We're on to Q2, "Most of us can talk about what colors are our favorite, which colors attract our attention, but we really don’t know why? Is this what marketers have to strain their brains to figure out?" from AllBusiness.com's Chris Bjorklund interviewing me on NextStage's five year study of the best uses of colors, color imagery and color iconography in marketing. This study contained NextStage original research and research from others.
The posts in this arc provide content that didn't make it into the podcast, just as the podcast has content that isn't provided in this arc. You can hear the entire podcast at The Best Way to Use Color and Imagery to Improve Your Marketing. I'll be including a bibliography in the last post in this arc.
I don’t think it’s a strain so much as it’s an inability to expand beyond their own paradigm.For example, you mention that people know what colors they favor, what attract their attention but most people don’t know why. I accept that this is true for the lay person and have difficulty believing it’s a challenge for marketers and advertisers who are willing to do their homework. There’s a lot of material available on the subject. We were stunned at how much research there’s been. We cited 95 separate papers in our research and we’ll probably add more before we finish writing it up.
Favorite colors and attraction colors all have neuro-, socio- and psycho-linguistic reasons for being what they are. I wrote in Usability Studies 101: Follow the Eye, an IMediaConnection column, that listed the six colors everyone recognizes regardless of culture, language, age, gender, … . These colors are the ones the brain is hardwired for. Once you get beyond that you’re into the areas of culture, language, nature v nurture and more.
(more to follow)
Please contact NextStage for information regarding presentations and trainings on this and other topics.
Links for this post:
- The AllBusiness.com's Chris Bjorklund Interviews Joseph Carrabis on Color Use in Marketing arc
- The Best Way to Use Color and Imagery to Improve Your Marketing
- Usability Studies 101: Follow the Eye
- IMedia Brand Summit on 9-12 Sept 07
- XChange on 20-21 Sept 07
- DC Emetrics Summit on 14-17 Oct '07
- Society for New Communications Research Annual Research Symposium & Awards Gala on 5-6 Dec 07 in Boston.
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