A Color Trend With Traction

In the past few years, a keen observer might say that green has made its way to the top of the color power list. Anyone keeping up with the news will find green philosophers waxing poetic about the environment, corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability communication, greenwashing, and green tea. The combination of new environmental mindsets and corporations positioning social responsibility efforts under a green label has raised the profile of the color green.

In a recent corporate social responsibility and sustainability Google alert, I saw a listing titled, “RED is the new green.”¹ Intrigued by the possibility that red may be scooping the trendiness of green, I did a Google search on the phrase—45,000 hits.

Further research suggests that we may be experiencing a red revolution. The semantics of red have shifted back to positive, and there’s evidence of a trend with traction. Give it to the Pantone execs who predicted the strength of red and in 1998 tagged it as a favorite for the century.

Nearly 10 years later, Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®, said “Whether expressing danger, celebration, love or passion, red will not be ignored…nothing reflects the spirit of adventure more than the color red.” In 2007, Pantone named Chili Pepper as the color of the year and for 2010, PANTONE 18-1661 Tomato Purée was in the top 10 colors for women’s fashion.

Companies Known for the Colors They Keep
Red, with blue in a close second, inspires and dresses some of today’s most celebrated icons. These colors are important to corporate brand recognition and commerce color coding.

An analysis of Interbrand’s top 100 brands’ logo and corporate colors reveals a preponderance (70% of the total) of red and blue logos. Thirty-six of the 100 logos were entirely red or paired red with other colors. Thirty-four of the 100 logos were blue or paired blue with other colors. IBM, affectionately known as “Big Blue” for its official corporate color, ranked mostly in the second position for the nine year period. (Green appears in no more than 4 logos in any given year).

Many larger US corporations have red logos: CNN, TIME, LIFE, Business Week, ExxonMobil, Verizon, Xerox, and others. As for consumer awareness of red logos, ask 100 people what company is best known for its red logo, and it’s likely that at least 90 percent of them will say Coca-Cola. Not surprising, from 2001 to 2009, Coca-Cola maintained the #1 position in Interbrand’s Best Global Brand’s List. Coca-Cola knows the power of red and banks on the color’s bold simplicity and authenticity for its packaging and designs.

The Red/Blue Debate

Coke – red. Pepsi – blue. IBM – blue. Xerox – red. Red state. Blue state. The two colors are pervasive in advertising, politics, and politicians’ tie colors. Which is stronger? A new University of British Columbia study, reported earlier in this year in Science Daily, reconciles the marketing and psychology debate on which color, red or blue, most improves brain performance and receptivity to advertising. Both, but, it depends on the task. Red enhances our attention to detail, while blue boosts creativity.

Is Red the Color of Business?

Red attracts attention
Large phone companies use red. Verizon’s trademark check mark/V and typeface are red. In a major rebranding and renaming effort, Vodafone Ireland Limited, the largest mobile phone company in Ireland moved from deep purple to a trademark shade of red and adopted a new tagline: “Red is the new purple, Vodafone is the new name for Eircell.” They also created the Mission Red website, a forum for customer communications.

Using Red for Good – Creative Capitalism at Work
Today companies are selling (RED)-branded products and donating a portion of their profits to Bono’s Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. It’s been reported by Time that the companies participating in the (RED) campaign drew in new customers and that the corporate socially responsible action was the tipping point they needed to choose those products over others. The color prominence contributed message, meaning, and visibility.

Red is the new…(name a color). Google Search: Red is the new…
Red is the new black	90,600
Red is the new red	79,900
Red is the new white	45,800
Red is the new green	45,200
Red is the new blue	29,700
Red is the new yellow	21,000
Red is the new purple	13,700
Red is the new brown	5,130

Red is power. Red is prosperity. Red (and blue, but mostly red) will always be important to high-stakes business, graphic design, results of elections, and tie colors…for politicians, like President Obama who wore only red and blue ties in his first 11 days in office.

While Donna does have one pair of red shoes and a red blazer, she favors purple (a Vincent Roa Group, LLC and Purple Pony Websites corporate color). Admittedly, she was pleased with Pantone’s 2008 Color of the Year announcement: purple (blue iris), a color that “satisfies the need for reassurance in a complex world, while adding a hint of mystery and excitement.”

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¹ RED (Restorative Environmental Design) is a new development framework based on the biophilia principle that proposes a new approach to sustainable design that combines the objectives of avoiding adverse environmental impacts, while promoting positive connections between people and nature in the built environment.