Does color scheme play a part in branding?

[Trinity Lawn Care, LLC]

I have been thinking about changing my color scheme. My main color is Burgundy. I choose this because it would be a different color then what everyone else uses. Set myself apart. However, I have been a little concerned with the fact that two of the bigger companies around here use red as their main color. I do not want people to see my trucks, employees etc. and say there is XYZ LCO again instead of me. At first I thought that I may have been being a little silly, but my wife seems to agree with my reasoning. What do you folks think?

[vanguard]

The Brinkman Group, one of the largest, if not the largest landscape maintenance company in the country comes to mind for me.the Brown & tan color scheme that they use seems real odd for a "Green Industry" leader :confused:

Just look at mower manufactures, Red,Yellow,Green,Brown,Orange,Blue etc......:dizzy:

Not sure anyone can give you a rock solid answer! Imo a well designed logo is probably more important.

Just my 2 cents

[tcls83]

I believe in standing out. Down the road I think I'd have black trucks with black trailers. The lettering would be silver and green. Black looks good with scag and exmark mowers in my opinion, and very few use black around here. It looks good with chrome also. And yes, I know black is harder to keep clean, but I'll just wash it a little more often because it looks good when clean. Right now I have a white truck-no lettering and it also looks good when clean, people think its new when it is really a 97. Shirts would be grey.

I don't want to disappear in the landscape of green and red trucks, also. I think standing out and color does play a part in customer's minds. I believe you got to be the standout like the Corvette, instead of the beige Toyota Camry. Same goes for the quality of work you do.

[BSDeality]

it all is part of name recognition, you want to be as unique as possible so that then they see it they know its you. think about it, when you drive down the road and you see a big sign in the sky that is red with a gold arch on it you know exactly what establishment that is.

How long have you been in business? how much is it going to cost you to rebrand yourself? .. signs, shirts, cards, website, trucks, trailers, logos, etc.

[KeystoneLawn&Landscaping]

I think logo design and colors are both important. I have a red truck and trailer. My color scheme is a highlighter yellow box outlined in highlighter green with red type inside. Jumps off the truck and trailer....If I knew how to add a pic to this reply:blush: I would have put it here!

[DiscoveryLawn]

I have found chosing a color scheme to make you stand out from the "pack" to be one of the most important decissions I have made. There is no doubt who I am when my truck is seen from half a mile (or more) away.

[Green-Pro]

I have been thinking about changing my color scheme. My main color is Burgundy. I choose this because it would be a different color then what everyone else uses. Set myself apart. However, I have been a little concerned with the fact that two of the bigger companies around here use red as their main color. I do not want people to see my trucks, employees etc. and say there is XYZ LCO again instead of me. At first I thought that I may have been being a little silly, but my wife seems to agree with my reasoning. What do you folks think?

Well two major players in the shipping industry that come to mind are UPS and Fed Ex, I guarantee you when I just mentioned these two corporate names the first thing that comes to mind for everybody is the color Brown for UPS and colors Orange and Blue for Fed Ex, IMO anybody that denies this as the first image that comes to mind is not being honest. DHL is another up and coming shipping company anybody know their color?

Yes color can be used as branding to answer your question, and I don't believe you have to necessarily be a corporate giant to tie your business into that.

[kc2006]

I recall talking to someone from UPS and they said they stress customer satisfaction since brown is not a user friendly color. They also use the color in all their advertising "The big brown truck" "what can brown do for you"

And Green-Pro, answer is yellow with red lettering :D

[Green-Pro]

I recall talking to someone from UPS and they said they stress customer satisfaction since brown is not a user friendly color. They also use the color in all their advertising "The big brown truck" "what can brown do for you"

And Green-Pro, answer is yellow with red lettering :D

Atta boy Kurt :waving: I knew someone would come up with DHL's colors. I understand UPS probably stress's customer satisfaction, heck I would venture to say most if not all companies do, big & small. Customer satisfaction is not the first image I get when thinking of UPS though, and I'm sure they thought color through enough to know the effects of color and steps to take in order to use the color brown to their advantage, just as you mentioned tyeing it into a slogan, etc.

[kc2006]

Oh I forgot primer! All the dhl vans around here have primer on them somewhere! Their drivers must get in alot of fender benders :D

[DUSTYCEDAR]

bright trucks or even a stripe on it will make u stand out

[DynaMow]

Well two major players in the shipping industry that come to mind are UPS and Fed Ex, I guarantee you when I just mentioned these two corporate names the first thing that comes to mind for everybody is the color Brown for UPS and colors Orange and Blue for Fed Ex, IMO anybody that denies this as the first image that comes to mind is not being honest. DHL is another up and coming shipping company anybody know their color?

