The Power of Color in Brand Positioning

Amy Wolf, MBA
February 23, 2023

And the winner is (drum roll)... Viva Magenta, the 2023 color of the year as designated by the team at Pantone, the creative house which names the infinite palette of hues. Where have we seen this bright crimson shade?  Perhaps one of the larger nationwide mobile carriers. Or have you noticed this eye-catching tone in everything from high-end fashion and name-brand apparel to insulated drinkware?    

Retailers and marketers alike have effectively captured Viva Magenta’s trend, with branding at the helm while utilizing the power of color as the engine and rudder. 

Leveraging Color to Reflect Core Values

Over the past decade, Millennials and Gen Z have shifted society norms, focusing on climate change as a primary concern. In turn, businesses have responded with their brand messaging to attract this customer base. The retailer Rumpl, known for its use of recycled materials to produce puffy blankets reflecting colors from nature including an official National Parks style, has leaned into this call to action by a younger target audience.

“As virtual worlds become a more prominent part of our daily lives, we look to draw inspiration from nature and what is real” ~ Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute.

When Evo3 was tapped by Microsoft to curate a special gift set for an off-site meeting with stakeholders gathering in the Pacific Northwest, our team knew to include local colors that naturally abound in part of the product offering. The deep blue waters of Lake Washington, the variegated green shades of tall Evergreen trees as they rise along the valley towards the snow peaked mountains were all found in Rumpl’s Cascade Fade blanket.   We then enlisted a locally based top decorator to embroider the Microsoft logo in white on the corner edge.  This product offering held exceptional value for the client, reflecting the majestic scenery of the tech giant’s corporate headquarters coupled with Rumpl’s retail brand positioning of social responsibility

Leveraging Color to Reflect Acumen

The second item in Microsoft’s off-site gift collection was a charcoal gray full zip hoodie in both ladies and mens styles. Evo3 presented the retail brand Carhartt with its strong deep gold logo, a favorite of the construction industry known for durability.  Building on Carhartt’s retail brand acumen, this positioning mirrored our client’s tech prowess of keenness and depth of perception ultimately capturing brand synergies of the corporate client and apparel supplier.  The garment and its tightly stitched logo on the upper left chest quickly became a fan favorite of each recipient.

Leaning into the gold-yellow pantone color of Carhartt as a very close match is the brand colors for high-end builder Dowbuilt one of Evo3’s premier clients.  Dowbuilt is based in Seattle but has craftsmen throughout the entire US including the Hawaiian islands of Hawaii and Kuai.  Both companies within the building industry utilize the sun-gold color to brilliantly exemplify as a construction related organization with pervasive brand trust by their target audience.

Evo3 has worked with Dowbuilt to capture their brand colors on all  custom branded merchandise from gold carpenter pencils with the Dowbuilt logo printed in black on the flat sided industry specific writing utensils to gray Carhartt brand Watchman beanie with PMS color 139 neatly embroidered on the front cuff.  The power of color that aligns with an industry’s brand is key to capturing market attention within that target audience.

Leveraging Color to Reflect Product or Service Offering

How and when should a brand refresh its look and feel?  Evo3 recently took on the challenge of expanding into the digital space by launching Evo3 Digital in February of 2023 after building the merch side since 2017.  This compelled us to revamp Evo3’s logo which entailed an updated color palette and the addition of a brand-new icon to reflect new product offerings but without changing the logo itself.

  1. Evo3’s mission statement was developed: Evo3 is a multi dimensional marketing agency building campaigns in both the physical and digital worlds.
  2. Evo3’s mantra  remained the same: brand evolution
  3. Evo3’s theme remained: aspirational.  Deep roots in the Pacific Northwest although global expansion was on the near horizon.  Evo3 procured an original image from a female photographer with shades of blues and cascading mountains.  Creative designer Kamie Kahlo developed the color palette inspired by this mountain scenery.
  4. Evo3’s icon took shape from triangles arranged into a mosaic of nine 3-D cubes stacked three across and three high.
  5. Evo3’s Physical Branding: digitize the new icon for embroidery which reflected the 3D version and constructed blue hues.

Voila!  The brand evolution of a revamped logo with an on-trend color palette for a rapidly expanding global marketing company.

Conclusion

There are a plethora of avenues to leverage color for brand positioning.  Just check out Forbes' search of articles related to the 2023 Vivid Magenta Pantone of the Year.  While brand color alignment is an efficient method for visibility, developing an original brand palette can be as effective although with a longer runway to launch.  Whatever the solution, color evokes emotion and this is ultimately where the targeted audience aligns loyalty as brands cultivate their market position.  This is a powerful concept for brand marketers as we help the client build trust across a  gamut of advertising mediums.

Sources:

  1. https://www.425magazine.com/home-garden/bring-on-the-color/article_01e59f50-a40e-11ed-925a-43f828cbc6cd.html
  2. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acumen
  3. https://www.forbes.com/search/?q=magenta%20&sh=196c942d279f

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