Is your brand RED-e?

More and more brands are turning red these days by choice (luckily stock markets can't be held culprit for this).

Chennai is a colourful city and much of it is due to the tall and broad hoardings which runs on the sides of all the roads however wide or narrow they may be. These giant structures (or strictures) does not differentiate between roads and locality and are omnipresent across the city. However recently on a ride across one of the busiest roads (which is also blessed with lots of hoardings) I noticed an interesting pattern among the various brands which have come across the last one year. More and more brands are turning to colour Red. And to substantiate the statement, it all started with the Aditya Birla promoted brand of departmental stores 'MORE'. And when I started noticing, the whole gamut of brands appeared to have something red in them (it's another thing that most of them are also seeing red in stock market).

After the More stores, again what caught my attention is the posters of Arvind Mills promoted discount stores MegaMart which promises a 365 days sale. The posters covered like 2 kms stretch of the road near Guindy and announced the opening of the first big store in Chennai. It was again all Red.

Then I stumbled upon the Reliance Fresh outlets and noticed that how everything is designed on a Red theme. The boards, the refrigeration units, interiors and even the lighting casts a spell of red all around. I think Mukesh Ambani has a fascination with red colour because Vimal suitings which was re-launched last year had got a new look with Red colour all around. The new logo has a vibrant Red colour as the background. Walk down the road and there you'll get Subhiksha mobile stores teasing you with a prominent Red and little Blue on the display boards. It immediately reminds me of one of their competitors "The Mobile Store" which again has a red theme around their logo. Well, if you want to shop around then take some money out first. Walk into the Axis Bank ATM next door which again has a pleasingly Red (though looks more on the maroon side but will still qualify as close to Red) display board welcoming you to use the facility. Want to get a recharge coupon for your mobile? thousands of outlets are lined up one after another offering top up but well, Vodafone is also Red and to add to the agony, the colour Red also has to play a big part in their competitor's logo: Airtel.

I like red colour but what surprises me is that most of the brands that I noticed have come up in the past 12-18 months and they all have chosen Red as the base colour (or atleast one of the prominent colour) to design their brand themes. MegaMart, The Mobile Store, Subhiksha, Axis Bank, Reliance Fresh, Vimal and More are all new brands which have decided to take the Red Route. My engineering logic tells me that as the colour Red has the largest wavelength, it can be seen from a farther distance so most of the brands prefer to have some element of Red in it. It's not only the new brands old big wigs like HSBC, AirTel, Punjab National Bank has some elements of Red in their logo. But my intuition tells me that the choice of red has something more then mere engineering logic. May be the Red displays are cheaper than others or may be some astrologer or colour consultant out there is making lots of money. "Going Red by choice seems to be the new Mantra".