B2B brand colour trends for 2009

What colours are expected to be fashionable for B2B brands in 2009?

In these times of recession I have blogged elsewhere about the increased need for smart marketing and communications. Now is a good time to talk about trends in brand and brand design that will become increasingly important during the economic downturn. 

One thing I am often asked is “what colours should we be using for our brand”? For the last few years the colour palette of B2B brands has been pretty familiar. The usual suspect is ‘blue’ (I once heard that 65% of companies listed on the London Stock Exchange have blue in their corporate identity – note to myself, I must check this!) with most brands adding a second colour – perhaps a red, green, or grey – or occasionally a bright blue! Another recent trend during the pre-recession years were sophisticated colour palettes inspired by architects and interior designers (lets face it, most creative agencies have a Farrow & Ball colour chart knocking around for inspiration).

I remember back to the economic slump of the late 90s. I was busy designing Annual Reports for many of the UK’s top PLCs and can recall marketeers, brand managers and corporate comms guys telling us “the budget is fine, just make sure you don’t make it look like we spent too much”. Back then it was a case of printing on uncoated stock (shiny paper looked too flash), cutting back on photo shoots and not being too colourful.

So what of 2009? With the economy uncertain, should we expect Corporates and B2B brands to be doing the same as they did in the late 90s? I think not – and I’ll tell you for why. 

Firstly, a lot has changed in the last 10 years. In the late 90s the Annual Report was ‘the corporate bible’. These were the days before websites really counted, when an Annual Report told everyone what they needed to know – and that was that for the next 12 months. Gone are the days when you judged a company by the quality of it’s paper stock. Today it’s fast moving – email marketing, virals, online reporting and online news means everything is urgent and on demand 24 hours a day. Colour – even for B2Bs – has got to catch the viewer’s attention. Go bland, and there’s a good chance you won’t be noticed… 

Another big change in the last 10 years is the switch in ‘colour technology’. It’s a fact – more people come into contact with brands on-screen than in print. And here’s the rub – on-screen colours are considerably more vibrant than colours printed out of CMYK onto paper. Designers have realised that they can specify vibrant colours as part of a corporate brand, purely because they know they will look great online and on TV.

For my friends who ‘print’ it’s also worth remembering that printed colours are getting better too. Recent improvements to repro and printing techniques means that punchy colours are easier and more affordable to achieve on paper.

And here’s my final thought. Consumer brands switched all out to vivid, vibrant colours a couple of years ago. And as sure as day follows night, Corporate brands just love to follow Consumer brands for style (with a respectable gap, of course). The timing is just right for Corporates to get punchy with their colour palettes, and suspect 2009 will be the year they do it.

A final thought…

Please read this blog post with a measure of common sense. I’m not suggesting for a moment that all B2B brands will suddenly find their MoJo and go all psychedelic and funky on us. They won’t. But the successful Corporates will be dipping their toe in the rainbow river of colour in 2009 for all the right reasons. Watch this space…

If you love colour, and you want to explore it and current colour trends visit Adobe’s Kuler or the COLOURlovers websites. They’re well worth a browse…

Here are some great examples and inspiration for colour palettes we should expect from B2B’s and Corporates in 2009.

Apple’s range of trendy iPod Nanos sets an exciting precedent for colour inspiration in 2009.

Below: some examples of brands using 2009 colour schemes…

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Contact me to find out how WiseTiger can help your brand design in 2009…

 

See my other blog about Pantone’s Official Colour for 2009 – Mimosa Yellow.

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