Crayola. The ubiquitous crayon. How common can a brand be? Turns out Crayola has made an uncommon move—from a crayon company to an art and design company. In a recent Brandweek article, we see that Crayola has given birth to a new brand: Liv Crayola.
The company has wisely leveraged pleasant associations from childhood with Crayola and extended it to “design-centric school supplies in Target stores next month as part of a move to reconnect with teens.”
This move came as a result of a terrific revelation. Research showed that teenage girls felt the Crayola brand left them as they grew up, not the other way around.
Wow. Good stuff. We all know there are good ways to extend brands and plenty of bad ones. We’ve seen enough examples of failed brand extensions that have led to real consequences. So it’s refreshing to see what can be done if executed correctly.
Liv Crayola targets girls ages 13 to 18 with a product line of binders, notebooks, pens, pencils, and stationery products. “Design packs” or custom patterns can be created by girls online so they can personalize their items. A deal was made with Target as the sole retailer for Liv Crayola.
How did Crayola kick off its new brand?
• Social media and WOM ad campaigns during April pre-launched the brand.
• Two apps on the Crayola Facebook page allowed kids to “jazz up photos with Liv Crayola-inspired designs or “create your own Crayola color nickname and find your True Colors.”
• Print buys in the fall issues of Seventeen magazine set the stage for digital and SM marketing campaigns.
When asked about using traditional media to reach teen girls, Victoria Lozano, Target VP Portfolio Marketing observed that it wasn’t “the best way to connect with them.” Liv Crayola may have a stronger than usual opportunity for success in its effort to reach teen girls.
Research showed that the brand brought back “happy, pleasant memories of childhood” for teens, when “Crayola as a very integral part of their lives.” Tapping into teen girls’ desire to express who they are in a creative, unique way by letting them co-create their own products ought to resonate with this demographic.
Questions:
• Do you think other brands that appeal to kids might be losing opportunities to “grow” with them into their teen years and beyond?
• Which brands besides Crayola do you think might benefit from the kind of research Crayola did?
• What do you think of Crayola’s use of interactive and social media vs traditional media? Do you think it’s especially effective for young demographic groups, or for all consumer groups?
I’d love to hear from you.
Tags: Innovation, Marketing
Ted – This is a great case study of Crayola and it’s one of those things that people in the company probably knew but it wasn’t front of mind until they completed the research. Regarding their use of social media and online interactions; YES, this is an effective space to engage with this demographic. The print buys gave them a jump-start for a successful digital campaign.
Hi Zack,
Thanks for weighing in on my post. Agreed: I think some companies with kids’ brands generally understand there are fond memories and pleasant associations in adults’ minds as a result of their childhood experiences. Yet, they seldom look for ways to leverage that or extend the brand in a meaningful way for an older demographic. That’s why I thought this case study important to blog about. And, yes, the way to reach the 13-18 year old demographic is primarily through social media, but some traditional advertising helps drive them there. I hope this gets brand managers thinking. . .
Hey Ted
I think Crayola is trying to do what Lego has already achieved in “growing up” with their consumers. Lego has an ambassadors program where they give adult enthusiasts the chance to represent the company and if they win they get paid in Lego bricks! They also have a certified professionals program where they find artists who are doing amazing things with Lego and give them a spotlight on their company website.
Instead of extending Crayola’s brand, it should be strengthening its brand among teen hobbyists who still love Crayola past their childhoods. They should find people who love it and pay them in crayons or they should find artists who use Crayola.
Those are my thoughts anyways. Would love to know what you think.
I will be very interested to see how successful this is…personally, I think that if I were a teenager again I would be hesitant to revisit something that was branded the same as something I played with when I was only a toddler. They have used a great strategy to re-launch though so it might have some promise. Time will tell.
Hi Phillip,
I love the way you brought Lego into this discussion! Lego’s extension of the brand to adults who have fond memories of playing with the bricks as children makes perfect sense. This is what I think: Liv Crayola will appeal to teens because it enables them to express their creativity in a more sophisticated manner than simply drawing with crayons as they did when they were younger children. That doesn’t mean the company couldn’t launch a crayon coloring campaign, however. Encouraging teens as well as adults to do some creative artwork in a major national contest might be a good idea. Giving prizes out for various age groups would be an inducement. And then featuring the artwork on SM sites would create a great deal of buzz. I think your idea has merit and if the folks at Crayola see this, I hope they’ll give it some consideration. Thanks, Phillip, for adding a great dimension this discussion.
Hi Sophie,
You’ve hit on something we ought to consider. Some teens might think they’re too grown up for the Crayola brand. To counter this the premise of Liv Crayola had to be smart and more sophisticated to entice older kids. I think the merchandise selection, the new name and the marketing approach using social media is quite a departure for Crayola. It clearly aims at a different audience than young kids. They seem to be doing this intelligently. As you stated: time will tell. One question I had: did the signing of a deal with Target limit the scope of its potential distribution? How much more exposure and sales opportunities would Crayola have if all retailers and etailers could offer the new product line? Just wondering what Daily Fix readers think about this. . . .Thanks, Sophie. I appreciate your weighing in on my post.