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THE EYES HAVE ITColour is one of the most crucial aspects of packaging design, and now that contemporary packaging-printing techniques allow endless variations and combinations of hue, there are more options than ever — and more factors to consider when it comes to colour choice than you might think. First, there’s brand awareness. British consumers, for example, can all recognise Cadbury’s purple and Marmite yellow in an instant, and brands can grab attention by picking a colour that makes them stand out among their competitors. Think of Pepsi’s blue cans, which pop out among a sea of red-branded colas. Colour is also often used to inform people what’s inside – the reason that most colas are red is partly because cola has a red hue – although some brands, like Heinz Baked Beans, flip this concept on its head and go for a packaging colour that contrasts with the contents. Then there’s the more complicated ways in which our culture and environment cause us to associate different colours with different concepts and qualities. The mid-century marketing psychologist Louis Cheskin found decades ago that making 7UP containers more yellow caused tasters to report a more lemony flavour. More recently, Charles Spence has shown that red is associated with sweetness – perhaps due to the fact that many fruits turn red as they ripen. When Coke introduced a special-edition white can in 2011, Spence has pointed out, customers complained about the strange new flavour. The meaning of colours can vary depending on the context, country, and what consumers are familiar with, Spence says, but what is most likely to be universal is that a more deeply saturated hue indicates a more intense flavour. EUROPEAN CAN MARKET REPORT 2016 09SENSORY PACKAGING