Executive Summary

For this research, we chose to focus on qualitative research as compared to quantitative since,
the topic of research was abstract and quantitative tools would have not added much value to
the research. There were a lot of challenges while conducting this research since it dealt with
the latent psychology of individual consumers and thus some were not being able to articulate
how they related colours to brands and products but a number of them provided insightful
comments. We also noticed that colour perception of an individual was dependent upon
personal experiences and choice and thus, was difficult to translate and relate them to a
specific feeling. However, there exist various universal feelings towards certain primary
colours which are used by marketers and brand managers to communicate their brand
message to their consumers.
Our research methodology included

Observation
Interviews
Focus Groups
Projective Techniques

We have covered all of the above by conducting controlled experiments, field research in
retail stores, in-depth interviews and projective techniques by a fun activity. Our approach
was to ask a lot of direct and in-direct questions in order to understand how each individual
perceives the colours and look out for the common patterns to come with interesting insights.
We focused on colours used in packaging of FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) since
the use of colours and the impact is maximum here. The colours on the packaging attracts the
consumers to take it off from the retail shelves. We have also looked at a small category of
consumer durables. The categories researched are:

Instant Noodles
Breakfast Cereals
Soft Drinks
Toothpaste

Detergent
Mobile Phones
Two wheeler
Four Wheeler

During our research we came to know that colours are strongly used by brands to
create a unique identity for themselves and sometimes that may transcend into an
entry barrier as well. According to our research certain primary reasons of colour
usage by brands is to:

Create a brand identity. Colour aids the consumer to recognize it without even
reading what is written on its packaging
Communicate brand message. The colour a company uses to brand itself conveys how
trustworthy they are to consumers, the quality of their products, and much more.

Target Primary consumers. Marketers choose specific colours for their brands based
upon the preference of their primary target consumers. For example, if the target
consumers are women, then soft colours such as pink or purple are chosen since
women tend to like softer colours. Similarly in case of children (who are more
visually motivated) like very bright colours such as green and yellow.

Projective Technique

Experiment: A small group of 24 with 8 females and 16 males and an average age of
24 were asked to do the following as a fun activity:

Imagine you are the brand manager of an instant noodles product and your job is
to zero-in on the packaging of your product. With the resources provided to you,
design the packaging which you have in mind for your product

Individuals were provided with pencils, sketch pens, crayons and pens as resources to
design their own packaging for instant noodles. No mention of colour was done since
we wanted them to instinctively pick up the colours that they had in mind without the
subjects giving much thought to it.

Results: The subjects came up with interesting and fun designs. The point to be
noted here is that most of them chose their primary packaging colours as red and
yellow. Green was also a colour people chose who designed for organic noodles

Insights: The results indicate a strong presence of Maggi as a brand in the minds
of consumers. This is a case of generic trademark case where the brand has
established itself so strongly that the brand has become synonymous with the product
itself and thus the consumers relate so strongly to Maggis colours. Now, for other
brands this is a huge entry barrier. Since the consumers now relate yellow and red
with instant Noodles the marketers have to package their product similarly or they
would have to take a risk to differentiate their product with a different colour and
create their own perception in the minds of the consumers.

The colour green also stood out. Some of the individuals chose to market organic
instant noodles with the colour green, green and yellow was also seen as a
combination which indicates that people associate green with organic and healthy
food. Thus if one wants to project an instant noodles as healthy, the colour green
would be a good aid.

Challenges: Individuals were not experts in designing, few people focused more on
the tag lines and left the packaging colour blank, some of them used too many colours
and no single colour was prominent.

Primary Research: Retail Stores

Methodology: In order to understand the consumer purchasing behaviour, we visited

a retail store in Bhubaneswar. We chose retail store as a part of our research since this
is the place where the main buying decisions are taken by the consumers, the point of
actual sales. We interviewed around 11 consumers with the age group ranging from
20-55 and the store manager regarding any consumer buying patterns he noticed and
the product sales of the selected categories.

In this research we chose mainly three categories which include:

Tea
Detergent
Instant Noodles

For all the consumers we interviewed, we asked them the following questions for the
above categories:

Q1. Which product would you choose and why?

Q2. If no brand names are given then only based on packaging which one would
you choose? Does the colour of the packet have anything to do with it?

Q3. If you have to decide a particular colour for this product's packaging what it
would be? Give Reason

TEA

Results:

In case of tea most of the respondents picked Tata Tea as their first choice followed
by Red Label and Taj Mahal. When asked the first answer was tastes good
which then slowly boiled down to the brand and the trust they have in it. Most of the
consumers had been sticking to the same brand over the years and had hardly
experimented.
When asked about the packaging maximum consumers preferred Green since they felt
that it connects with the colour of tea leaves and also gives out a feeling of being
healthy and eco-friendly. One of the customers mentioned red since the tea when it is
made is the colour of red and thus connected more with Red Label as a brand.
However, Blue was not chosen by anyone as their choice of packaging.
Insights: Upon interviewing the store manager, we found out that Tate tea was the
most fast moving product in Tea category whereas Taj Mahal was slow which
corroborated the fact that the average consumers connected more with Tata Teas

green packaging. Since Taj Mahal is positioned as the Hazaaron mein ek Chai
which is for the luxury seeking consumer which explains its blue packaging ( From
the survey we found that a lot of people associate Royal and luxury with Blue) , it is
slow moving.

