Have you ever thought about the use of colour in skincare branding? What if I told you that colour is a very powerful way of conveying the message behind your brand? What if I told you that a lot of companies have chosen their branding colours to give you the impression that their skincare is ‘natural’ but actually it’s not?
We are all consumers but chances are, you’ve probably never realised how much we are all manipulated to purchase products when we see a certain colour.
On the flip side, if you run your own skincare business, or you have plans to set one up, you’re now thinking about your business brand, logo and packaging. You might have thought about the use of colour in your logo, or you might simply have gone with something that looks pretty.
You might have thought about the colour used in your packaging, or you might have balked at the idea of having to spend many extra hundreds of $$$ to have bespoke packaging made that fits your brand. You might instead have chosen something a bit cheaper which isn’t quite on brand (and is possibly more sustainable).
Think about it:
But it goes deeper than that. Additional studies have revealed that our brains prefer recognisable brands, which makes colour incredibly important when creating a brand identity. Yet more research has highlighted that there is a real connection between the use of colours and customers’ perceptions of a brand’s personality.
Colour increases brand recognition by up to 80 percent. In fact, research has shown that 60% of the time people will decide if they are attracted or not to a message based on colour. This awesome infographic also shows that people make a subconscious judgement about a product within 90 seconds of initially seeing it. And up to 90% of that assessment is based on colour alone!
So I made a list of 50 of the most successful ‘natural’ skincare brands in the world.
The results were interesting and because I’m such a geek, I’ve prepared them into little pie charts for you so you can see for yourself.
Main Colour Used In Natural Skincare Branding
As you can see, the three colours used most in the world of natural skincare are white, green and blue. In fact, those three colours combined account for two-thirds (66%) of all colour used by the natural skincare companies I looked at.
But most companies use more than one colour, so I then also looked at the secondary colour used by these brands on their products and packaging.
Second Colour Used In Natural Skincare Branding
This image shows very little difference from the first one, as you can see most brands still stick firmly to white (32%) and green (12%). However, we’ve now got the addition of pink in various shades, as well as black. These four colours make up two-thirds (66%) of the total colour palette used by natural skincare companies.
Now is when things start to go a little kaleidoscopic. As most companies use more than two colours, I thought I’d go down one more level and look at the third colour used by most natural skincare brands.
Third Colour Used In Natural Skincare Branding
All of a sudden blue moves into pole position with 22%, closely followed by white again (20%). But green has vanished and has now been replaced by brown, black and orange.
Let’s have a look at what these colours mean in general terms. Here are some suggestions for the messages conveyed by certain colours.
It’s clear that the natural skincare industry favours white over all other colours. It pretty much dominates most of the labels, containers and packaging used in the industry.
White generally signifies simplicity, cleanliness and purity. We view white as a brilliant colour so it immediately catches your eye when used in branding. It’s often used in health-related products and products for infants.
Not surprising really, is it? Natural and organic skincare manufacturers want you to feel that you are using a holistic, simple and pure product on your skin.
But as we can see from my geeky pie charts, white is closely followed by green, which stands for health, freshness and serenity. This message ties in perfectly with the overall marketing message for natural and organic skincare – your products contain botanical extracts, have shorter shelf lives so are ‘fresher’ and create a sense of health and calm.
Next up is blue – perceived to signify trust and dependability. The skincare world is filled with people who make fantastic claims about their products, not least the fact that they are completely natural when they actually contain lots of synthetic chemicals. Giving your consumers the subtle message that they can trust you is very powerful. Blue is also associated with the sky and the sea and is universally well-liked.
So far, so good – white, green and blue make your brand look pure, fresh and trustworthy. What more does a natural skincare brand want?
Well, it turns out they also want some pink, black, brown and orange in their life! This is where we start to move into different subtle marketing messages.
I run an online Mastermind group for (aspiring) skincare entrepreneurs and one of the comments someone made recently is that ‘organic’ is not a skincare niche. That’s so true, which is why you want to bring out more of your personality in your brand and proudly show off your niche, much like some of the companies I looked at did when they incorporated a wider palette of colours into their brand.
Read more: http://www.herbhedgerow.co.uk/the-meaning-of-colours-in-natural-skincare-branding/#ixzz7zcSjTr2f
We are all consumers but chances are, you’ve probably never realised how much we are all manipulated to purchase products when we see a certain colour.
On the flip side, if you run your own skincare business, or you have plans to set one up, you’re now thinking about your business brand, logo and packaging. You might have thought about the use of colour in your logo, or you might simply have gone with something that looks pretty.
You might have thought about the colour used in your packaging, or you might have balked at the idea of having to spend many extra hundreds of $$$ to have bespoke packaging made that fits your brand. You might instead have chosen something a bit cheaper which isn’t quite on brand (and is possibly more sustainable).
