Picture this, someone is standing 200 metres away. They can’t see what you’re holding clearly, but they know exactly what it is! They know your brand without seeing the logo, without seeing the tagline, without seeing anything except one thing… the colour!
In episode 3 of the BBCC, I want to talk about something that often gets treated as an afterthought in branding, and that’s colour palettes.
Not just “picking some pretty colours”, but choosing a deliberate, consistent colour palette and sticking to it so hard that people can recognise your brand before they even see the logo.
Let’s look at Molly Tea – one of the most popular milk tea brands in Sydney right now.
The Molly Tea brand has captured something unique.
Since their first Australian store opened in October 2024, Molly Tea has used a very simple but highly distinctive combination: soft light pink paired with a simple black flower logo.
That level of instant recognition is rare in the bubble tea / milk tea space. Walk past someone carrying a cup from Gong Cha, Machi Machi, Cha Time or Tea Republic and, unless you’re right next to them you usually can’t tell which brand it is. The packaging blends into the general category. Molly Tea’s does not.
The Takeaway
This is the power of a bold, consistent colour strategy. They didn’t try to look like every other tea brand. They chose a palette that stood out, used it relentlessly across packaging, stores and merch.
The result… their products have become visual landmarks in the city and paired with great branding and products the brand has skyrocketed to 9 stores after two years!
Colour does a lot of heavy lifting when it’s used this way:
- It creates instant recognition
- It builds mental availability (people think of you when they see the colour)
- It differentiates you from competitors selling almost the same product
- It works even when the logo is too small or too far away to read
Brands that use a single colour as a highly valuable part of their brand assets.
You’ll see the same principle with brands like Cadbury (that very specific purple), Tiffany (the blue), or Coca-Cola (the red). These brands only need you to see this single colour to recognise or think of them. Think of the power behind that when you are selecting the colour/s for your own business or the business of your client, and ask yourself:
Introducing: The Colour Palette Toolkit
There is so much to learn about the value of colour, the meaning of colour, the importance of choosing the right colour for your brand.
For the last several months, I’ve gathered so much information into a single 130+ page toolkit, addressing colour theory for beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. As well as over 100 pages of colour palettes for use across all industries. This is the perfect resource for designers, creatives and entrepreneurs of all levels.
I’ve just launched this toolkit on my website and it is available as a FREE limited version and the paid full version.
The Colour Palette Toolkit
We love this kind of creative thinking.
Whether it’s designing eye-catching marketing and merch, building full brand identities that stand out online or in the real world, or creating campaigns that get people talking, we help businesses turn everyday moments into memorable ones.
What do you think? Have you spotted any great (or terrible) marketing around your neighbourhood lately? Let us know! We might even share the best ones in a future episode.
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