Crayola Colors Outside the Lines
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Nestled among acres of cornfields and farmlands in Easton, Pa., the Crayola factory cranks out colors like Carnation Pink and Burnt Sienna as quickly as a nearby dairy farm churns butter. A staple on back-to-school shopping lists, Crayola’s yellow box of crayons had enjoyed a consistent, if quiet, existence in the world of toys and crafts for the past century. Then a marketing campaign to add a new blue crayon to the popular 24-count boxand get rid of anotherpropelled the brand into the spotlight earlier this year.
The company began a contest to name the new hue but kept secret which color it would replace. Add a dash of nostalgia and you have all the trappings of a buzzworthy campaign. When a Target shopper figured out Dandelion Yellow was already missing from cartons, he spoiled the surprise on Twitter. As a result, the 114-year-old brand saw some of its strongest consumer engagement since people started tracking that sort of thing. Now as school shopping looms in earnest, the campaign is entering its final phase.
The question remains whether Crayola can achieve the kind of hip-to-be-analog alchemy that Lego pulled off with its hit movies and to lodge itself in the fore of a tech-obsessed pop culture.
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