INSTANT NOODLES

Results: As in the case of the projective technique, the consumers at the retail stores
too had the colour Yellow associated strongly with Instant Noodles. It was interesting
to note that local offerings for instant noodles had similar themes of Maggi in case of
colour. Most of the consumers chose Knorr and Top Ramen as their favourites and all
most everyone mentioned this was due to the absence of Maggi on the shelves.
Everyone mentioned that yellow is an attractive colour however a lady aged 55
mentioned that Colors doesnt impact her buying behaviour and that she will only
buy after looking at the brand.

Insights: Maggi which targeted mostly children chose yellow as its primary colour
which attracted a no of people and became an instant hit. One of the consumers also
mentioned that since the colour of noodles is yellow, the packaging should also be
yellow which is not the always the case. It simply reiterates the brand Maggi and its
impact on People. Chings Noodles was successfully able to distinguish itself by its
White and red combination of packaging which stood out and this may be the reason
that in the absence of Maggi, Chings was slowly catching the speed in retail stores
according the Store Manager.

DETERGENT

Results: Most consumers picked surf excel as their favourite which was also
corroborated by the store manager. People related to surf excels blue colour.
Consumers somehow associated he colour blue with clean and foam. One of the
consumers mentioned that they liked sulf excel matics pink and blue colour since
women mostly like or associate with these colours. Blue was unanimously selected as
the colour for detergents.

Insights: In this case we gained insight regarding gender biased packaging. Most of
the detergents had colours of pink , blue which were the colour preferences of women.
Consumers also talked about the bink and blue granules that are present in Surf
Excels packet. Thus marketers not only use colours in the packaging but are also
incorporating it in their products.

Challenges:

Upon the first instance the consumers mostly talked about the brands rather than the
colours. They found it difficult to choose a product just based on the colour of the

packaging which tells us that the brands also play a role in popularising/ personifying
certain colours and not just the other way round.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONNAIRE

Methodology: We prepared a questionnaire and distributed it to certain individuals of

different age groups and asked them to associate certain colours with feeling and
emotions. Conversely, we mentioned certain emotions and feelings and asked them to
associate those with various colours they could think of.

Also, we provided them with six categories of packaged goods and asked their
preference with regards to the corresponding colour. The categories were:

Mobile phone
Breakfast
Cereals
Soft Drinks
Instant Noodles
Toothpaste

Colour Association Study:

We mentioned the following words to the respondents and they came up with the
colour they associated the feeling or emotion with. The colours that were most
associated with the feelings have been tabulated below:

Ange
r
Deat
h
Love
Life

Red

Mas
culin
ity
Hap
pines
s
Inno
cenc
e
Femi
ninit
y
Lux
ury
Frie
ndlin

Blac
k
Red
Gre
en
Blue

Yell
ow

Whi
te

Pink

viol
et
Ora
nge

ess
Clea
nline
ss
Fami
ly

Beau
ty
Passi
on
Peac
efuln
ess

Whi
te

Gre
en
&
blue
Pink

Red

Whi
te

Packaged Goods Colour Research

Respondents were asked to choose colour(s) to show their preference for the various
goods. Category wise results have been depicted in bar charts below:

Mobile Phone
50

46

40
30
20

14

10
0
Black

Brown

Red

Green

Yellow

Violet

6
Blue

3
Orange

0
Pink

Insight: The most preferred colour for mobile phones has come out to be black
followed by white. People generally associate these two colours with luxury and
status. Also, white means simplicity for a lot of people.

Grey

White

Breakfast Cereals
30
24

25

23

20
15
10
3

5
0

12

11

0
Black

Brown

Red

Green

Yellow

Violet

Blue

Orange

Pink

Grey

White

Insight: For breakfast cereals, people prefer brown and yellow more which gives
them a sense of wholesome food.

Soft Drinks
30
25

25
19

20
15
10

8
5

7
3

Pink

Grey

0
Black

Brown

Red

Green

Yellow

Violet

Blue

Orange

Insight: Soft drinks have been black and orange as most preferred.

White

Toothpaste
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

37

16

14
7

Black

Brown

Red

Green

3
Yellow

0
Violet

Blue

Orange

Pink

4
Grey

White

Instant Noodles
45

40

40
35
30
25
20
15

10
5
0

0
Black

0
Brown

Red

Green

4
Yellow

0
Violet

0
Blue

Orange

2
0
Pink

Grey

Insight: For instant noodles, people prefer yellow most which gives them a feel of
maggi.

