Fifty shades of green

As you may have noticed, the masthead of this publication ( cat.a.lyst ) has turned green, beginning today. I am delighted, because I think green is the most popular colour with brands, marketers and consumers (only red comes anywhere close). Therefore, it is a perfect shade for a newspaper which is dedicated to exploring the discipline and modern frontiers of marketing.

When you next walk down the aisles of your supermarket, look out for the colours that brands sport in our country. I visited my friendly neighbourhood store this morning, and here is what I saw.

Right at the entrance was a display full of Garnier products, most of them green. On one side of the door was a shelf full of Dettol, again in green. On the other side was a huge poster for Tetley green tea, featuring four different “green” flavours and urging consumers to cleanse themselves with the beverage.

The only “non-green” area at the entrance was the prominent Cadbury’s shelf, where the colour purple dominated. As I walked down the aisles, here are some of the “green” brands which immediately leapt out, one after the other: Britannia Nutrichoice, Ariel detergent, Whisper Ultra Clean sanitary napkins, Tata Tea, Lipton Green Tea, Bru coffee, Knorr soup, Scotch Brite, Hamam and Chandrika soaps, Olay Natural, Tide Natural Lemon, Dabur Amla Hair oil, Colgate Max Fresh toothpaste, 7Up soft drink. And a host of other brands, too numerous to list here.

Emotionally positive So why is green such a popular colour? The answer lies in the psychology of the colour, in the many shades of emotions and thoughts that it triggers. Perhaps green holds more meanings for consumers than any other colour. Here is a brief exploration of this subject which marketers can reflect on, even as you consider and make choices regarding the colours of your brands.

First and foremost, brands in most categories like to sport emotionally positive colours, because brands have to generally make consumers feel good and optimistic.

Green is universally acknowledged as being emotionally positive. It is the colour of nature, which all of us love and desire. It is the colour of fertility, and therefore of life, both of which fill us with hope for the future. It is perceived as a bright colour, and therefore happy at its core.

Hence, marketers can use shades of green for their brands, safe in the knowledge that this colour will be quite uplifting for their consumers. Think about some other colours for a moment – say, black or pink – and you will discover that the above logic certainly does not apply.

Shelf appeal Brands which are packaged in bright green leap off the shelf because most of us tend to notice green immediately. In a crowded world of brands where many consumers choose their brands at the point of purchase, this is a big advantage.

Interestingly, I discovered this power of green in a very different context recently. On a drive from Chennai to Bangalore, my wife and daughter pointed out that most roadside restaurants and dhabas have begun sporting green neon lights, to hold the attention of cars zipping by. And indeed, these green lights make the dhabas stand out, very loud and clear.

In our kirana shops, bright green packs stand out even louder because they contrast very well against the relatively poor-lit interiors. This may also be true for other naturally bright colours such as red and orange, but is unfortunately not the case with colours such as blue and brown.

Health and wellness Green is associated in our minds with well-being and health, states of being which virtually every consumer aspires for. Therefore, if your brand is about restoring or nurturing wellness, or about preserving good health, green is quite the natural choice for packaging or branding.

This consumer perception is further reinforced by the fact that green-coloured products, such as green tea or green vegetables, are widely known to be healthy. No wonder Britannia uses a deep green for packaging its Nutrichoice biscuits, which are clearly positioned on the platform of nutrition leading to health. Similarly, Dettol, which is all about robust health resulting from protection against germs, has always sported green as its brand colour, with a protective sword added for good measure.

Freshness Nature is green, fresh leaves are green, fresh vegetables are green. For all these reasons and more, green is the colour most associated with freshness, much like red is associated with excitement and energy.

Therefore, when the company that I am part of launched its flagship brand Tata Tea more than two decades ago, positioned as estate-fresh tea with the byline “ Asli Taazgi ”, green was quite naturally the colour for this brand. Perhaps for the same reason, Knorr soup, which claims only natural ingredients, also uses green. Here is an exercise: Can you think of any brands positioned on the benefit of freshness which do not use this colour?

Green light From the green in traffic lights comes yet another interesting and widely understood modern-day meaning of this colour – the “green light” to move ahead. Glucon-D, which offers instant energy through glucose, and hence powers consumers to surge ahead, has perhaps adopted green for this very reason. There is an opportunity here because I have not seen many brands using green in this context yet.

Sustainability As consumers increasingly seek environmental responsibility from the products they buy, and as corporates become more conscious in their capitalism, brands have begun pursuing many routes to sustainability. Through methods such as ethical sourcing, by reducing carbon or water footprint, through recyclable packaging or the use of less polluting forms of energy, marketers are making a determined effort, though it is admittedly early days yet. Once again, green is the best colour with which to express contribution to the environment, since it is the colour of unspoilt nature and unpolluted life.

Therefore, many brands are already sporting green logos or colours to reflect this approach, and we could expect many more to follow, in the years ahead.

Well balanced In addition to the above multiple shades of green, some observers say green is also the colour of balance. Green is not a primary colour, it results from a mixing of yellow and blue. Therefore, it combines the exuberant optimism of yellow with the emotional calm of blue, resulting in a unique balance. Can marketers use this insight to their advantage?

Green is also associated with prosperity and wealth because it is the colour of harvest, and also the colour of currency notes in many nations (which is why US dollars are famously called greenbacks). How can brands leverage this perception?

Finally, while green is such a popular colour, have you ever wondered why some specific product categories do not use much of green at all? For instance, we don’t see many green cars or motorbikes on our roads.

No major brand of chocolates or ice-creams, to the best of my knowledge, uses green as its signature colour.

Are there lessons from these categories? Or, on the other hand, are there bright green opportunities lurking here, for brands which want to impart a new colour to their worlds?

Harish Bhat is the author of Tata Log: Eight modern stories from a timeless institution. The views expressed here are personal.

> bhatharish@hotmail.com

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