1. How to Use Color in Branding?
• Color is an important branding element
• More than a quarter (26%) of the world’s 100
most valuable brands use blue as a dominant
color in their logo.
• Companies that rely on blue to create a strong
brand presence include IBM, GE, Intel, Nokia,
HP, American Express and Gillette.

2. Why Blue Color?
• Blue is a color readily found in nature, and
reminds people of the sky, it is often considered
to be a universally acceptable color.
• In many religions, blue is associated with peace
or is believed to keep bad spirits away.
• In some parts of Eastern Europe, the color also
has positive meanings – loyalty, virtue, and
wisdom. Several African cultures associate blue
with peace and love.

3. Blue Color is Acceptable Almost
Everywhere
• Blue can also create a somber or sobering
effect.
• Blue can make people in some Western and
Asian cultures think of cold and icy winter
days.
• In Iran, blue is a color of mourning. Blue is
sometimes associated with authority or
discipline – think of the many shades of blue
used by police officers and military personnel.

4. What about Green Color?
• The color green is rarely found among the
world’s leading brands.
• Just five out of the top 100 global brands—
Google, eBay, Sprite, Heineken, and
Starbucks—use green.
• And, for most of these companies, green is
not a dominant color, but rather, used
sparingly in combination with other colors.

5. Green is going to be acceptable
everywhere
• Despite its lack of dominance among top international
brands, green is actually one of the most positive colors
that marketers can choose on a global scale.
• Long associated with nature in nearly every culture, green
is linked to good health, life, and vitality in many places.
• In China, green is thought to repel evil.
• In the Muslim world, green is linked to spirituality, heaven,
religion and God.
• Starbucks, which ranked 97 out of the Top 100 brands in
2010, is the only top global brand that chooses green as its
most dominant color. In contrast, the second most valuable
Chinese brand, China Life, has a logo that is predominantly
green.

6. What about Black?
• Although not everyone would consider it a
true color, basic black was just as popular as
blue, with 26 out of the top 100 brands—
including companies such as Microsoft,
Disney, Louis Vuitton and Apple—using black
as their most prominent hue.

7. What about Red?
• Attention-grabbing red is the next most
popular shade for top global brands. While
only one top 10 company—first-ranked Coca-
Cola—chose red as its most dominant color,
• it was used by a total of 15 other companies in
the top 100 brands throughout the world. In
China, red is even more popular among
leading brands, with exactly half of the
country’s top 10 brands using this color.

8. Reference URLs
• http://www.interbrand.com/en/knowledge/b
est-global-brands/best-global-brands-
2008/best-global-brands-2010.aspx

9. Thanks for Your Time