色彩营销理论英文文献翻译.doc

Abstract. 摘要This article explores the role that color can play in building brand meaning with two experiments. 本文通过两个实验，来探讨颜色在构建品牌意义方面所发挥的作用。Without prior conditioning, we demonstrate how an appropriately chosen color for a brand name (logo) can bring inherent and immediate value to a brand. 我们论证了，在没有前提条件的情况下，为一个品牌（商标）选择一个合适的颜色，能带来内在和直观的品牌价值。Experiment 1 explores the notion of congruity, showing that it is more appropriate for functional products to be presented in functional colors, and sensory social products in sensory-social colors. 实验1探讨了一致性的概念，表明功能型产品的商标更适合使用功能型色彩，而社交感知型产品则适合使用社交感知型的色彩。Experiment 2 examines the effect of red and blue on brands of products that can be classified as both functional and sensory-social, and the ability of color to enhance a brands desired image. 实验2则证明了红色和蓝色在品牌形象的构建中，可以同时起到功能型和社交感知型的作用。此外，颜色还能提升品牌的期望值。When people know how brands are attempting to position themselves, people consider colors congruent with those positions to be more appropriate. 当人们了解到品牌是如何试图定位它们自身的时候，人们便会考虑与这些定位更接近和一致的颜色来搭配它们。Key Words brand identity color connotative meaning关键词：品牌识别；颜色；内涵Consumers associate certain brands with certain colors, such as Marlboro with red, Guinness with black, and Cadbury with purple (Grimes and Doole, 1998).消费者将某些品牌和某些颜色联想起来，例如红色的万宝路，黑色的吉尼斯黑啤还有紫色的吉百利（Grimes and Doole, 1998）。Collectively, color, symbol, shape and lettering contribute to what Lightfoot and Gerstman (1998) define as visual equity. 一般来说，颜色，符号，形状和字母决定了莱特福特和格斯特曼所定义的视觉平衡。Visual equity is the value derived from visual form, that is the look and feel of the brand. Visual equity contributes towards brand recognition, enabling a brand to stand out on the supermarket shelf (e.g. the iconic shape of the Coca Cola bottle). 视觉平衡是从视觉形式中衍变来的价值，即品牌的“外形和感觉”。视觉平衡有助于品牌认知，使一个品牌可以从市场货架上脱颖而出（例如：可口可乐瓶子的图标形状）。It also helps to communicate a brands desired image (e.g. Prudentials Rock of Gibraltar logo with associations of strength; Keller, 1998). 他也能够帮助传达一个品牌的图像要求（例如：用力量的结合作为直布罗陀的保诚岩石的标志; Keller, 1998）.We focus here on the intrinsic meaning of color, that if appropriately selected may bring, inherent and immediate value to the brand (Kohli and LaBahn, 1997: 67), like a carefully chosen name.本文主要致力于颜色的内在意义，若选择合适的颜色会带来品牌的内在与及时价值（ Kohli and LaBahn, 1997: 67），和细心地选择名字一样重要。But what makes a color appropriate for a product or conveying a brand identity, for instance in a logotype? Turning to the marketplace for guidance as to what constitutes an appropriate color-product combination may prove unhelpful on at least two counts. First, grocery store audits suggest that a packages primary color is often used to denote flavor (Garber and Hyatt, 2003). Second, based on a survey of 82 product categories, over 50 percent of store brands from two US supermarkets were found to imitate leading national brands visual equity in terms of color, size and shape (Scott Morton and Zettelmeyer, 2000). While imitation may be the greatest form of flattery, the color selection decision for these copycat brands was essentially preordained, hence providing limited guidance regarding the color selection decision beyond follow the leader.但究竟是什么决定一个产品的合适颜色或是传达品牌的一致性，是由商标决定？转向市场为了指导构成了以适当的颜色产品组合可能无益于证明于至少两点。首先，食品杂货店的审计员建议产品外包装的首选颜色一贯影响并直接指示着味道（Garber and Hyatt, 2003）。其次，基于对82项产品类别的分析，发现两大美国超市中多于50%的商品品牌模仿主导国家品牌的视觉平衡在颜色，形状及外形方面（Scott Morton and Zettelmeyer, 2000）。虽然模仿可能是最大的奉承形式，这些山寨品牌的颜色选择的决定基本上是注定的，因此提供有限的指导关于颜色的选择决定超越“跟随主导品牌”。This article investigates the role of color in brand image creation with two experiments. The first study explores the issue of congruity, showing that it is more appropriate for functional products to be presented in functional colors, and sensory-social products in sensory-social colors. The second study extends the first by exploring the ability of color to enhance or dilute brand identity and considers the interplay of visual (color) and verbal (benefit proposition) information.