Disscusing the role of color as a mediating variable in the process of communication

Abstract

Unatoč neospornoj važnosti boje u oglašavanju i marketinškoj komunikaciji općenito, broj istraživanja utjecaja boje na ovim je područjima vrlo malen. Stoga je primarni cilj ovog rada bio ponuditi neke osnovne smjernice i uvid u korištenje boja u komunikaciji. U radu se detaljnije istražuje percepcija boja, odnosno analizira povezivanje toplih i hladnih boja s proizvodima odnosno poduzećima; određuju se emocionalne asocijacije koje pojedine boje izazivaju, te se mjeri zapaženost primarnih, sekundarnih i tercijarnih boja. Rezultati istraživanja pokazali su da je u asociranju boja s organizacijama najčešća identifikacija ružičaste (magenta) boje s poduzećem T-com. Isto tako, pokazalo se da različite boje izazivaju jasne pozitivne odnosno negativne asocijacije (primjerice, ljubičasta boja pokazala se bojom s najnegativnijim asocijacijama), te je to potkrijepilo pretpostavku o tome kako odabir pogrešne boje u marketinškoj komunikaciji može izazvati negativne reakcije potrošača. Konačno, pokazalo se da je u kontekstu primarnih, sekundarnih i tercijarnih boja najzapaženija uvijek bila žuta, dok su plava, ljubičasta i plavo-ljubičasta najslabije zapažene boje. Ovaj rad predstavlja pokušaj izviđajnog istraživanja na području proučavanja utjecaja boja u marketinškoj komunikaciji. Budući da je istraživanje provedeno u sklopu diplomskog rada, metodologija istraživanja sadrži određena ograničenja, no rad ipak predstavlja značajan doprinos području na kojem u Hrvatskoj gotovo da i ne postoji niti jedan rad.In spite of the fact that researching the effect of color in advertising and marketing communications in general is of great importance, the scope of research in this area is surprisingly limited. The primary goal of this paper was to offer some initial insight into the use of color in communication. The goal of research was to analyze the perception of specific colors, while focusing on an association of warm and cold colors with both products and companies. Furthermore, it was aimed at investigating emotional associations of specific colors and the perception of primary, secondary and tertiary colors. Results show that in the process of associating color with companies, pink (magenta) of T-com is the one that clearly stands out. Additionally, results pointed to the fact that certain colors evoke clear positive or negative associations (for example, purple proved to evoke the most negative associations), which confirmed the assumption that the selection of wrong colors in marketing communications can lead to various negative consumer reactions. Finally, the study showed that among all three groups of colors, primary, secondary and tertiary, yellow was always the most noticeable, while blue, purple and blue-purple were the least noticeable. This paper represents an exploratory study in the area of color research in marketing communications. The research described was conducted as part of a bachelor thesis, so the methodology has certain limitations; still, it represents a significant addition to the area in question since there has been virtually no research of this kind in Croatia to date