and

services stand out, one important question remains: what color(s) will be the right one(s)? On

which criteria should we select the color(s) for our packaging?

Indeed, depending on the geographic area (local, national or cross-national market), the

gender and age group targeted, the color(s) used to create the packaging will largely vary.

The literature on color is quite large and covers several fields. Among them, culture and

gender were selected to see how those demographic characteristics influence our color

perception.

2- THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON COLOR PERCEPTION

Expectations about a product are largely affected by a consumer’s cultural background.

Assuming a narrow Western perspective of colors as universal and applying it to foreign

markets would be a cultural faux-pas, as color is not universal. Indeed, to develop an effective

national, cross-national or global marketing strategy, a cross-cultural perspective on color

research and application is necessary: colors lead to socio-cultural and psychological

associations that have intrinsic or extrinsic cues to the product, package, brand or

environment.

We will study here the communication values of color, in particular whether or not colors

have different meanings in different cultures.

There are two major schools of thought concerning a person’s behavioral response to color:

the reaction to color could be of innate or instinctive origin (Humphrey 1976; Grossman

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1999), where color directly signals the brain to trigger an affective reaction, or it could be of

learned or associative origin (Hupka et al., 1997), where color preferences are learned over

time or a result of past experiences and associations in language, literature and myths.

Another clue to consider is proposed by Crozier (1996), who argues that the differences in

color associations are not so innate, as they have more to do with latent philosophical-

religious attitudes. Orange would be a sacred color for Hindus and Buddhist monks, but

wouldn’t even be considered a separate color by some Zambians (Madden et al., 2000). The

cross-cultural spectrum of meanings and associations of color in Marketing (Aslam, 2006,

see Appendix B), presents language and communication similarities and indicates the

meanings and associations of colors in selected cultural clusters.

Appendix C clearly shows that the choice of color for a product packaging cannot be

universal, as the perception of the meaning of color differs depending on the culture. While it

is critical not to ignore culture-specific color associations, the use of adverse product colors in

foreign cultures can cause strategic failure. For instance, Pepsi’s use of ice blue in Southeast

Asia, where this color symbolizes death and mourning, underscores the need for using the

right product color in the target markets (Neal et al., 2002). A cross-cultural view of the use of

color in the retail environment is therefore essential as the services sector goes global.

Companies should take advantage of those data when working on pricing and positioning, as

color is clearly the least expensive way of changing the product’s perception (Parmar, 2004).

For instance, in the UK, pink is perceived as ‘young looking’, red as ‘garish and tacky’, and

both colors are considered as average priced (Kerfoot et al., 2003). Procter & Gamble is an

example of a brand that uses brighter colors in makeup and packaging targeted to the

Hispanics and African-Americans populations within the US market, which reflects the

increasing multicultural makeup market in an initially Caucasian country.

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While Berg-Weitzel et al. (2001) show that adapting advertisement execution to the culture,

local preferences and marketing mix for each foreign market is effective, some brands have

actually circumvented the problem. Benetton Inc. uses color for creating a universal appeal in

its well-known shockvertising campaigns. One ‘United Colors of Benetton’ campaign (see

Appendix D) shows three children (Black, Asian and Caucasian) sticking out their tongues.

Although the kids vary in their skin color, their pink tongues imply that they have the same

universal trait (Blackwell et al., 1993).

Last, Taft’s work (1997) reminds us that the generalized conceptions of color-object

appropriateness certainly influence cultural expectations and reactions. In other words,

cultural conventions guide one’s choice: as a French person, I expect my strawberries to be

red and my peas to be green. But is it necessarily the case on the other side of the world?

To put it in a nutshell, a cultural bias can alter the meanings of the objects or situations

with which they are associated: the meanings given to some colors can be pan-cultural,

regional or unique to specific cultures. It is therefore necessary to explore a chosen color’s

effect on the target market before launching a product, service or promotion campaign.

3 - THE INFLUENCE OF GENDER ON COLOR PERCEPTION

Consumer behavior research was also made to study the role of gender on color and product

choice, in order to help marketers exploit gender differences best. To start with, Solomon

(2010) introduces the following biological difference: women are drawn towards brighter

shades and are more sensitive to subtle shadings and patterns. It is attributed to biology, as

females see color better than males do, and men are 16 times more likely to be color blind.

In consumer behavior, topics such as the relationship between gender identity and consumer’s

perception of the masculinity and feminity in products have been studied by Allison et al.

