Jemi's Corner of Simple Commplexities

How Colorful | August 2, 2009

Imagine a world full of color. Everyone would feel drastically happier than if it were just black and white. Everything would look more vibrant and more attractive. Food will be a lot more scrumptious, cars would not look like hearses, trees would look far healthier, and the sun would be smiling. All in all, people would be more connected to the world around them.

Now, I would like to think of color as brands and their quest to seek online profit, reputation, and world domination. (The last one is just a joke.) There are some aspects of color that seem to mirror how companies and brands work and should work on the Internet, and I would like to explain this in three, hopefully easy-to-understand ideas:

1.) Red : Violet Red :: Market : Brand

The thing about color is that there might be this one generic color and then there are its many variations, and these variations may be mixed with other generic colors. For the analogy given above, violet red slightly touches the shade of blue. That is basically the same for brands. A certain field or market can be simultaneously occupied by many brands, and a certain brand can occupy a single or several markets at a given point in time. As of now, I do not know any brand which encompasses all possible niches in the online world, but I know of some which currently are in several markets. Google, for example, is in search engines, messaging, and topography. That is three markets at once for a single brand. This versatility allows companies (and their respective brands) to have wider public coverage, more recall, and eventually, bigger profit.

2.) Yellow : Canary Yellow and Lemon Yellow :: Messaging : Gmail and Yahoo! Mail

If I would ask persons to choose which among the two yellows above is more appealing, some would tell me Canary and others would tell me Lemon Yellow. Personally, I think Lemon Yellow is better, since it is not too flashy, and it suits men more compared to Canary Yellow. This is my personal judgment.

Because of the attractiveness of social media and the “e-workplace”(a term I like to use when talking about companies connected online), many new and old corporations are entering the markets of cyberspace. This creates a highly competitive environment where companies are aiming to gain advantage over other brands of the same market. The main problem for companies nowadays is not whether to enter industries online, but how to stay there. Companies should make it a point to establish their individuality amidst monotony: how they are different from other competing brands of the similar industry. Furthermore, companies should make a name for themselves with the individual specifically in mind. Catching the attention of the consumer is key, and consumers have different criteria for a good brand. If companies want to succeed, satisfying these standards must always be considered. Just like personal color choices, people also have preferences for brands.

Facebook seems to be a winner among teenagers, and the brand probably provides something worth the time of these youth, something that makes this networking site stand out from the rest. (I say ‘seems’ and ‘probably’ since I still haven’t tried it out myself.) As for messaging, I am still undecided between Gmail and Yahoo! Mail. This means that Gmail and Yahoo! Mail still have to prove to me who among them deserves to be called ‘better’ than the other brand.

3.) Pearl White : Dirty White :: Multiply : Facebook

Not all colors are always attractive. Some are even not attractive at all. If you are asked to choose between two new plain shirts, one with a bright pearl white color, the other with a dirty white shade, which would you choose? Most likely it would be the one with the pearl white color. (I asked my family which between the two will they choose, all of them said the pearl white colored one.) Even if both shirts are truly brand new, the former is chosen because dirty white shirts do not look as bright and as clean as the other one.

Ok, so a company had already established itself online. But is their reputation actually good and profitable? If not, it should be. Online reputation is everything for a company; it can spell continued success, meager endurance, or abrupt closure altogether. A brand with good reputation is sure to gain more revenue and support compared to a competing brand with a tainted record. For example, Multiply is preferred by some instead of Facebook because there have been discussions about deleted Facebook accounts with its content still lasting in the website’s databases. Companies must avoid receiving negative feedback by constantly checking on their reputation online. Some ways on how companies can do this are by monitoring customer discussions and feedback, analyzing website statistics such as page hits and comments count, and comparing the brand to others in the industry.

Taking this all into account, companies and their brands have a lot of things to consider. Entering online markets and obtaining a permanent niche in it is necessary for companies to prosper in the 21^st century. A world full of color is there in the Internet, and companies must strive to determine the specific hues, shades, and mixtures they need to stay competitive.

Note: This entry is inspired by the Conversation Prism and its multitude of “pretty and wonderful” colors. BTW, black looks good, really.

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