Colour associations of archetypes: lessons for brands

Archetypal branding is a prolific yet underdeveloped field of study. To help in leveraging visual cues for transferring archetypal meanings of brand to consumers, this study explores the colour associations of archetypes. It also identifies how Iranian consumers perceive the well-known archetypes. Moreover, the associations of colour dimensions and colour-shape combinations with archetypes are investigated. In-depth interviews and a survey reveal that, in some archetypal perceptions, Iranians are rather different to western consumers. A joint effect of colour and shape on the visual associations of archetypes is also observed. Moreover, findings illustrate that not all colour attributes play a significant role in the perception of all archetypal characters. The results may form research propositions to be investigated in the future empirical studies. The results are helpful in brand building and brand meaning management.