Every summer, brands aim to capture the essence of the season with a defining color. While spring is often synonymous with cherry blossom pink, summer brings a palette of vibrant hues like watermelon red, peach pink, and cool ice tones. Each year, brands launch limited edition products reflecting these seasonal shades.
The Rise of Dopamine Dressing
The term most associated with summer this year is ‘dopamine’. It’s a popular fashion theory that suggests wearing bright, optimistic clothing releases the mood-boosting neurotransmitter dopamine, hence ‘dopamine dressing’. From fashion and beauty to food and drink, brands are experimenting with bold colors and exaggerated styles to keep the ‘dopamine’ craze alive. So, which colors are making waves this summer?
Cherry Blossom Pink for Spring
Before diving into summer trends, let’s look at how cherry blossom pink has become the go-to color for spring. Each year, brands release products featuring cherry blossom elements to capture the season’s spirit. This soft, cute pink hue appeals particularly to female consumers, and cherry blossom marketing often targets the snack, beverage, cosmetics, and skincare industries.
Pink petals, girlish charm—these are the themes of cherry blossom marketing. Starbucks, for example, has a Cherry Blossom Season Limited range with pink designs on mugs, insulated cups, and glasses. Skincare brand L’Occitane offers limited products named ‘Star River Night Cherry Blossom’, inspired by delicate cherry blossoms under a starry sky. Their bottles, embossed with cherry blossoms, exude a light fragrance that’s both pretty and dainty. Even ramen brand Soup’s Got Talent and yoghurt brand Just Yoghurt have jumped on the cherry blossom bandwagon with themed packaging.
Moving Beyond Cherry Blossom Pink
While cherry blossom pink is a spring staple, it’s starting to face aesthetic fatigue. So, what’s the next big color trend for summer?
Summer’s Vibrant Palette
Summer is all about vibrant colors, and brands are embracing a spectrum of primary shades. Here’s a look at some of the standout colors for this summer:
Lancôme’s Summer Juice Colors
In July, Lancôme launched its new Water Lipstick with six vibrant Summer Juice colors. They also teamed up with light food restaurant Gaga to create a ‘Summer Fruit Bar’ pop-up, featuring special drinks like ‘Want Peach Oolong’ and ‘Grapefruit Touch Pear’. This collaboration includes limited edition ‘color-changing ice cups’ and ‘summer fishing net bags’, letting shoppers enjoy the season’s vibrancy.
Urban Decay’s Watermelon Red
Beauty brand Urban Decay introduced its new setting spray, ‘Watermelon Spray’, on July 1, packaged in watermelon red. They produced a CGI video showing a large melon bursting with juice in Shanghai’s summer heat, capturing the audience’s attention with its vibrant, juicy imagery.
Bobbi Brown’s Cool Tea Tones
To beat the heat, Bobbi Brown embraced a ‘cool feeling’ with its makeup. They hosted a ‘Cold Tea Summer Party’ and launched the new Cloud Lip Cream in cold-toned tea brown shades. From July 12-13, Bobbi Brown’s summer party in Shanghai featured giveaways like limited-edition cloud bags, engaging consumers in a fun, relaxed summer vibe.
The Power of Dopamine Marketing
Other brands are riding the dopamine marketing wave by offering products in vibrant ‘dopamine colors’.
Haircare brand Schwarzkopf launched the ‘COLOR GAME’ campaign, featuring athlete Wu Yanni as their ambassador. They held events in Guangzhou and Shanghai, inviting users to try fun, colorful hair transformations. Schwarzkopf introduced four new summer hair colors: blackcurrant purple, hazelnut brown, grapefruit pink, and thin vine grey purple.
Starbucks, known for its seasonal marketing, launched a series of dopamine-colored cups in July, including ‘Glacier Blue’ and ‘Sunset Yellow’. In a market where young people love to experiment and are willing to pay for aesthetically pleasing products, these bold designs are driving sales.
Embracing Summer’s Colors
Summer doesn’t need just one definitive color. It’s a season that celebrates the colorful and the bold. In an era where ‘Beauty is paramount’, packaging plays a crucial role in marketing. Dopamine colors are helping brands capture attention and stimulate purchases.
So, whether it’s the dreamy cherry blossom pink of spring or the bold, bright hues of summer, colors are a powerful tool in connecting with consumers. Brands that can harness these trends will find themselves resonating deeply with their audience, making this summer one to remember.