本文以两个实验探究颜色在品牌形象中的角色。第一个实验探讨了一致性的概念，表明功能型产品的商标更适合使用功能型色彩，而社会感知型产品则适合使用社会感知型的色彩。第二个实验对第一个实验进一步延伸，通过探讨颜色的能力来增强或削弱品牌的一致性，并且考虑到了视觉上（色彩）和语言上（利益方面）信息之间的相互作用。Finally, while prior studies have concentrated on single products, we use multiple product categories to empirically test, rather than merely speculate about, the generalizability of our findings.最后，虽然以前的研究集中于单一产品，我们使用多个产品类别进行实证测试，而非仅仅是推测，我们的研究的结果仍具有普遍性Discussion and conclusions 结论Together, these studies respond to Garber and Hyatts (2003) call for guidelines to assist marketing managers with the color selection decision. 这些研究的结果，为Garber和Hyatt在2003年所提出的协助营销经理在选择适合的颜色进行推销方面，提供了指导意见。The initial study established that colors that are connotatively congruent with products are considered more appropriate. Specifically, functional colors are more appropriate for functional products, and sensory-social colors more appropriate for sensorysocial products. 第一个研究表明，与产品的内涵潜在一致的颜色是适合入选的。更确切地说，功能型产品更适合使用功能型色彩，而社交感知型产品则适合使用社交感知型的色彩。Even red, the least sensory-social of our set of sensory-social colors, and blue, the least functional of our set of functional colors, supported this notion. 即使是红色和蓝色，这两种分别在社交感知类型和功能型色彩系统里，所起到相应作用最小的两种颜色，都也符合这一观点。The second study addressed within-product category heterogeneity, acknowledging that brands can adopt a variety of positioning strategies, and thus products may be more color tolerant than initially observed. 第二个研究对应处理产品内部类别的异构性问题，确认了品牌可以采用多种定位策略，因而产品比起最初评述的标准来讲，具有更高的颜色容忍度。Brands promoting a functional image were better received in blue, while brands promoting a sensorysocial image were better received in red.功能型形象的品牌推广使用蓝色收效更好，而提升感觉社交型的品牌形象则是使用红色收效更好We have shown that colors and products have connotative meanings that are sufficiently shared by people to produce a systematic pattern of results consistent with our hypothesis, namely that congruent combinations will be judged more appropriate. 研究表明，人们对颜色和产品所具有的内涵意义所持有的共同观点,会产生一种系统模式的结果, 而其恰恰与我们的假设相符合，即意义一致的颜色和产品组合起来更合适。However, these observed effects may have been amplified given: (1) the within-subjects nature of the task (multiple comparisons), (2) explicit instructions to rate appropriateness, and (3) color being the main distinguishing feature among a set of nearly identical logos. 当然,这些观察到的结果有可能是被放大描述的，因为考虑到以下几点:(1)此任务中，实验对象存在的内在差异(多个比较),(2)对于比率的明确指示, (3)颜色是用以区分一组几乎相同的商标的主要特征。To assess the actual relevance and size of the congruity effect requires further study, ideally using downstream variables, such as brand attitude or brand choice, under conditions of incidental exposure, with richer stimuli, and a between-subjects design to minimize the extreme focus on color that characterizes the current tasks. 评估实际的关联和一致性效果的大小需要做进一步研究,最好使用下游变量,比如受试者对品牌态度和品牌的选择,在偶然接触的条件下,运用更强烈的刺激，以及受试者之间的设计来减少对颜色的极端关注来描述当前的任务。Nevertheless, Doyle and Bottomley (2004) found that people chose chocolate truffles in a ratio of 3:1 from a box displaying an appropriate font for chocolates, rather than an inappropriate font. 不过, Doyle和Bottomley通过 2004年的研究中发现,人们从有着适当字体的盒子中取出的巧克力松露是从字体不适当的盒子里取出的量的三倍。Thus, we are mildly confident that our results will have practical implications beyond our sterilized world.因此，我们有自信说我们的实验结果有着实际意义，而不只是在单纯的，严格控制的实验条件下得出的。To date, we have examined logos presented in a single color on a white background, yet many brands are associated with color combinations, such as FedEx with purple and crimson, BP with yellow and green. 到目前为止,我们已经查阅了很多以白色为背景，而用单一颜色设计的商标；当然也有许多品牌使用了相关的颜色组合,例如联邦快递与紫色和深红色,英国石油公司的则是黄色和绿色。Work on the inherent meaning of color combinations has produced conflicting findings.关于颜色组合的内在意义的实验得到了不一样的结果。For instance, Madden et al. (2000) asked people to select a color to partner a logo that consisted of a red, blue or green square. 例如，马登在2000年的实验中让受试者选择一个色彩，来搭配含有红色，蓝色或绿色等方块的商标。