(1980). On their side, Funk and Ndubisi (2006) surveyed 196 Malaysian car buyers to

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understand the influence of color on consumer choice of automobile, as well as the effect of

gender differences:

The results of Funk and Ndubisi’s survey (see Appendix E) show that the buyer’s favorite

color echoes his/er color choice when buying the car; colors well-considered by their

entourage also influence the final choice. However, men more than women select their

automobile based on the significance of its color. Women favored more than men the

attractiveness and their liking towards the color (attitudinal bases). This explains why women

tend to ride more colorful and strongly attractive cars. Marketers can exploit these gender

differences through target market selection and market segmentation. As a consequence, cars

targeted at women should look attractive thanks to strong hues (eg. purple) while those

targeted at men should be painted with good connotation colors (eg. gray). Knowing

customer’s color preferences and observing which products in their line sells best allows

markets to reduce manufacturing costs and trim product offerings (Trent, 1993). Also, as

mentioned above and written by Triplett (1995), automobile manufacturers use color

consultants to advise them on the color palette (up to four years before the new color is

introduced!), and have changed around 30 per cent of the cars’ colors yearly.

To sum up, gender moderates the impact of color attractiveness, significance, preference and

attitude towards color.

CONCLUSION

Color is one of the best multi-purpose tool marketers can play with, and has become a

significant factor in global marketing: to be noticed and remembered by customers more, to

communicate with them better, to shape their opinion faster, to satisfy them increasingly...

Color should therefore be among the main elements taken into account when designing

packagings, (re)launching new products and (re)opening service.

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Brands that use colors to differentiate, as part of their strategy (eg. Apple), have influenced a

whole generation of marketers, advertisers and graphic designers. They have also confirmed

the efficiency of the smart use of colors when creating packagings.

In environments overloaded with information and stimulation, color communicates with

refreshing simplicity and impact, thanks to its strong associative meanings and subconscious

responses. As the markets are becoming more and more globalized, companies need to be

aware of the cultural color differences that exist among most nations worldwide, as color

perception, meanings and preferences vary by culture and ethnicity. We have also reviewed

the incidence of gender-specific preferences that may also be considered in explaining the

communication values of color.

Paradoxically, in a world overflown with different shades, nuances and trendy hues, black and

white products and advertisings are become singulier and eye-catchy!

RESEARCH QUESTION PRESENTATION AND JUSTIFICATION

As explained in the preface, I have drawn an interest in packagings design and the influence

of colors since my MarCom internship in India. Also, as a Marketing and Business student

and apprentice, I do know that colors are a marketing weapon when used strategically. The

paper “How do Colors Influence Packaging Creation?” only comes to confirm it, thanks to the

many examples presented here. A planned, consistent exploitation of colors becomes a lever,

adding measurable value in terms of awareness, differentiation, satisfaction, brand

recognition, and loyalty.

With the internationalization of markets and increasing consumer demand in the emerging

economies, competition is likely to come more than ever from aggressive native businesses

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that better understand the local environment and aim to upgrade or expand across borders. A

dynamic gender and culture-sensitive approach in color research and its strategic use will

allow developing a competitive advantage in the emerging markets.

LIMITS

The first limit to this paper is that no field study was led while writing this paper,

mainly due to time constraint. In addition, only two subjective elements that color perception

depends on were studied through this paper: culture and gender. Other influential factors such

as age, personality, moments of one’s life, needs and wishes were left out of this study.

Also, the many dashes in Appendix B are due to an absence of data in the Marketing

literature, and indicate some potential fields of research on foreign markets. In addition, this

appendix reveals that most research has been done in English-speaking or some Asian

countries, while little research on color associations was done in areas such as India and the

Middle East. Therefore, we can suggest maximizing cross-cultural perspectives by creating a

Hofstede-style list, to cross data (eg. countries, situation, cultural values) with the meaning of

colors accordingly. This database would contain the existing empirical knowledge of colors

and the effects they create in packaging, marketing and advertising - a referential when

developing global marketing strategies.

Finally, another limit, found by reviewing the Consumer Psychology literature, concerns

color-blind people, who are color deficient and confuse red with green. The case of color-

deficient consumers deserves an attention that is mostly ignored by marketing. Unfortunately,

color deficiencies, whether acquired or genetic, will render any use of color ineffective

(Kaufman-Scarborough, 2000, 2001). Therefore, it remains to be seen how best marketers

could reach out to color-deficient consumers, who make up for about eight per cent of all

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males worldwide, and only about zero point five per cent of all female, according to

http://www.webexhibits.org. Assuming the current world population is seven billions and that

half of those are male, this gives us a target of around three hundred million potential color-

blind clients (7,000,000,000 * 0.5 * 0.08 + 7,000,000,000 * 0.5 * 0.005 = 297 500 000).

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APPENDIXES

Appendix A: This table explores a few examples of services and product packagings, for

which marketers have used colors to play with our sensory system and create a competitive

advantage:

Category Brand Use of color Illustration Soft drinks Coca-Cola Coca-Cola is one great

example of a brand that has

quickly established its

sensory signature through

the heavy use of marketing

and advertising:

- Reference color: red,

which is known for creating

feelings of arousal and

stimulating appetite

- Curvy shape of glass

bottles

- Characteristic typeface for

quick logo identification

- In the 1930’s:

Popularization in the

American culture of the

modern image of Santa

Claus as an old man in a

red-and-white suit. Source:

http://www.prodimarques.com/sa

gas_marques/coca-cola/coca-

cola.php

Coca-Cola flagship product and

current logo

Household

appliance

Philips Products are made thinner

and more colorful to impart

a more useful feel to the

technology. No more

white/silver/black, but use

of vibrant color

Source:

http://library.iyte.edu.tr/tezler/

master/endustriurunleritasarim

i/T000540.pdf

Philips’ vacuum cleaner in

Orchid purple color looks both

aesthetic and functional

Air carrier Singapore

Airlines

Singapore Airlines is an

excellent illustration of

multi-sensory marketing.

