Does the Right Package Color Brew Better Feelings About the Product? Emotional Congruence, Perceived Fit, and Brand Affect in Coffee Packaging

Packaging color is a powerful brand signal that shapes perceptions and purchase behavior, yet managers select packaging colors based on convention or aesthetic preference rather than congruence with a category's emotional objectives. Drawing on color-in-context theory, schema congruity, and sensory marketing, this study explores whether matching package color to a product category’s emotional meaning improves brand affect. In a coffee packaging study, red packaging produced higher brand affect than blue packaging, and perceived package-category fit mediated the effect. The findings translate color theory into an applied decision framework for packaging audits, portfolio management, retail and digital merchandising, and global expansion.