The Importance of Colour in Brand Recognition

Snail driving along Brighton seafront the other day, I was faintly aware of a huge hoarding hung on the front of the Brighton Centre, muted red, almost pink with large white writing. Grinding my way past the Centre over several days, I still hadn’t noted what it was for….It was the Labour Party Conference. Where has the scarlet red gone, where has the rose and New Labour gone?

Well I thought it was a subtle change of emphasis, encouraging inclusivity, an invitation to those not traditionally ‘red’ to look at the Party anew or afresh. Thinking this must be a media coo, I was perplexed to find that the bright red and the rose is still very much part of Labour’s identity but for several days the omission of both meant that my brain hadn’t registered this big event. One of the guiding branding mantras is continuity of type, imagery and colour. Brand recognition depends on easy recall from long term memory and colour recognition is one of the most salient aspects of an image that will trigger remembrance.