MIDNIGHT MASQUERADE:
KATRINA PALLON'S BLOG,
PAINTINGS, ILLUSTRATIONS & PHOTOGRAPHY

If you were asked what colours can you see in the photo below, you'd most probably answer: a bit of periwinkle, orchid violet, olive green, raw umber, etc. I'd give those same answers myself. As a friend has put it: It's as if the "colour swatches" that one would most probably have in mind are formulated thanks to using Crayola as a kid.
I was in 2nd grade the first time I got hold of the 48-pieces Crayola crayons. I couldn't stop sketching and colouring in my drawings after I got it as a birthday gift with a set of Reynold's coloured pens. But the first time I set my eyes on the 64-pieces Crayola crayons, I couldn't stop begging my mom to buy me that. And so on Chistmas of 1994, I finally had my very own box of 64 Crayola crayons. It wasn't just happiness that I felt, it was euphoria!

I bet everyone would agree when I say that Crayola has always been every child's very first weapon of choice. I refused to stop using it even when I discovered the wonders of oil, acrylic, and water colour during my later elementary years. When joining poster making contests back then, I painstakingly did my entries using crayons while other contestants would render their works using Cray-Pas which, by the way, I never learned to use.

Without further ado, I am sharing one of the case studies we had for Marketing class I was able to find while deleting files in the PC. This is for every child at heart who still loves Crayola as much as I do. Enjoy!

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CRAYOLA CRAYONS:
A LONG AND COLORFUL LIFE CYCLE

Binney & Smith Company began making crayons in Bushkill Creek near Peekskill, New York, in 1903. Partner Edwin Binney’s wife, Alice, named them Crayola crayons- after the French craie, meaning ‘stick of color’ and the Spanish ola, meaning ‘oil.’ In the 90-years since, Crayola crayons have become a household staple, not just in the United States, but in more than sixty countries around the world, in boxes printed in eleven languages. If you placed all the Crayola crayons made in a single year end to end, they would circle the earth four-and-a-half times.

Few people can forget their first pack of ‘64s’ – sixty-four beauties neatly arranged in the familiar green and yellow flip-top box with a sharpener on the back. The aroma of freshly opened Crayola Box still drives kids into a frenzy and takes members of the older generation back to their fondest childhood memories. Binney and Smith, now a subsidiary of hallmark, dominates the crayon market. Sixty-five per cent of all American children between the ages 2 and 7 pick up a crayon at least once a day and color an average of twenty-eight minutes – 80 per cent of the time, they pick up Crayolas.

In some ways, Crayola crayons haven’t changed much since 1903, when they were sold in an eight-pack for a nickel. Crayola has always been the number one brand, and the crayons are still made by hand in much the same way as then. But a closer look reveals Binney and Smith has made many adjustments in order to keep the Crayola brand in the mature stage and out of decline.  Over the years, the company has added a steady stream of new colors from the original eight in 1903 to forty eight in 1949, to sixty-four in 1958. In 1972, it added eight fluorescent colors -  with hot names like Laser Lemon, Screamin’ Green, and Atomic Tangerine; and in 1990, an additional seven fluorescents, including Electric Lime and Razzle-Dazzle Rose. Most recently, it created a new line of Silver Swirl Colors – Cerulean Frost, Cosmic Cobalt, Misty Moss, Rose Dust and twenty others. In all, Crayola crayons now come in 103 colours and a variety of packages, including a 72-crayon attaché’-like case.

Over the years, the Crayola line has grown to include many sizes and shapes. In addition to the standard 3 5/8-inch crayon, it now includes flat, jumbo, and ‘So Big’ crayons. Crayola Washable Crayons were added in 1991. Binney & Smith also extended the Crayola brand to new markets when it developed Crayola Markers and related products. Finally, the company has added several programs and services to help strengthen its relationships with Crayola customers. For example, in 1984 it began its Dream Makers art education program designed to help students capture their dreams on paper and to use artistic process to make the dreams more tangible. In 1986, it set up a toll-free 1-800-CRAYOLA hotline to provide better customer service. And it recently implemented a national recycling effort. Each store now has a crayon collection bin- the collected bits and pieces of crayon are melted down and used to make the most-used hue – black.

Not all of Binney & Smith’s life-cycle adjustments have been greeted with open arms by consumers. For example, facing flat sales throughout the 1980s, the company conducted market research which showed that children were ready to break with tradition on favor of some exciting new colors. They were seeing and wearing brighter new colors and wanted to be able to color with them as well. So, in 1990, Binney & Smith retired eight colors from the time-honored box of sixty-four -  raw umber, lemon yellow, maize, blue grey, orange yellow, orange red, green blue and violet blue – in to the Crayola Hall of Fame.  In their place, it introduced eight more modern shades – Cerulean, Vivid Tangerine, Jungle Green, Fuchsia, Dandelion, Teal Blue, Royal Purple, Wild Strawberry. The move unleashed a ground swell of protest from loyal Crayola users, who formed such organizations as the Raw Umber and Maize Preservation Society and the National Committee to save Lemon Yellow. Binney & Smith receive an average of 334 calls a month from concerned customers. Company executives were flabbergasted: ‘We were aware of the loyalty and nostalgia surrounding Crayola crayons, a spokesperson says, ‘but we didn’t know we would hit such a nerve.’ Still, fans of the new colors outnumbered the protestors, and the new colors are here to stay. However, the company did revive the old standards for one last hurrah in a special collector’s tin – it sold all of the 2.5 million tins made. Thus Crayola brand continues through its long and colorful life cycle.