New research from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science at the University of South Australia has unearthed the finding images, not colours, are more effective at signalling product variety.

The study analysed the perceptions of 1853 customers across 576 products in the US packaged goods market. It found only 56% of product varieties had a colour that was commonly expected by category buyers. This suggests a disconnect between the colours used by brands and those anticipated by customers, with these aligning only 16% of the time.

Furthermore, the research revealed competing brands use similar colours to signal 84% of the variant types analysed. However, consumers associated a colour with only 56% of those types.

The study's findings indicate images are a more explicit signal of product variety than colour. When images were assessed, 23% more consumers were able to link these to product variants. This suggests that images provide a more reliable and effective way for brands to communicate product variety to consumers.

Dr Ella Ward, Senior Marketing Scientist at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, explained the reasoning behind these findings. "Colour is unidimensional and ambiguous; its meaning is highly dependent on the pre-existing memory associations held by each individual. Images, on the other hand, are rich in neural information which makes them more readily processed in memory," she said.

"As images are less ambiguous, they have more power to convey variety than colours. Yet for marketers, it’s common practice to signal a new line extension by mimicking the colours used by competitors."

Dr Ward recommended using images where possible and protecting the master brand by keeping variant colours to 25% of the pack face or less.

“Consider Cadbury’s chocolate: the colour purple is always emphasised, but flavour variations are signalled by a coloured banner and an image, such as sultanas and nuts for a ‘Fruit & Nut’ extension. This ensures the master brand colour remains prominent, and the portfolio looks visually cohesive,"Dr Ward said.

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