The answer is a lot. In fact, color can be everything. Just where would Tiffany’s be without blue, UPS without brown, or Coca-Cola without red? Not only does each of these brands make effective use of color, they own that color in their respective categories, hands-down. Granted, it took millions of advertising dollars and years of brand impressions to do it. So what does that mean for businesses that don’t have the marketing budget of a small country? Can your brand still use color to stand out from your competitors? Why, yes of course!

Feeling Blue (or Red)

Here’s a fantastic graphic originally published in Wired magazine that illustrates the color landscape of corporate America. Although a little dated (note the Enron logo), it does a great job of showing just how concentrated the space is for brands using red or blue as their primary color. It also becomes obvious where there might be opportunities for differentiation.

Take a moment to think about where your brand falls on the color map of your specific battleground. Are you swimming in a competitive sea of corporate IBM blue?

Don’t Just Use Color, Own It
Here’s an example of how Hodgson/Meyers used color as a strong brand differentiator for Applied Systems, the largest and most progressive company in the insurance management technology industry. Applied Systems’ previous brand used a traditional royal blue and bright red color system. Ok, not a bad thing in itself — however, most of their competitors and a host of other companies in peer industries were using a similar color palette. Not good if you’re trying to stand out.

before

As a result, H/M proposed the current warm yellow as one way to break away from the pack and to represent Applied’s focus on cultivating strong customer relationships, as well as their status as an innovative, forward-thinking industry leader.

after

The new yellow color was designed to be an integral part of the brand, and was applied (pardon the pun) on everything from the corporate logo to promotional buttons. The result is a fresh look that re-energizes the brand and signifies its status as an aggressive, vibrant company.

What do you think?
What companies, brands or marketing campaigns do you think use color as a strong brand asset?  Comment here.