Colors with complementary meanings were paired with red; colors with consistent meanings were paired with blue; while green exhibited no obvious pattern across cultures. 带有互补含义的颜色都被搭配了红色；一致性含义的颜色被搭配了蓝色;而绿色没有显著的特殊搭配倾向。Having identified a color combination, the impact of foreground and background color might be explored using theories of color harmony (Morriss and Dunlap, 1987) that focus on issues of spatial balance and relative area to refine the meaning. 确定了一个颜色组合后,在使用哪个颜色来做前景和背景以产生更好效果的选择上，应该运用色彩和谐理论(Morriss and Dunlap, 1987),因为这一理论关注空间平衡以及如何运用相对面积达到意义的细化等问题。While both Shell and McDonalds are associated with red and yellow, the colors are combined in different proportions. 尽管壳牌和麦当劳都使用红色和黄色这一组合,但这两种颜色在不同商标中所占比例不一样。Do these differences contribute to subtle variations in connotative meaning? 这些差异会导致它们在内涵意义上的微妙变化吗?From an international perspective, more research is required on colors cross-cultural meaning. 从国际角度来看,我们需要进行更多关于颜色的跨文化意义的研究。For instance, Madden et al. (2000) suggested that blue, green, red, white, black, and brown are culturally invariant, while purple, yellow and orange are not. 例如，马登（2000）认为蓝，绿，红，白，黑及棕这些颜色不会因为国度或文化差异而有不同的意义；而紫色黄色及橘黄色则恰恰相反。Hupka et al. (1997) distinguished between primary emotions (anger, fear) that are genetically based with roots in evolution, and culturally based compound emotions (envy, jealousy). Hupka et al(1997)区分了基本情感和复合情感。即便经历了进化，基本情感(愤怒、恐惧)在人类基因上也是一成不变的,而复合情感(妒忌,嫉妒)等会因为文化上的差异产生变化。Colors associated with primary emotions were held more consistently across countries than colors with compound emotions, suggesting that brand images based on primary emotions offer more opportunities for standardization across countries.在不同的国度及文化里，比起与复合情绪相关的色彩，与基本情绪相关的色彩有着更强的稳定性,这表明基于基本情感的品牌形象能够在不同国家提供更多标准化服务。Consequently, we might expect IBMs logo (Big Blue) to convey a culturally invariant meaning, while FedExs purple and orange trade-dress to be culturally variant, and requiring customization to ensure a consistent image in the global marketplace. Further, Tavassoli (2001) found that Chinese students had better memory for the color of logographs than American students did for the color of alphabetic words. With greater reliance placed on visual processing when reading logographs rather than words, the connotative meaning of color may be more important in communicating a desired brand image in eastern rather than western cultures.因此,我们可以推测IBM的标志(大蓝色)传达的文化意义,而联邦快递的不变的紫色和橙色贸易服饰是文化变体,和要求定制,确保一致的形象在全球市场。进一步,Tavassoli(2001)发现,中国学生有更好的记忆logographs的颜色比美国学生做颜色的字母单词。更信实放在视觉处理当阅读logographs而不是单词,内涵意义的颜色可能是更重要的在沟通所需的品牌形象在东方而不是西方文化。From a methodological perspective, we treated connotative meaning as a uni-dimensional construct (functional vs. sensory-social), although multidimensional perspectives are popular within color psychology. For instance, Adams and Osgood (1973) measured color meaning in 23 countries using Osgood et al.s (1957) three dimensions of connotative meaning (Evaluation, Potency and Activity). Extending our notion of congruity, we might infer that potent products should be displayed in potent colors, active products in active colors, and good products in good colors. But, color is only one element of a brands projection endowed with inherent meaning (Childers and Jass, 2002; Henderson and Cote, 1998; Keller et al., 1998). Future research should clarify whether the proposed approach for selecting colors for products and brands can be used in parallel fashion for selecting non-alphabetic logos (symbols), typefaces and names. We are confident it can be. While the relative effectiveness of our functional sensorysocial measure compared to Osgood et al.s (1957) framework remains a moot point, the latter is known to be robustly portable, having been successfully used to assess words, simple pictures and other non-verbal communications (Valdez and Mehrabian, 1994). What is clear is tha