However, it should NOT be the question. You should publish your brand color guide! Why? Let’s take a look at what happens if you don’t. E.g., let’s look at Coca-Cola red. At one time, Coca-Cola even claimed it was their second secret formula: “There is no Pantone color for Coca-Cola red, but when you see it, you will recognize it”.
But what happens if you keep your brand color definition secret? Others might publish a color code for your brand color that might be very different. Let’s see which color codes we get when we look for “Coca-Cola red rgb”.
Coca-Cola red
| Source | Pantone | RGB | CMYK |
| https://usbrandcolors.com/coca-cola-colors/ | Coke Red | 244 / 0 / 0 | 4 / 100 / 95 / 0 |
| https://encycolorpedia.com/fe001a | 254 / 0 /26 | ||
| https://www.schemecolor.com/coca-cola-red-color.php | 244 / 0 / 9 | 0 / 100 / 96,3 / 4,3 | |
| https://www.brandcolorcode.com/coke-zero | Custom mix | 244 / 0 / 0 | 4 / 100 / 95 /0 |
| https://brandpalettes.com/coca-cola-color-codes/ | 1788 C | 230 / 29 / 43 | 4 / 99 / 93 / 1 |
Interesting, isn’t it? So many different versions…
And let’s see what happens if we look for the color codes of IKEA blue and yellow… The overview of images in the search results already shows they are not consistent…
IKEA Yellow
| Source | Pantone | RGB | CMYK |
| https://www.designpieces.com/palette/ikea-color-palette-hex-and-rgb/ | 255 / 204 / 0 | ||
| https://www.brandcolorcode.com/ikea | 108 C | 251 / 218 / 12 | 0 / 13 / 95 / 2 |
| https://www.schemecolor.com/ikea.php | 255 / 218 / 26 | 0 / 14,5 / 89,8 / 0 | |
| https://brandpalettes.com/ikea-logo-color-codes/ | 107 C | 251 / 217 / 20 | 3 / 11 / 98 / 0 |
IKEA Blue
| Source | Pantone | RGB | CMYK |
| https://www.designpieces.com/palette/ikea-color-palette-hex-and-rgb/ | 0 / 51 / 153 | ||
| https://www.brandcolorcode.com/ikea | 2145 C | 0 / 87 / 173 | 100 / 50 / 0 / 32 |
| https://www.schemecolor.com/ikea.php | 0 / 81 / 186 | 100 / 56,4 / 0 / 27 | |
| https://brandpalettes.com/ikea-logo-color-codes/ | 7455 C | 0 / 88 / 171 | 95 / 71 / 0 / 0 |
Yes, you probably put a lot of work into your brand color guide and don’t want to share it with the whole world, including your competitors. But what’s the alternative? That your pretty brand color isn’t reproduced consistently by people who legitimately use it! And let’s get real: if someone wants to get a detailed definition of your brand color, a 500 euro spectrophotometer is all you need to measure it…
This is a short version of an article that first appeared on insights4print.ceo