Yes color can be used as branding to answer your question, and I don't believe you have to necessarily be a corporate giant to tie your business into that.

you just blew your whole arguement, FedEx colors are Orange and Purple

[Green-Pro]

you just blew your whole arguement, FedEx colors are Orange and Purple

You say tomato I say toemado. http://www.fedex.com/us/

I still say it looks blue but the shade of blue it is I'll give ya purple :)

Gotta clue ya in though the point of my post was not about whether Fed Ex use blue or purple there sport it was directed to the fact that yes indeed color can be used as/in branding....and quite effectively

[Jason Rose]

I'm kinda in the same boat... A complete color change. Not so much by choice but by truck availability. I ended up with a truck that is a dark purple with a black dump bed. My whole rig including trailer WAS silver/grey. Now I think my grey trailer is going to look like it's out of place back there, that and most are going to think it's just 'primered'. I even got light grey shirts to go along with everything...

I'm not a fan of purple, I'm not going to wear purple shirts... The color fades fast and it's a dark color making it hotter in the sun. I'm torn as to what color to paint my trailer now. I think plain old black is boring, plus it's harder to see in traffic.

I also don't want to copy what other's have, though around here nobody really has "company colors" for their lawn service. Most that even have screen printed shirts have them in several colors. Maybe I'm too pickey, but I like to be able to look over at my rig and smile and thing "damn that looks sweet".

[OBRYANMAINT]

VERY IMPORTANT!

our colors are green and orange

some employees hate the shirts but they are very visable

[out4now]

Id say yes it definitely plays a role. McD's which was already mentioned has In and Out Burger attracting attention with the same colors , red and yellow, I think its a little more than a coincidence. Asplundh uses orange, Envirocare which is now gone, always used that forest service mint green. Remember the old Bell trucks with that weird olive green tool box and white truck with blue and gold? I certainly think it makes a difference.

[topsites]

That it makes a difference I will not argue, but how you wish to stand out is something where for me, it's to each their own.

Although my color-scheme is red and black with a little white, this is purely coincidental because the truck happened to be red when I bought it... The trailer happens to be black, and the mowers red.

I do look like one or two (maybe 5 or 6) other outfits in town, but with over 100 Lco's out there, I'm in no mood to look but so different. For one, an attention-getter does get attention, but I find it's not always the kind of attention I want. As for me, I prefer peace and quiet, and if my truck happens to get confused with another company's, that might be a blessing in disguise the day I do something really stupid, maybe they get the blame. It's not to say I intend for this to happen, but it is to say I like to stay as unknown or anonymous as possible.

I'm just a small guy minding my own stuff, lalala and nice and quiet, nobody saw me do that, right? riiight.

[tcls83]

Id say yes it definitely plays a role. McD's which was already mentioned has In and Out Burger attracting attention with the same colors , red and yellow, I think its a little more than a coincidence. Asplundh uses orange, Envirocare which is now gone, always used that forest service mint green. Remember the old Bell trucks with that weird olive green tool box and white truck with blue and gold? I certainly think it makes a difference.

I did not know Asplundh is that big of a company since youre from AZ. I thought they only worked in the northeast. And all I see them running are big block Chevy C60's, do they run them out there too?

And does anyone know how to correctly pronounce the name? Is it Ass-plund-uh or Ass-plund? A friend told me it was Ass-plund-ee, but that sounds weird to me. Or could it be something like Acch-plunk? I've always wondered what it sounded like since I was a little kid.

[out4now]

Asplundh is pronounced ass-plu-und and they are global. Take a look at their site. They overtook Blume tree here. We had Nelson here for awhile but the local Utility went back to hiring their own. Asplundh is based in Penn. but they have ops. everywhere. I thought about applying with them once until I talked to 5 seperate crews all over town and not one had a good thing to say about the company or the regional manager. I had talked to him as well before talking to the crews. Most were here from Denver. They make you pick up and move quite a bit as I understand it. This is their Australin div. http://www.asplundh.net/aaus.htm Oh and yhea they run mostly Kodiaks and Top Kicks although I have seen them picking up some Fords again.

[Jason Rose]

I did not know Asplundh is that big of a company since youre from AZ.

They are here in KS too! They do cutting for the power companies. I too thought they were somewhat local, not a national company. Can't miss them, that's for sure!

[out4now]

Theres been a lot of scuttle butt here about Asplundh entering into mowing. Their regional manager had said back then that they were going to start out just taking care of the power plant and other utility owned properties doing all around care and that if it took off they would consider expansion but then never saw it become a reality. If they entered it would become another Tru-green situation. They went the other direction though and now are doing trees.

[Team Gopher]

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Hi Trinity Lawn Care, LLC,

I can understand your reason to want to change, but I don't think I would do it. I would roll with what I had and continue to work on developing the brand.

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