The psychology of blue brands

Colour psychology plays an integral role in marketing your business. If you’ve never heard of colour psychology before, it’s the study of how different colours can affect your mood and behaviour.

The colour red, for example, is a bold colour that incites energy and conflict. It’s even proven to raise blood pressure and speed metabolism. Have you ever noticed that fast food companies will advertise in red? McDonald’s, KFC, Red Rooster, Hungry Jacks, Pizza Hut, to name a few. All of these brands feature red, yellow and orange to warm attraction and trick you into feeling hungry. Observing the psychological impact is key to effective branding.

The colour blue, on the other hand, is not warm, energetic or aggressive. It’s trusting, calming and intelligent. Blue brands are typically known for their professionalism, smarts, loyalty and trustworthiness. They often fall under industry categories such as government, not-for-profit, healthcare or telecommunications. Think of the products or services you use on a daily basis. Telstra is one of the largest telecommunications and internet providers in Australia. The brand is predominantly blue. How about insurance? RACV probably springs to mind – also blue. What about the programs you use for work? Salesforce, Canva, Microsoft Outlook… these are all blue brands. You can probably think of one hundred more.

With every successful blue branded company, blue gains a more positive perception. The positive psychological associations with the colour and its muted tendencies, means that blue is less likely to be seen as obnoxious than other shades like yellow or red. At its brightest, blue can ignite energy without being blatantly aggressive.

Colours surrounding blue on the colour wheel such as purple or green maintain blue’s calm stability and creativity. Purple is associated with royalty, think of the late Queen Elizabeth II and her magnificent crown (pictured below). While green is very earthy, organic and sustainable.

When we rebranded, we changed from a bright and bubbly blue to a more suave, darker shade of blue to highlight our professionalism and intelligence in the world of digital marketing. We’ve always excelled when working with blue brands, and what better way to attract blue brands than by being one ourselves!

Aston Digital is a specialist digital marketing agency in Melbourne that supports marketing team leaders from blue brands. Check out some of the blue brands we’ve collaborated with here.