The color of your packaging plays a role in your consumers’ first impression of your product. It’s one of the first things they see on store shelves! Color psychology plays a big role in retail sales and in attracting consumers to your product. It helps reinforce your cohesive concept and support your brand story!
Pick colors that are associated with the flavors and consumer views of your product. What does the color of your packaging say about your value proposition? How does it play into solving your consumer’s pain point?
Some brands, such as Coca-Cola, are immediately associated with the color red, while others, like Reeses, are associated with the color orange.
In food packaging, the flavor is not the only aspect of an item that might influence its color packaging. Our brains associate colors with products that might have nothing to do with them, but we still link subliminal messages to the packaging.
Green has been used to denote healthy and natural foods. It is also commonly used for vegetarian varieties of packaged foods.
Red is an appetite stimulant and it makes sense when you think about how much the color is used in food marketing. Similar to what happens when we are hungry and the brain releases neurons, red enhances the appetite and stimulates a physical response. Additionally, red is associated with products tasting sweet and is commonly linked to sugary drinks and candy.
Yellow is associated with “high energy serotonin-inducing foods”. Yellow is considered an appetite stimulant and makes consumers feel cheerful.
Orange is commonly linked to healthy, filling foods. Additionally, it’s connected to affordability and convenient food options.
Blue is associated with fun foods and is related to trust and dependability. Think about foods like Chips A Hoy! The blue packaging has nothing to do with the flavor of the cookies, but when you think about chocolate chip cookies, blue is a common color on the packaging. This is seen again in Oreo cookies and even refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough!
Having a brand color scheme will increase consumer awareness about your product. When they see a specific color pallet on the shelf, they will immediately associate it with the products you sell. Your packaging color can help support a cohesive brand message and answer the consumer’s pain point with your specific value proposition.