Use of Pantone Matching System for Brand Awareness

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When ordering anything to be used for a marketing or promotional campaign, it is important that the end product has an accurate and familiar look to it that is easily identifiable to the average person.  After all, it’s unlikely that the Harrods gold logo would ever appear in anything other than its traditional shade of green or that a batch of Coca Cola cans could leave a warehouse painted in a soft pink shade with black writing on.

The consistent use of accurate corporate colours helps build brand awareness just as much as a well thought out and creative logo.  The look and colour of office signage should therefore be matched on all company stationery, business forms, and calling cards. 

The very same rule applies when buying USB memory sticks for either company use or marketing activity.  The colour of the logo is vitally important but so too is the background colour it’s printed on and to ensure accuracy, the Pantone Matching System (PMS) provides the answer.

Developed in the early 1960s by Lawrence Herbert, PMS is a standardised system of colour matching using detailed measurements and ink mixing.  With each shade of colour allocated a unique number, manufacturers in several different locations can obtain the same colour match without needing to physically compare shades.  In addition, there are many shades in existence.  The classic edition of the Pantone matching system guide lists over 500 solid colours.

Businesses looking to invest in bespoke USB memory sticks would do well to ensure that the supplier can not only produce the correct shade for the company logo but also can print the log onto a plastic USB cover that accurately matches the dominant corporate colour.  An example would be for BP to have the plastic cover in the traditional green with the initials emblazoned in yellow, or perhaps the white and gold of the Guinness logo set against a jet-black background.  These are two corporate identities known the world over. 

As with all things attached to a marketing or promotional campaign, being persistent and consistent eventually builds brands and market recognition.  Even something as small as a memory stick, produced to accurately reflect a company’s image, can help promote a name and strengthen corporate identity.  The use of Pantone Matching for both logo and background colours should therefore be a serious consideration for businesses keen to get a positive message across.