Since its creation in 1972, it

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has focused on creating a

distinct visual signature,

specifically :

- Reference color: blue,

which is cross-culturally

preferred from North

America to Asia

- Unique colorful uniforms

for female flight attendants,

designed by Pierre Balmain

in 1968

- The uniforms’ color vary

depending on rank

- Also: a patented signature

perfume dispersed

throughout the planes and

worn by the staff

The company keeps

driving innovation and

combined sensorial

experiences as an important

part of the brand

Source:

http://www.venturerepublic.com/r

esources/singapore_airlines_-

_an_excellent_asian_brand.asp

Singapore Airlines logo

The brand icons Singapore Girls,

wearing the traditional sarong

kebaya as their uniform and

symbolising Asian grace and

hospitality

Hospitality

industry

(hotels, bars,

restaurant)

Architect:

Simone

Micheli

www.simo

nemicheli.

com

Play on environmental

factors, by making the

interiors attractive thanks to

the strong and strategic use

of colors (colored paint,

lights and furniture).

Importance of cohesion

between the chosen color(s)

and the emotions the place

wants to arouse in the guest.

Interior designers working

for the hospitality industry

know that:

- Clients are more social and

active in yellow and red

rooms,

- Guest eat more in yellow

and red rooms,

- Partygoers stay longer in

Color Bar, Firenze, Italy

Zero Zero restaurant, Firenze,

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blue rooms

Emotions result from

the perception of these

colors

Source:

Prof. Alessandro Cavelzani’s

classes, English Track Year 2,

2010

alessandro.cavelzani@grenoble-

em.com

Italy

La Corte dei Butteri Hotel,

Toscana, Italy

Construction

materials

The

Owens-

Corning

Fiberglass

Corporatio

n

The Owens-Corning

Fiberglass Corporation was

the first company to

trademark a color. It used

bright pink for its insulation

material and adopted the

Pink Panther as its

spokescharacter

Source: http://www.owenscorning.com/ac

quainted/about/history/ Ex. Owens Corning Propink L77

Loosefill insulation add

Personal

computers,

mobile

phones,

music

players

Apple Inc. Apple was the first company

to :

- Give such importance to

color to differentiate its

products from those of

competitors,

- Sell a large range of

colored products to the mass

market

The computers business

suddenly went from dull to

colored and more fun.

Until 2001, Apple's design

team used bright translucent

colored plastics for its

products. They have since

been using chrome-plated

covers

Source:

http://apple-history.com/

1998 - iMac G3, the fun and

pretty computer that propelled

Apple to where it is today

2001 - iPod, the revolutionary

digital music device that

transformed Apple from a

computer company into a mass-

market electronics giant

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Interior

decorating

www.aliba

ba.com

In the Western countries,

colorful trash cans are

usually used to differentiate

the recycling bins.

Interior decorating made

trash cans - usually seen as a

dirty object, a trendy one

thanks to the use of vibrant

colors.

Source:

http://www.hometone.com/10-trendy-trash-cans-recycling-

bins.html

Supermarket

distribution

Monoprix

and Havas

City

In 2010, Monoprix launched

a packaging relooking

campaign named Non au

quotidien quotidien for its

2000 private label products,

with the help of

communication agency

Havas City.

Their aim was to

democratize beauty, humor

and add fun in daily life:

- Like the Campbell’s Soup,

the designs have a pop art

touch, inspired by Warhol

(graphic stripes of assorted

colors, linear and simple

typography)

- Colors: bright and

vintagey colors that remind

of the 1940’s packagings ;

no mix between warm and

cold colors

- a humorous slogan is

added on each product (eg.

“Unsalted butter tasted and

approved by the Little Red

Riding Hood”)

The concept won the Grand

Prix de la communication

extérieure in 2011.

Sources :

http://tinyurl.com/7qkgzm7 and

http://tinyurl.com/6nm4ora

Before (left) and after (right)

packaging of Monoprix peeled

tomatoes

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Appendix B: Cross-cultural spectrum of meanings and associations of color in Marketing

(Aslam, 2006)

Appendix C: Basic interactions of color in marketing (Aslam, 2006), with CI = Corporate

Image, POP = Point of Purchase and POS = Point of Sale

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Appendix D: Oliviero Toscani’s Tongues photography for United Colors of Benetton

Appendix E: Schema of a research model on the relation between color attractiveness,

gender and product choice (Funk and Ndubisi, 2006)

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