Understanding the impact of brand colour on brand image: A preference disaggregation approach

• A new preference disaggregation method is proposed.
• The method is able to handle non-monotonic preferences.
• The role of brand colour in brand image is studied by applying the method on a real dataset.
• Results show that colour plays an important role in almost all of the brand image attributes.
• Results show that colour hue has less impact on brand perception, compared to colour saturation and value.

What is the role that colour plays in perception of a brand by customers? How can we explore the cognitive role that colour plays in determining brand perception? To answer these questions we propose a preference disaggregation method based on multi-criteria decision aid. We identify the criteria aggregation model that underlies the global preference of a brand with respect to each brand image attribute. The proposed method is inspired by the well-known UTASTAR algorithm, but unlike the original formulation, it represents preferences by means of non-monotonic value functions. The method is applied to a database of brands ranked on each brand image attribute. For each brand image attribute, non-monotonic marginal value functions from each component of the brand colour are obtained separately. These functions contain the fitness between each colour component and each brand image attribute, in an understandable manner.