Evoking Emotion with Color: 6 Brand Campaign Examples - Ceros Inspire (2024)

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When you look into your closet in the morning, how you decide what to wear? Comfort, warmth (or coolness, depending on the time of year), and style are all big factors. But one of the biggest ones, whether you consciously consider it or not, is color.

Color is a powerful attribute that has a direct impact on your mood and emotions. Brands have been using colors for decades, both wittingly and unwittingly, to affect how their audiences react to their advertising and marketing. And your brand can, too.

Let’s explore the psychology behind colors and look at 6 campaign examples of brands using color to evoke a specific reaction.

Color Psychology 101

There are a lot of great resources out there on the web that explore color psychology in detail. One recent resource I’d recommend is the Color Psychology Guide from CoSchedule.

Here’s a quick rundown of what each of the major colors represents and the feelings it evokes.

  • Black: Represents sophistication, quality, seriousness; also fear, sadness, and mourning. Should be used in small doses.
  • White: Represents innocence, cleanliness, peace, and ideation.
  • Red: Evokes immediate needs and strong feelings such as love, anger, and warning. Can portray energy in a positive, friendly way or a negative, aggressive way.
  • Yellow: Evokes happiness and optimism (see the hero image above) as well as confidence. Serves as a strong stimulus—in fact, it’s the first color we respond to.
  • Orange: Represents physical comforts such as warmth, shelter, and food. Usually associated with positive motivation and enthusiasm.
  • Blue: Evokes trust, dependability, and calm. It’s visually harder to see, and is more cerebral than emotional.
  • Green: Represents harmony, balance, nature, growth, and health.
  • Purple: Associated with imagination, spirituality, and luxury. Since it’s a soothing yet also stimulating color, it’s also associated with creativity.
  • Pink: Evokes feelings of hope, romanticism, and empathy.
  • Brown: Represents structure, protection, security, and seriousness.

6 Examples of Color Psychology in Action

The most memorable brands also tend to use color in a consistent, memorable way in their advertising and marketing campaigns. These 6 brand campaigns show how you can use color to drive very specific, predictable reactions from viewers.

Red: Coca-Cola

Evoking Emotion with Color: 6 Brand Campaign Examples - Ceros Inspire (1) Source: BusinessWire

In Coca-Cola’s new “Taste the Feeling” campaign, they incorporates red into the beach towels, outfits, and nail polish used in their print ad to complement their red logo. The effect is friendly, eye-catching, and emphasizes the action of the models drinking their refreshing soft drink. The end result is that you want to buy a bottle of co*ke.

Blue: American Express

As a finance company, American Express uses blue in their logo, their product line, and their content to drive home trustworthiness, calm, and dependability. In their latest ad campaign featuring Tina Fey, blue is incorporated into Tina’syoga mat and clothes, as well as theending animation. It also makes it easy to to remember the name of their card (Blue).

Green: Starbucks

Evoking Emotion with Color: 6 Brand Campaign Examples - Ceros Inspire (2) Source: Carolyn Wagner

Starbucks’ fair trade campaign uses various shades of green to drive home their message of sustainability and harmony. Their causal typography and hand drawings further evoke a feeling of restfulness and being one with nature.

White: Apple

Evoking Emotion with Color: 6 Brand Campaign Examples - Ceros Inspire (3) Source: Adweek

Apple’s entire brand aesthetic is built around a lot of white. Their logo is white, their website hasa lot of white space, and their advertising uses a lot of white as well. Given thatwhite evokesideation and creativity, this color choice makes a lot of sense. For example, in this print ad, the use of expansive negative space highlights the colorful elements of the Apple Watch screen and band, emphasizing their product and its innovativeness.

Black: Nike

Evoking Emotion with Color: 6 Brand Campaign Examples - Ceros Inspire (4) Source: Bob Is Ten

Nike’s logo and print advertising uses black to evoke power, quality, and seriousness. In this ad, a solid black background allows the creative treatment of the shoe to shine through, drawing the eye inward toward the paint splatters. It also creates an atmosphere of sophistication and elegance that you don’t usually see in sportswear advertising.

Purple: Virgin America

Evoking Emotion with Color: 6 Brand Campaign Examples - Ceros Inspire (5) Source: Cargo Collective

Virgin America is a brand that uses color in an unusual way. Their logo colors are red and white, but their brand colors are purple and pink; everything from the plane cabin lights to their billboards to their website reflects this color scheme. In this print ad, they use the color purple to drive home a feeling of luxury, exclusivity, and imaginativeness while maintaining their trademark humorous visual tone.

The Bottom Line

The next time you’re considering visual content for your brand, think about how you can use color to further emphasize your message and brand tone.

Before you go: Share your favorite example of brand color psychology in the comments!

