Trademark law firm Withers & Rogers's survey found that AA's yellow and black had the highest colour recall of any brand (98%), followed by easyJet orange (93%), Cadbury purple (88%) and Royal Mail red (85%).
AA print production manager Ryan Hennessey told PrintWeek he had strict guidelines and that his roster of printers needed to hit colour standard ISO 12647.
"Different paper stocks presented a significant obstacle," he said.
"In a DM pack, we might have a policy book on 130gsm matt coated that needs to be the same colour as a letterhead on 90gsm uncoated. The AA yellow is PMS 116C. On uncoated, this is very difficult, so we have special inks mixed to 108U for uncoated," he added.
Hennessey enforces strict guidelines for colour consistency. He said: "If someone printed the wrong colour, we would bounce the job."
Tom Gurd, managing director of easyJet's print manager FT Print, also stressed the importance of standardisation. "EasyJet is passionate about their orange. We are the policemen of the brand," he said.
He said suppliers needed colour accreditations. "That's the way the world is moving. The small jobbing printer can't compete," he added.
The Hertford-based print management company procures litho, flexo, silkscreen and digital work for the airline's 107 airports in 27 countries. Materials include business cards, letterheads, thermal boarding cards and plastic signage.
"We're taking on metal work for those things you drop your bag into. We've even started doing headrest covers," added Gurd.
"It's the colour people buy into. I don’t care if I'm talking to them in Italian or Greek or in North Africa – or in Luton – what I want is easyJet orange, everywhere," he said.
Withers & Rogers polled 40 marketers and found that brand colour was more important than slogan, typeface or logo for 64% of respondents.
Trademark attorney Fiona McBride said: "Cadbury is one of few UK companies that has protected the Pantone reference of its purple.
"Marketers involved in brand development would be wise to consider use of colour when seeking trademark protection," she added.
