Branding Businesses with Powder Coatings

Posted by on 13 September 2017

A lot of branding comes down to making your mark, brand, or icon recognizable. No one would mistake golden arches on a red panel for anything other than McDonald's, right? That particular contrast of warm gold on bold red grabs the eye, and those colors have become synonymous with the McDonalds brand throughout the years – decades, really – of successful advertising. With powder coatings, you can do the same. 

As a job shop, helping your customers maintain their brand, you already know the value of getting exactly the right color, with the flexibility to change the gloss or add a special effect easily and quickly. Color matching is something any good powder manufacturer can do, and the best way to get the exact shade, color, and/or special effect that you want is by sending in a sample.

All sorts of items can act as a sample ‘chip’.  There are, of course, actual color chips, but panels, fabric swatches, paint swatches, all work too. Once, at IFS Coatings, we even matched to a coin! So long as the sample is in good condition, anything goes. Nike once sent us a shoe!

One important thing to keep in mind though is that not all colors (special effects especially) weather in the same way. Confirming with the client where the branding will be, interior or exterior, is really important and will help you to help them. With any item that is going to be outside you need to account for the effect of the sun in terms of color and gloss fade, and how things like humidity, salt air or dust can affect the coating. Fortunately, there is a range of powder coating options available with different levels of exterior weathering, including standard polyesters, super durables, and fluoropolymers. This is a great opportunity for you to provide additional value to your customer, as there is a good chance that your clients won’t know about the various weathering options available.

At the top end of the weathering scale, - we’re talking high-performance Fluoropolymers here -  colors like bright reds, bright oranges, and bright pinks/purples tend to be trickier to imbue with good weathering resistance – and it doesn’t matter if the coating is liquid or powder either. Super Durables offer a great mid-range weathering option and are easy to work with for everyone. If you’re not sure about the weathering capabilities of the powder you’re using, talk to your rep or check out the product info on our website. 

Back to the good stuff…Anything metal can be powder coated! If your client wants their brand and brand color/s all throughout their shop, then they’ll be pleased as punch to learn this. From wall-signs to racks to decorations, they can all have branding applied so long as they’re metal. Again, it is critical to clarify if the part will be exposed to the elements. 

 

It might seem like a little extra work to make sure you’re up to speed on the weathering capabilities of various powders, but it’s certainly worth it. The designers creating these brands know how important brand consistency is. So your ability to help them achieve and maintain this through quality powder coatings is important.  They understand that their customers will start to associate a chosen color with the brand. This is why so many fast food chains have red in their logos, signs, and stores. 

Red logos are synonymous with food, and through decades of persistent advertising, consumers have come to associate the color red with food – sometimes just seeing a fast food joint’s logo will trigger a hunger response! There are thousands of articles that can explain the psychology behind this in more depth, so we’ll move onto why consistent branding is key to a thriving business. 

Advertising is everywhere. Billboards, signs, posters, flyers, business cards, television commercials, the list goes on. In order to stand out, you have to make your brand pop and be recognizable in an instant. This comes down to the design of your icon, yes, but also what is associated with it. 

The right colors can catch the eyes of potential customers, driving in business, and as you provide top-notch service their exposure to the branding becomes positive – and that is always a great thing!

 

So, making your mark in a sea of businesses, or helping your clients do so, is one of the huge benefits of powder coatings. They are a great way to put a brand out there and help it stand out, with their versatility, durability vivid color choice, and the ability to be matched to almost any sample chip a client provides. 

It’s no great surprise that powder coatings are protecting and decorating brands that you use on a daily basis, from your morning coffee and favorite burger joint to renowned hardware stores and world famous theme parks.