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Evoking Emotion with Color: 6 Brand Campaign Examples - Ceros Inspire (2024)

FAQs

How do you use color to evoke emotions? ›

Bright, warm colors (reds, oranges, yellows) stimulate energy and happiness while cool, subdued colors (blues, greens, purples) are soothing and calming. Bright, warm colors are best in rooms for entertaining like dining rooms or kitchens, while cool colors work best in relaxing spaces like bedrooms or even bathrooms.

What is an example of color theory in advertising? ›

Understanding the psychological impact of different colors enables advertisers to select the most appropriate hues for their commercials. For example, warm colors like red, orange, and yellow can create a sense of urgency and excitement, while cool colors like blue can evoke feelings of trust and calmness.

What Colours evoke motivation? ›

Orange. Orange is a combination of red's power and energy and the friendliness and fun of yellow. Orange represents motivation, positive attitude, and enthusiasm.

What is meant by color evoking emotion? ›

Colors can be used strategically to evoke certain emotions in people. For example, marketers use bright, warm colors to create a sense of excitement and energy in their advertising. Restaurants use red and orange to stimulate appetite, while hospitals and spas often use blue and green to create a calming environment.

How do you evoke emotions? ›

What are the best ways to evoke emotions in your audience?
  1. Know your audience. Be the first to add your personal experience.
  2. Choose the right emotion. Be the first to add your personal experience.
  3. Use storytelling techniques. ...
  4. Incorporate sensory cues. ...
  5. Use social proof. ...
  6. Test and optimize. ...
  7. Here's what else to consider.
Mar 15, 2023

How and why is color used in marketing to evoke emotions? ›

Colors are often associated with specific emotions. For example, red might be associated with excitement and passion, while blue is often linked to calmness and trust. Brands can leverage these emotional associations to create a desired emotional response in their target audience.

What is one example of a brand using marketing with color? ›

Dunkin' is a good example because its branding is all over everything—with orange, pink, brown, as well as variations on these colors. It's the multiple colors and variations that (in most cases) keep your branding from becoming flat or two-dimensional.

What color attracts the most attention in advertising? ›

Red is a highly popular color in marketing because it's bold, captures attention and can evoke powerful psychological responses. Red represents power, energy, excitement, passion and urgency. The urgency response is often a reason why fast-food chains and clearance sales frequently feature red.

What are some examples of color theory? ›

For example, using a warm color like red against an excellent color like blue can create a strong contrast that can make the artwork feel dynamic and energetic. Using warm and cool colors together can also create a sense of balance and harmony, as the opposing colors complement each other nicely.

What color inspires inspiration? ›

Orange may invoke feelings of enthusiasm, activity and perseverance, all feelings which may help them become more efficient and inspired. Because this color is a combination of red and yellow, it may yield the same boost in activity and physical endurance as red while having the mood-boosting ability of yellow.

What color attracts the human eye most? ›

Colors that Grab Attention

As a bold color that stands out, it's easily noticeable, even from a distance. In addition, red has been shown to increase the heart rate and stimulate the brain, making it a powerful aid in attracting attention. Blue is another notable color for catching the eye.

What colors inspire confidence? ›

  • Choosing Colors that Boost Self-Esteem.
  • Yellow – When it comes to choosing a color that boosts confidence, yellow is unbeatable. ...
  • Green – Situated in the center of the spectrum, green is the color of balance and growth. ...
  • Blue – Serene and mentally calming, blue has an incredibly soothing effect.
Sep 20, 2016

What is an example of evoking emotions? ›

His performances evoke such powerful emotions. Sometimes, looking at a photograph evokes better emotions than actually being there. Film is wonderful at conveying and evoking emotion, but books are better for ideas and evoking thought. Trees evoke such powerful emotions in some people that they write books about them.

What colors inspire trust? ›

Blue: Cool blue is perceived as trustworthy, dependable, fiscally responsible and secure. Strongly associated with the sky and sea, blue is serene and universally well-liked. Blue is an especially popular color with financial institutions, as its message of stability inspires trust.

When something evokes emotion? ›

Evoke is a verb that means to provoke an emotion; call forth a thought, memory, or feeling; or recreate with imagination. For instance, the mention of pumpkins and corn mazes might evoke a sense of autumn for some people. (Emotion vs. Feeling: How to Evoke More From Readers.)

How do Colours influence emotions? ›

These warm colors evoke emotions ranging from feelings of warmth and comfort to feelings of anger and hostility. Colors on the blue side of the spectrum are known as cool colors and include blue, purple, and green. These colors are often described as calm, but can also call to mind feelings of sadness or indifference.

What is the color psychology technique? ›

Color psychology is the study of how colors affect perceptions and behaviors. In marketing and branding, color psychology is focused on how colors impact consumers' impressions of a brand and whether or not they persuade consumers to consider specific brands or make a purchase.

What color evokes action? ›

Red has been found to evoke passion, dominance and energy. 38% of Forbes' Most Valuable Brands of 2015 used red in their logos, including Red Bull and Coca-Cola. Not only does red make us feel certain emotions, but it demands a call to action too.

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