<strong>What’s Your Favorite Color?</strong>

Most of us have a favorite color, all of us know what color our mother thinks looks best on us (and which colors look horrid) and consciously or not we all associate certain feelings with certain colors:

Orange – energetic, excited and hungry (wonder why Weight Watchers used the Orange Monster as a brand character? <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49WjrRJ_DLw">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49WjrRJ_DLw</a>)

Blue – calm and serene

Red – intense emotions either of love or anger

Yellow – cheerful and happy

Green – free, fresh and natural

Our eyes absorb light, convert it into a form of energy and allow us to see color. The way that people feel or react to certain colors, or why they choose to favor one color over the next, alludes to how it makes them feel. Scientists have studied this energy for years to understand how certain colors affect our moods, health, and thought-process. And it’s a good thing they have because color has the ability to condition an action, for example (and for effect), consumer buying habits. In layman’s terms, the color of a product or a brand can encourage or dissuade a sale.

Let’s do a quick mind test. Think of a brand for each of these colors:
<ol>
	<li>Red</li>
	<li>Yellow</li>
	<li>Blue</li>
	<li>Green</li>
</ol>
Now, think of a color for each of these brands:
<ol>
	<li>Pepsi</li>
	<li>Campbell’s      soup</li>
	<li>McDonalds</li>
	<li>Gap</li>
</ol>
I bet that when you pictured each brand you immediately knew how you felt about that brand, if you liked it or not. In some cases, you may have remembered the last time you enjoyed a warm bowl of tomato soup or how you could really go for a cool refreshing soda right about now.

The color of a logo, website, package, etc. is the first impression that is remembered and registered by consumers. It will be the color associated to the brand. If the color sends the right message and invokes the right feeling to a consumer, the company may encourage a sale and a brand ambassador. There’s good reason why brand management is occasionally referred to as the study of science and art. To have a successful, lasting brand, it takes more than listening to the customer, it takes understanding their emotions and how those emotions trigger their purchasing decisions.

So the next time someone asks you what your favorite color is, know that they may actually be reading a little farther into your personality.