IT'S NOT JUST CRAYONS ANYMORE AS CRAYOLA REINVENTS ITSELF AND CHANGES ITS CULTURE FOR THE DIGITAL AGE

Crayola, a privately held division of Hallmark, has been redefining itself since 2004. Speaking about the evolution of the brand at the 2010 ANA Creativity Conference in New York, Sharon Hartley, EVP, marketing and sales for North America at Crayola, said the company had to broaden how it defined itself in order to survive and grow.

Parents and their children could have a lot of fun while touring the Crayola Crayon plant located in Easton, Pennsylvania.  Sort of reminds you of the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory.  You can obtain information on tour schedules and ticket prices here.

"We had incredibly flat business before 2005, basically thinking of ourselves as a 'stick' and paper business," she said, "But how many ways can you reinvent the crayon?" She said the senior team was prescient enough to think about the company as a maker of "creative experience," not just a stationery or art supplier.

"It wasn't easy," she said. "We brought in external help -- consultants who helped us look outward at the consumer, not inwardly at the company and [see] what we were doing wrong. Organizationally, making that change was painful. Some couldn't make the change and others grasped it and ran with it."

The new "smile" icon was the surface expression of the evolution, introduced six years ago when the company also changed its name to Crayola LLC from Vinny and Smith. Hartley said Crayola won't go into, for example, building toys like Lego or 3D experiences. "If it's not colorful, it's not Crayola; if it's not self expression, it's not Crayola. We are about growing frequency of self-expression."

The company is experimenting with social media, according to Hartley, who said that since moms are the brand's core purchasers, although obviously not its end-user, much of those efforts are directed at them. "Moms have busy lives so we want to capture them with mobile ads, or through their social networks -- through, for instance, mommy bloggers. But, honestly, it's an experiment for us right now."

Another digital direction that Crayola is taking is virtual branded experiences like "Lights, Camera, Color," a digital art and photo platform, and "Story Studio" -- which lets kids put their image in a virtual world and build stories around it. She says the company is also developing apps for tablets like iPad. "Makes lots of sense -- and that's the path we are pursuing."

One challenge has been keeping employees and agencies immersed in the new product lines that are a far cry from boxes of crayons. Hartley said the company does regular immersive experiences for both camps. "We do this both with our primary creative shop, McGarryBowen, and other agency partners."

Hartley said one measure of the company's success is how well it sells throughout the year, since the core, traditional crayon business is strongest at the start of the school year. "Our biggest season is back-to-school, which is not unexpected. However, our dramatic growth has been in the holiday season. We are a very viable choice for safe, fun, expressable play. For us, it is important to figure out how to drive consumption in the first half of the year."

COMMENTARY:   Crayola's new frame website structure is a bit "old-fashioned" and should be redesigned to be more exciting to kids.  However, I was impressed with the broad array of things kids can do.  Mother's should appreciate this, because it keep their young children happy for hours and days.  Here's a sampling:

• Coloring Pages - Allows you to print coloring page arranged by category such as animals, cars, trucks and other vehicles, Disney characters and images, holidays, puzzles & games, a coloring page for beginners and other coloring pages.
• Craft Ideas - Crayola provides a very broad selection of cut-out images that kids can print and then cut-out using a pair of scissors.  Cut-outs are arranged by topic and theme, so that there is something interesting for every child and every occasion.
• Games and Fun - Offers a Card Creator that kids can use to print holiday greeting cards and Certificate Maker for creating custom certificates.  There are also Outdoor Activities Ideas   like Biggo Bingo, Hopscotch and Croquet to keep kids occupied while playing outdoors and Educational Activity Ideas like Word Power and Outdoor Geography, to name a few.

Crayola also offers educators:

• Teacher Resources - Including lesson plans, art techniques, success guides, color science and certificate maker.  
• Dream-Makers - Crayola Dream-Makers learning resources provide supplemental curriculum with hands-on activities. You'll find standards-based lesson plans in a 104-page, soft-cover format or boxed sets of related student project cards used for independent exploration.
• Teacher Opportunities - Including the Gold Star Teacher Program that teachers can use to access opportunities to work with Crayola on demonstrations, workshops, product and lesson testing, promotional opportunities for teachers and their students, surveys and more and the Children's Art Exhibition where teachers can view artwork submitted to the annual Crayola Children's Juried Art Exhibition.  
• Ages and Stages - Teachers can utilize the programs in this section to improve their teaching and address the needs of very young and children with special needs, and includes: 
  • Early Childhood Experiences - Emphasizes arts and crafts, building blocks, language and listening, outdoors activities, pretend play, puzzles and games, and science and nature for very young children.
  • The Other IQ - Experts say that imagination is as important as intelligence in determining children’s long-term success. Teachers can this quick Other IQ (Imagination Quotient) quiz to gain insights about how you use imagination and creativity in your teaching. Your Other IQ score could help you determine ways to better leverage creativity in your classroom.
  • Special Needs Programs - Programs that teachers can use for children for special needs.  Includes:
    • Creating an Arts-Encouraging Environment.
    • Drawing Explorations.
    • Painting Activities.
    • Modeling and Sculpting Techniques.
    • Outdoor Art Experiences.  
• For Parents - Crayola offers parents an opportunity to become more involved with their children's education and development and participate in a variety of activities children's groups.
• Products - Crayola provides an online catalog of all their products.  Parents can purchase online or locate a store where their products can be purchased.

Overall, I would say that Crayola has done an excellent job of providing an excellent resource for parents and their kids to enhance their children's learning experience and child development. 

Courtesy of Crayola with a commentary by My First Day Productions

Comments

[baby crib]

I brought my kids here and they were really fascinated. They love the big crayons a lot!

[playmobil knights]

I agree. Crayola have explore so much and they have different products now. I can say that they are really successful in this colorful industry.