Osborne Pike

Shelf Life

28 June 2011
Brand Stories From Worldwide Supermarkets

Wall of colour

Posted June 28, 2011
OldElPasoBold

Ah, unique colours, the nirvana of shelf impact. Everyone wants one, but they don’t always want to accept the consequences:

1 Truly unique colours like Cadbury purple and Milka lilac are nothing to do with category language, because they were created before there was such a term. Relatively few brands have changed to a new and unique colour in modern times, one notable exception being Whiskas cat food.  Guess what, that’s purple too!

2 Variety differentiation is going to be more tricky when the dominant colour is all about the brand. This is the opposite of what we call ‘crisp packet coding’ where the first colour you see always equals flavour.

3 Expect some Own Label admirers to adopt the same colour, unless you have a well briefed legal team and you’re not afraid to use them. Actually don’t bother…

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