Although color, texture and shape all play a role in creating an emotional bond with the customer, color can be a key differentiator for brands and categories. Color and Packaging Color trends tend to change from year to year, but they always play a role in defining a brand. Color can produce a point of recognition with a consumer and add emotional and social benefits to a brand. Color is often used within an overall brand to indicate brand segments or versions, or brand extensions. Any discussion of color trends demands an understanding of the two ways color interacts with branding efforts.
Marketers often use a color to achieve visual identification or color massing at retail.
Definition of brand imagery or product benefits can be achieved as well via thoughtful use of color. Clearly, differentiation and definition are not mutually exclusive. A tactical corollary occurs when marketers use color to indicate intra-brand segmentation. For example, blue is a typical indicator of peppermint flavor and red for cinnamon across many product categories. As recently as the early 1980s, green in packaging was considered off-limits for many food marketers.