Neuromarketing In Action: How Our Brains Process Logo Colors

Businesses rely on their logos to create brand identity in a simple combination of color and shape — but these simple logos can have profound effects on customers’ brains and feelings. Using neuromarketing, businesses can leverage scientific principles and practices to better convey their brand messaging and engage customers with more effective color and shape choices.

Neuromarketing For Branding And Logos

Marketers have always tried to understand their customers and prospects to craft effective messaging — traditionally, marketers have relied on psychology and the study of human behavior to best craft their strategies3. With modern methods and technologies, scientists can go beyond studying simple behaviors and now can study the human brain itself, giving deeper insights into how messaging affects different people3.

Brands often apply neuromarketing techniques to evaluate their logo and choose the best colors and shapes to promote their messaging4. When we perceive colors, the parts of our brain responsible for emotions associate those colors with different feelings4. Some studies have found that blue is considered much more “trustworthy” than red in logos that represent brands4. However, the color red also has advantages — companies like Netflix take advantage of their red logo’s bold, cinematic connotations to let customers instantly experience adventure and excitement every time they use the service2. These neuromarketing studies give us insight into different emotional values of colors and drive us to make strategic decisions to improve brand impact and visibility.

“Neuromarketing can explain why people perceive logos so differently – colors affect how we feel about certain companies”

The color of a logo or other branding materials for a company can influence customers’ perceptions of a company before they know anything about how that business is run5. A 2017 study found that seeing the word “green” or the color green in a logo significantly increased brand trustworthiness and perceived “eco-friendliness”5. For instance, the oil company BP takes advantage of this color association through its “environmentally friendly” green logo to influence public opinion of their brand1. Customers that trust and believe in a brand through its logo can improve a company’s outlook in sales, exposure, and industry leadership.

Neuromarketing can explain why people perceive logos so differently – colors affect how we feel about certain companies, how much we trust them, and what kind of experience a company will provide us3. Understanding the science of marketing is essential to cut through the competition and create the best outcomes with every business decision.

Adscience Lab: Leverage Data And Science To Boost Marketing Impact

Knowing your audience and applying science to marketing strategies can give you an edge in generating leads, converting leads to customers and clients, and increasing the value of your brand. If you want to learn more, check out our neuromarketing blog and learn how to leverage data and science for business or click here for a consultation!

  1. Chang, W.-L., & Lin, H.-L. (2010). The impact of color traits on corporate branding. African Journal of Business Management, 4(15), 3344–3355. https://doi.org/10.5897/AJBM.9000586
  2. Kuniecki, M., Pilarczyk, J., & Wichary, S. (2015). The color red attracts attention in an emotional context. An ERP study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 9, 212. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00212
  3. Lim, W. M. (2018). Demystifying neuromarketing. Journal of Business Research, 91, 205–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.05.036
  4. Su, L., Cui, A. P., & Walsh, M. F. (2019). Trustworthy Blue or Untrustworthy Red: The Influence of Colors on Trust. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 27(3), 269–281. https://doi.org/10.1080/10696679.2019.1616560
  5. Sundar, A., & Kellaris, J. (2017). How Logo Colors Influence Shoppers’ Judgments of Retailer Ethicality: The Mediating Role of Perceived Eco-Friendliness. Journal of Business Ethics, 146. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2918-4
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