Colour Influences Your Buying Decisions
The maestros who develop the brands we follow spend ages thinking about the smallest details in order to encourage you to grab your credit card and spend your hard-earned cash on their products. They want their products and their brand to be instantly recognisable and leap off the shelf at you.Think about it:
- Red = Coke
- Blue = Facebook
- Brown = UPS
But it goes deeper than that. Additional studies have revealed that our brains prefer recognisable brands, which makes colour incredibly important when creating a brand identity. Yet more research has highlighted that there is a real connection between the use of colours and customers’ perceptions of a brand’s personality.
Colour increases brand recognition by up to 80 percent. In fact, research has shown that 60% of the time people will decide if they are attracted or not to a message based on colour. This awesome infographic also shows that people make a subconscious judgement about a product within 90 seconds of initially seeing it. And up to 90% of that assessment is based on colour alone!
I Analysed 50 Natural Skincare Brands
I thought it would be fun to look at what the world of skincare does in terms of its branding when it comes to businesses who claim to sell natural and organic products. After all they have a clear message that they want to send out into the world – they say “hey guys, our products are pure, clean and good for you. You can trust us.” But which colours do they use to tell you that?So I made a list of 50 of the most successful ‘natural’ skincare brands in the world.
I then looked at the colours they used and wrote down the three main colours in their branding – taking into account their logo, their cosmetic containers and their packaging.
The results were interesting and because I’m such a geek, I’ve prepared them into little pie charts for you so you can see for yourself.
Main Colour Used In Natural Skincare Branding
As you can see, the three colours used most in the world of natural skincare are white, green and blue. In fact, those three colours combined account for two-thirds (66%) of all colour used by the natural skincare companies I looked at.
But most companies use more than one colour, so I then also looked at the secondary colour used by these brands on their products and packaging.
Second Colour Used In Natural Skincare Branding
This image shows very little difference from the first one, as you can see most brands still stick firmly to white (32%) and green (12%). However, we’ve now got the addition of pink in various shades, as well as black. These four colours make up two-thirds (66%) of the total colour palette used by natural skincare companies.
Now is when things start to go a little kaleidoscopic. As most companies use more than two colours, I thought I’d go down one more level and look at the third colour used by most natural skincare brands.
Third Colour Used In Natural Skincare Branding
All of a sudden blue moves into pole position with 22%, closely followed by white again (20%). But green has vanished and has now been replaced by brown, black and orange.
What Do These Colours Mean?
It’s clear that the natural skincare industry favours white over all other colours. It pretty much dominates most of the labels, containers and packaging used in the industry.
White generally signifies simplicity, cleanliness and purity. We view white as a brilliant colour so it immediately catches your eye when used in branding. It’s often used in health-related products and products for infants.
Not surprising really, is it? Natural and organic skincare manufacturers want you to feel that you are using a holistic, simple and pure product on your skin.
But as we can see from my geeky pie charts, white is closely followed by green, which stands for health, freshness and serenity. This message ties in perfectly with the overall marketing message for natural and organic skincare – your products contain botanical extracts, have shorter shelf lives so are ‘fresher’ and create a sense of health and calm.
Next up is blue – perceived to signify trust and dependability. The skincare world is filled with people who make fantastic claims about their products, not least the fact that they are completely natural when they actually contain lots of synthetic chemicals. Giving your consumers the subtle message that they can trust you is very powerful. Blue is also associated with the sky and the sea and is universally well-liked.
So far, so good – white, green and blue make your brand look pure, fresh and trustworthy. What more does a natural skincare brand want?
Well, it turns out they also want some pink, black, brown and orange in their life! This is where we start to move into different subtle marketing messages.
- Pink conveys different messages depending upon the shade used. Hot pink can mean energy, youthfulness and excitement! Dusty pink conveys sentimentality. Light pink is seen to be more romantic.
- Black means luxury, sophistication, professionalism and seriousness. Using black in your branding can help elevate your business to look high end.
- Brown is an earthy colour that conveys durability, stability and simplicity. However, some consumers can view brown as being ‘dirty’ which might be off-putting.
- Orange evokes fun, vitality and exuberance. This is a playful colour to add into your branding and is often seen as gregarious and possibly even childlike.
I run an online Mastermind group for (aspiring) skincare entrepreneurs and one of the comments someone made recently is that ‘organic’ is not a skincare niche. That’s so true, which is why you want to bring out more of your personality in your brand and proudly show off your niche, much like some of the companies I looked at did when they incorporated a wider palette of colours into their brand.
Read more: http://www.herbhedgerow.co.uk/the-meaning-of-colours-in-natural-skincare-branding/#ixzz7zcSjTr2f