Color Marketing for 2014 – Selecting the Right Shade of Color for Marketing Your Product

This post was inspired while watching a goofy Christmas movie with my daughter this holiday season. In the scene the phone in a downtown NYC office the phone rings at Buddy’s father’s office, “Buddy the Elf – What’s your favorite color?”

Each year the Color Marketing Council selects shades of colors that are/will be popular with consumers. In October 2012, they announced the 2014 palette and in Nov of 2013 announced World Palette Next. To really delve into the colors, you’ve got to be a member of their organization, but knowing where the colors are going has advantages for product developers and marketers. Anyone who has done a full color study for launching their new product knows color can be a challenge. So having access to trending color choices can be very helpful.

It has an advantage of helping manufacturers and marketers to focus on the most likely popular colors that will sell as well as help them save money on inventory by limiting the number of SKUs. Many of us remember avacodo green kitchen appliances and the burnt/rusty orange cars. While most of the colors choices aren’t that far out of the spectrum, often a range of hues of blue or red is often a choice of the year.

Pantone also studies colors (You may be familiar with their PMS – Pantone Matching System – colors which are used by graphic designers and printers to match shades) and names colors of the year.  PantoneView is a good resource for those choosing a color palette for products.

But what will become of the shades of choice for 2014?

Here’s a few indications that I’ve uncovered for the coming year. If you’re in the midst of selecting colors for an important project, you may want to delve in deeper:

Purples for 2014 Historically, purple has been linked to wealth, royalty, and high religious orders. Lately, it has also surfaced as a color of health, with the uptick in dark berries.

Radiant Purple is Pantone color of 2014: A captivating harmony of fuchsia, purple and pink undertones, Radiant Orchid emanates great joy, love and health.

Blue is back: “…tastes in blue are moving away from denim and indigo [to] a midrange one we called Re-Blued, which works with lots of colors of the palette, from warm to cool.”

So if Buddy the Elf answers your call and you are a marketer what will be your answer in 2014?!? Leave your color answer in the comments below: