Mariam Ibrahim, Verrazzano Class of 2025, completed major in Business Marketing
My
capstone project explores how colors affect consumer emotions, perceptions, and
decision-making, and how businesses use these effects in their marketing
strategies. This topic brings together ideas from psychology, branding, and
culture to better understand how something as simple as a color choice can
shape a brand’s identity and influence buyer behavior.
I
first became interested in this area through my MKT 211 class where we had to
do a SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) of Budweiser.
My role in this group project was so analyze the brand’s most recent add, analyzing
the color psychology of the brand’s newest item and what each color represented,
and give suggestions to the brand on how they could improve their advertising
campaigns.
As
someone who also runs a small online makeup resale business, I’ve always paid
attention to product packaging and branding, especially how certain colors grab
attention or suggest particular qualities like luxury, freshness, or
eco-friendliness. That curiosity led me to research deeper theories behind
color usage in advertising.
Going
into the capstone, I expected the process to feel like an extension of my usual
class research, but more in-depth. In reality, it was much more immersive than
I imagined. One of the most challenging parts was finding accessible and
reliable academic resources. Many scholarly articles were behind paywalls, so I
had to spend time searching for open-access versions or request help from my professors
and library resources. The literature review and theoretical foundation section
also required a lot of discipline because it involved connecting abstract
theories, like associative learning or semiotics, to practical marketing
examples.
The
easiest part was visualizing the ideas for my research poster. Since color is
such a visual topic, creating the layout felt natural. I enjoyed transforming
dense research into something engaging and visually appealing for a broader
audience. I was also pleasantly surprised by how many everyday examples I could
pull from—like Coca-Cola’s use of red or Facebook’s blue, to show color’s power
in real life.
Overall,
this journey has confirmed my passion for branding and advertising. I now feel
more confident in analyzing why brands make the visual choices they do, and I’m
excited to continue exploring how marketing can tap into our subconscious
perceptions in meaningful and ethical ways.