# What purple means in branding

> What purple means in branding, a short history of the colour and brands known for it, with sources. Open it in a free palette tool.

Web page: https://davidewins.com/colours/purple

Swatch: #7e3fbf

Surveys in Europe and the United States link purple with rarity, royalty, luxury, ambition, magic, mystery, piety and spirituality.

Survey words: rarity, royalty, luxury, ambition, mystery.

[Build a palette from purple](https://davidewins.com/colours?base=7e3fbf)

## History

- Tyrian purple dye, made from sea snails, was extremely expensive in antiquity, which is where the link with royalty comes from.
- Roman magistrates wore purple, then Byzantine rulers, then Roman Catholic bishops.
- In 1856 William Perkin made mauveine, the first synthetic aniline dye, a purple.

## Brands known for purple

- **Cadbury**: Adopted purple in 1905 to honour Queen Victoria and registered it as a trademark for chocolate in 1995 and 2004. Nestlé has challenged the registrations. ([Wikipedia: Cadbury](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadbury))

## Sources

- [Wikipedia: Purple](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple)
- [Wikipedia: Cadbury](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadbury)

The swatch is my own pick of purple, not an official value.