Color Purple in marketing - Research
In this blog post I am going to research the color purple in marketing. I think it is important to look at the color from different perspectives, therefore I decided to divide my color purple research into 4 different sections: marketing, different cultures, different religions and literature.
According to the graphic above, purple color is popular for healthcare, technology and finance companies. In the color code rubric, color purple is mentioned to be often symbolizing royalty, about which I already know because it is why I decided my characters will all be a part of a royal family. I am unsatisfied with knowing so little about color purple yet, therefore there are still a lot of articles I want to look at to get a better understanding of how this color is used.
Color purple is often used in campaigns directed straight at women. It is caused because generally studies show that women tend to like purple more often than men. "One universal preference: blue appeals to all. But new research shows that girls really do prefer pink—or blue with a splash of red (think purple)." (Swaminathan, 2007). Many companies, whose target audience are female use color purple, to bring their eyes and get females' focus. A good example of a cosmetics company that uses purple as their main color is Urban Decay.
"The purple on the white color palette of the Urban Decay visual identity is a reflection of the company’s creativity and artistic approach. It is a bright and welcoming color, with a touch of mystery."(Urban Decay Logo, 2020). Urban Decay is a company that is targeted at people who wear make-up, which is mostly woman. As said above, the color is showing the creativity and mystery. Those two things are often associated with purple and I think this company used the color perfectly to catch the eye and portray the main idea of what their products are.
Another reason why purple is often associated with women is because the color symbolizes feminism. The International Women's Day logo is in purple and generally the color often is representing the movements that are going towards gender equality.
"Now widely associated with contemporary feminism, the color purple symbolizes achievements gained and achievements yet to come."(Barrel, 2019). This is another reason why companies tend to pick color purple when advertising products for women. It evokes positive thoughts in women and that is what is what the goal of the companies, that use it, is.
Color purple is widely associated with royalty and wealth. There is a clear reason for this association. Because color purple does not appear in nature very often, creating a purple dye was not easy. The earliest purple dye is dates to 1900 BC. It required 10000 shellfish to dye one Roman toga, because of that the cost of the dye was more than it would cost for its weight in gold. The cost of it made it only accessible for queens and kings and this is why the color is associated with royalty, power and wealth (Barrel, 2019). I find it very interesting that still the color is symbolizing luxurious products. For example Asprey - a luxurious company selling jewellery and accessories.
Asprey is a company that is a retailer of luxury goods. This company has a long relationship with British royalty. It started when Queen Victoria awarded the first Royal Warrant and since then Asprey held Royal Warrant for every British monarch (Asprey London, 2020). As I looked at products sold by Asprey, I have noticed that the color purple is not only in the company's colors but their cosmetics line is called "Purple Water". The cosmetics themselves or the packagings are not purple, I think the company wanted to create the feeling around the color, that would be a luxurious feeling. To be completely honest, it would work on me, because hearing the name "Purple Water" makes me think of something very pleasant and luxurious. I believe that if it works for me, then it definitely most work for more people.
As I stated above, purple does not exist often in nature, that makes it more extraterrestrial and out of this world. This is a reason why the color is widely associated with things that are supernatural and spiritual (Barrel, 2019). Here is an example of this sort of use of color purple in marketing.
Syfy is a channel that streams sci-fi, fantasy and horror movies. Using purple in their logo gives this out of this world, interesting atmosphere and the color combined with the name of the company, gives an idea of what they specialize in. I think that is a great thing for a company and I believe they reached their goal with that.
As mentioned when I was discussing Urban Decay logo, purple is often associated with creativity. "Purple represents thinking that’s outside average, free association, and the fantastical" (Barrel, 2019). A good example of the color purple used to represent the creativity would definitely be Twitch - an online site created for people to do online streams.
Twitch was created for creative people to be able to stream online. It is a place where people can find other people interested in similar things or watch their favorite streamer play games, do challenges or just engage with the community what is watching them. I think color purple fits very well in the logo. I think it gives out the idea that it is targeted at young, creative people.
Now, knowing what this color means in marketing, I can think how is this research helpful in my project. As I mentioned in my ideas generation post, I want my characters to all represent different traits that color purple is symbolizing. I mentioned before that I want the family to be a royal family, because purple is a color of royalty. I think this research made me sure about this. I was also thinking about placing them on a different planet, because not only putting them on Earth would be a little bit out of place, bit also because purple is literally a color associated with out of this world theme. I think this works very well.
I am sticking with the fact that it will be a family of 5 plus their pet. Now I just need to take each character and give them different traits and think about how I want to represent them. What speaks to me the most from this research is the creative approach. I think I could make one of the characters an artist. I am thinking the mom could possibly be an artist and be a very creative person. I could present her wearing some artist-like clothes and maybe with a brush or a pencil behind her ear. I could also make her look artsy in a way now teenagers express themselves, so maybe colored hair and piercings. I think that would be a very interesting way of breaking stereotypes and showing my target audience - little children, that it is okay to express themselves and that they can be whoever they want to be. I really like this message and I think I am going to stick with it.
I am still going to complete 3 more research posts about the color purple itself to get a better perspective of different things it can possibly symbolize. I am very happy with this research and all information that I found. I think it really will inform my project.
Reference list:
Asprey London (2020) By Royal Appointment. Available at: https://www.asprey.com/us/by-royal-appointment(Accessed: 23/01/2021).
Barrel, J. (2019) 'The Psychology of Design: The Color Purple in Marketing & Branding', Impact, 16/07. available at: https://www.impactplus.com/blog/the-psychology-of-design-the-color-purple-in-marketing-branding (Accessed: 23/01/2021)
Swaminathan, N. (2007) 'When It Comes to Color, Women Have Pink Eye', Scientific American, 20/08. available at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/women-prefer-pink/ (Accessed: 23/01/2021)
Urban Decay Logo (2020) Available at: https://1000logos.net/urban-decay-logo/ (Accessed: 23/01/2021).
You may be doing this already, but look at how purple is used in animation - I mentioned Soul directed by Pete Docter and purple is also relevant in Inside Out. The use of purple in earlier animations such as Fantasia is also significant as it signposts particular emotions and atmospheres in that film. Overall, this is a really well researched post - well done.
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