3 lessons for how color can stop the scroll

In our frenetic online world, today’s high-performing food influencers know that color is the most powerful tool they have to break through the noise. Here, plant-based color brand EXBERRY^® by GNT highlights three color roadmaps these creatives are using to stop the scroll, spark a consumer connection and drive sales. 

Bold, high-contrast colors to evoke edible emotion

Black Star Pastry’s bold, high contrast strawberry-watermelon cake is the world’s most Instagrammed cake. The Australian brand not only plays with vibrant, contrasting colors to intrigue its fanatic fan base; it also taps into their emotional triggers. According to Black Star, it offers: “Original cakes with poetic storytelling woven through each slice. Authentic creations that awaken the senses and evoke moments of edible emotion.” 

The secret behind Black Star Pastry’s phenomenally popular cakes is choosing a palette of two to five bright, complementary but contrasting shades that seamlessly work together. Their cakes’ popularity is backed up by the latest GWI trend report: A consistent, high-contrast color scheme on your social media channels can increase brand recognition by a staggering 80%. On Twitter, images with several bold colors earn 150% more retweets and 3.25 times more repins than images with only one dominant color.

Soft, muted colors for equal parts joy and disruption

But color schemes don’t always have to be bold and high contrast. Muted, neutral shades offer brands a more comprehensive range of colors for applications. The award-winning retail and wholesale bakery Ovenly in New York City uses muted soft-play pastels and neutral colors in its products and branding to comfort its audience and convey a message of integrity and transparency. That also extends to its business ethos: Ovenly is a female-owned business with a diverse staff and inclusive working environment. Ovenly says, “As a business, we believe in equal parts joy and disruption.” It’s what all brands should be striving for – and they can use color to help achieve it.

Bright, monochromatic color to eat the rainbow

There are other highly effective ways to use color to emotionally connect with followers and consumers. Minimal aesthetics with a pop of dramatic color on a white background will appeal to a broader audience while offering marketers more flexibility. Color influencer Maria Zizka is the author of Cook Color, a cookbook that invites users to “eat the rainbow” by celebrating the vibrancy of fresh fruits, vegetables and plants in a collection of 100 all-natural, monochrome recipes. Zizka says: “Color has such a remarkable influence on our mood. The recipes in my new book celebrate the natural beauty of colorful foods and try to honor them by bringing out their singular hues.” 

Zizka believes, “Flavor and color are often intertwined, and there’s a satisfaction to cooking and eating something that tastes just like it looks. Our eyes see a certain color, our brain imagines specific textures and flavors and our tongue confirms those expectations.” Zizka, who only works with natural, plant-based colors, says that her dramatic and emotionally charged monochromatic aesthetic also connects with her loyal fan base because it sends a message of naturalness and authenticity. She says, “Eating all the colors of the rainbow is one of the easiest and most delicious ways to eat nutritiously. The pigments that make foods colorful are important for our bodies to function and heal. Often, the bolder the color, the greater the health boost and the more intense the flavor will be. Color, health and flavor go hand in hand.”

EXBERRY^® colors are made from edible fruits, vegetables and plants using physical processing methods such as chopping and boiling. These plant-based concentrates are suitable for practically any food and beverage application and can deliver a full rainbow of vibrant shades. 

GNT’s experts have vast experience developing cutting-edge coloring solutions for clean-label products to help brands tap into today’s most important trends. The new Customer Experience Center in North Carolina now provides GNT’s R&D epicenter for North America, offering culinary collaborations, brainstorming and prototyping sessions and technical and natural color solution workshops. Contact [email protected] for more information.