White

Four Wheelers
35
30

30

25

20

20

20
13

15
9

10
4

Green

Yellow

0
Black

Brown

Red

Violet

Blue

Orange

0
Pink

Grey

White

Two Wheelers
40
35

34

30
25
20
15
9

10
3

12

10
2

0
Black

Brown

Red

Green

Yellow

Violet

Blue

Orange

Pink

Grey

White

ACTION RESEARCH

Methodology: 6 coloured glasses filled with the same cold-drink were kept in a circle
to avoid biasedness and five coloured packets of same variety of chips. The
participants were asked to taste each of the cold drinks and chips simultaneously to
prevent the same taste from being recognized.

Chips Colour Experiment

Results: Most of the subjects responded that the chips from the red packaging tasted
the best followed by blue. People described the taste as spicy and tangy whereas the
brown and pink packets were the least favourite. Most of the people described it as
having bland taste. During the experiment, it was observed that most subjects picked
up the red and yellow first. These colours were bright due to which many of them
were attracted to them as compared to softer colours such as pink or earthy colour of
brown.

Insights: In case of chips, the colour of the packaging also tells the consumer about
the flavour it is associated with it. Most of the people chose red and associated the
taste tangy and spicy with chips. Red is also the most attractive colour and makes a
bold statement which is why the top selling chips brands have red as their packaging.

As the "happiest" colour, yellow indicates cheerfulness and optimism and general good
feelings. On top of that it is attractive and catches the eye also. During our research using the
questionnaire approach, the colour that people most associated with happy was yellow. Given
that eating is an emotional experiencesatisfaction, happiness, comfortfood marketers
capitalize on yellows feel-good power and use it liberally in branding

Brown and Pink on the other hand do not relate to any particular flavours of the snack
nor do they make a strong association with the product. However surprising the
customer with a differentiating colour (researched) might lead to a happy outcome for
the marketer.

Challenges: A number of people found the taste to be similar in all cases, some
people were not able to articulate why they picked up a particular packet.

Soft-drink Colour Experiment

Best Taste
Red & Blue
2

Red

Orange

10

yellow

Worst Taste
green

2
6

yellow
10

white
blue

Results: Out of the 6 glasses, the glass with the blue and red stripes was preferred the
most followed by the red glass. The least preferred glass turned out to be green
followed by yellow.

Insights: On being asked the reason for picking up the red & blue striped glass first
most number of times and also the most preferred one, the respondents mentioned that
it reminded them of Pepsi and the red one of coca-cola. Surprisingly, the drink that we
used was not Pepsi, but Coke.

Conclusion

Colour is ubiquitous and is a source of information. People make up their minds

within 90 seconds of their initial interactions with either people or products. About
6290 percent of the assessment is based on colours alone. So, prudent use of colours
can contribute not only to differentiating products from competitors, but also to
influencing moods and feelings positively or negatively and therefore, to attitude
towards certain products. Given that our moods and feelings are unstable and that

colours play roles in forming attitude, it is important that managers understand the
importance of colours in marketing.

We have limited our research to consumer goods but colours exist in all spheres and
this research can be extended to other categories as well.

Colours evoke different feeling in different people and marketers need to understand
this and recognise which colours are in or trending; for example the neon colours are
in trend. There was a time when marketers would never have thought of marketing
such colours. The ones that take a risk stand the chance of becoming the trendsetters.

 Appendix
Interview Questionnaire:

1. Which colour(s) do you like the most?

Black
Brown
Red
Green
Yellow
Violet
Blue
Orange
Pink
Grey
White
2. What word(s) comes to mind when you think of these colours?
Black
Brown
Red
Green
Yellow
Violet
Blue
Orange
Pink
Grey
White
3. Which colours would you use to identify the mentioned attributedAnger
Death
Love
Life
Manly
Happiness
Innocence
Femininity
Luxury
Friendly
Clean
Family
Beautiful
Passion
Cheerful/ Joy

Peaceful
4. If you had to buy the following, which colour(s) would you choose?

Mo
bil
e
ph
on
e
Br
eak
fas
t
Ce
rea
ls
Sof
t
Dri
nks
Ins
tan
t
No
odl
es
To
oth
pas
te

Br

Yel

Vi

Or

Participants involved in the various experiments:

References

http://research-methodology.net/influence-of-colour-of-clothing-products-on-consumerbuyer-behaviour/

http://udel.edu/~rworley/e412/Psyc_of_color_final_paper.pdf

https://www.google.co.in/url?
sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDsQFjADahUKEwj
D2cKRicDIAhWHB44KHWXvBxs&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zemgalei.lv
%2Ffetch_54767_ZmlsZV9uYW1l.html&usg=AFQjCNHJBUvQIfmORFVo5EUAkbLnZJZag

http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2009/03/25/how-colour-influences-consumerbehavior

http://growingscience.com/beta/msl/441-impact-of-colours-on-advertisement-andpackaging-on-buying-behavior.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_psychology

http://www.academia.edu/3039200/COLOURING_CONSUMER_S_PSYCHOLOGY
_USING_DIFFERENT_SHADES

http://www.indus.edu.pk/publication/Publication-15.pdf

http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/articles/how-does-colour-affect-consumerbehaviour