Blue is the New Green: A Colorful Night at the Auto Show

Posted by: Alissa Ampezzan

Last Friday, I was invited to the Auto Show Charity Preview event. The city was, like the featured cars, electric.

Those of us in the marketing world are familiar with buzz words, those words that seem to find their 15 minutes of fame for whatever reason and infiltrate the media. With the state of the environment ever-present on our minds, the past few years have seen the “green” theme grow (pun intended) to fame. But, it was clear upon entering the awe-inspiring room at Cobo: Blue is the new term synonymous with environmentalism.

The first display you see is Volkswagen and their new slogan, “Think Blue.” Over the past couple of years, they have coined the term BlueMotionTechnologies, a term for their more efficient products.

Similarly, Mercedes-Benz has a line of BlueTEC clean diesel vehicles, featuring what they are calling Blue Efficiency. However, Mercedes-Benz is still sticking with the old school “Thinking Green” mantra on their web site. So they are thinking green by being blue? I'm confused.

Hyundai is promoting two blues: blueLink technology (think OnStar) and Blue Drive, their initiative to improve fuel efficiency.

The psychology of color is a whole world. We designers think about it everyday. Green reminds us of grass and trees. Blue conjures images of clear skies and vast oceans. What's next? Yellow for sunshine. Then pink for flowers in bloom. Then white for purity, and on and on. Eventually we'll make our way back to green, but until then…

Go Blue!
 

 

---