abhishreshthaa
Abhijeet S
Crayola is a brand of artists supplies manufactured by Crayola LLC, which was founded in 1885 as Binney & Smith. It is best known for its crayons.
Originally an industrial pigment supply company, it soon shifted its focus to art products for home and school use, beginning with chalk, then crayons, followed later by colored pencils, markers, paints, modeling clay and other related goods. All Crayola-branded products are marketed as nontoxic and safe for use by children.
The company also produces Silly Putty and a line of professional art products under the Portfolio Series brand.
The Crayola brand has 99% name recognition in U.S. consumer households, and its products are sold in over 80 countries.
Strength
* Crayola is a recognized and highly trusted brand name and logo. In fact, 98 out of every 100 Americans recognize it. Children age 2-10, their target market, love Crayola products and have selective demand for it. Children demand the products and then influence their parents to purchase them. The Crayola brand name is synonymous with high quality and high brand loyalty.
* They are a global company, with a wide spectrum of individuals who use Crayola products all over the world.
* Crayola has built up a highly successful distribution system. Their products are available everywhere, including grocery stores, drug stores, Internet sales, hospitals, doctor's offices, schools, gas stations, airports, theme parks, hotels and restaurants. They sell retail and also in bulk to organizational buyers at a lower cost. Schools all over the US and in other countries like The UK, Canada, Australia, and Mexico all utilize Crayola art materials.
* Crayola's website is geared for children, parents, and educators. They provide free ideas for crafts and printable coloring pages. The website is used for booking, ordering, promotional information, marketing, and more. Crayola even provides advice on how to remove stains on their official website.
* Crayola is well-established due to their innovation (keeping the company out of saturation and decline). Crayola has been in service for many years and knows how to cater to the needs of the consumer. Crayola is constantly building new products and the growth targets many individual needs. Crayola also developed art products that emphasized international diversity by launching Crayola My World multicultural crayons. The company hoped that by using crayons, markers, paints, and modeling compounds that reflected the variety of skin tones, children would build a positive sense of self as well as respect for cultural diversity.
* Crayola's price range is reflective of their core target market, middle and lower upper class Americans; and their products are priced competitively with their major competitor, Rose Art. The consumer feels that the price reflects the quality.
* Crayola uses all non-toxic, child-safe materials that are cost effective and efficient. They use a variety of colors with fun memorable names, which appeal to children and adults. Crayola is environmentally friendly as well. They have scented products for sensory skills. They have easy grip products for motor skills.
* They have licensing deals with major children's characters, including all Disney characters, and Nickelodeon characters, which increases their appeal to children.
* The majority of their retail promotion consists of television commercials, magazine ads, and point of purchase displays. Their promotion impacts and targets children primarily and foremost, however, it is a pull strategy to create an influence purchase by the parents. In most large retail stores, Crayola has their own aisle!
Weaknesses
* In addition to its inkTank line, Crayola serves the professional market with its Portfolio Series collection of color pencils, oil pastels, and acrylic paints. Because they are most well known for children's art products, they have yet to achieve high market share in this division, and most art professionals do not use Crayola products.
* Crayola launched an unsuccessful line of children's' clothing in the 1980's, and it was scaled back to include only newborn layette sets. In 2007 they launched a test market campaign for Crayola branded bottled water, which was also unsuccessful, as consumers were hesitant to buy it because they anticipated that the water would actually taste like crayons (which it didn't).
* Also in the late 1980's sales began to decline due to increased competition and the company began to slip into saturation, they began a campaign to increase demand by urging parents to purchase a "fresh box."
* Crayola's attempt to build a solar power plant was sidelined in 2008. They intended the power plant be used to help run their manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania, however, they have run into problems finding partners to make it a reality.
* Crayola still ranks behind in sales and market share in their marker product line. In 2007, Sanford Sharpie had a 31% market share, with sales (at Wal-Mart) of $56 million, while Crayola had a 22% market share, with sales of $37 million (at Wal-Mart).
Opportunities
* In 2009 they introduced two innovative lines of products for babies and toddlers; including products that allow babies to explore colors even before they can use a crayon. The products for toddlers are large enough so that they can grasp them, and even color in the bathtub, which allows for easy clean up, therefore appealing to the primary purchaser, parents.
* In July 2009 Crayola launched a school social media campaign on Twitter and Facebook. It is geared towards moms (their core purchaser) and features innovative ways to be creative and save money during back to school shopping.
* In the spring of 2009 they created a summer wellness campaign to encourage children to play outside more.
Threats
* With the advent of computers and web based learning, sales of crayons are projected to decrease as children leave behind hand held art supplies at a younger and younger age. It's called KGOY-kids growing older younger, and many companies have suffered because of it, most recognizable is Mattel, the maker of Barbie dolls. In the 1990's the average age of a child in their target market was 10 years old, and in 2000 it dropped to 3 years old. As children reach the age of four and five, old enough to play on the computer, they become less interested in toys and crayons and begin to desire electronics such as cell phones and video games. Crayola is slowly falling victim to the same phenomena, how will they innovate to overcome this?
* In the downturned economy, parents and schools are spending less on school supplies. A survey from Deloitte found that 64% of consumers said they would spend less on school purchases. Nationwide, parents plan to spend an average of $548 to send their children back to school; and estimates range from a decline of 7.7%, forecast by the National Retail Federation, to as much as 12% in 2009, according to America's Research Group.
Originally an industrial pigment supply company, it soon shifted its focus to art products for home and school use, beginning with chalk, then crayons, followed later by colored pencils, markers, paints, modeling clay and other related goods. All Crayola-branded products are marketed as nontoxic and safe for use by children.
The company also produces Silly Putty and a line of professional art products under the Portfolio Series brand.
The Crayola brand has 99% name recognition in U.S. consumer households, and its products are sold in over 80 countries.
Strength
* Crayola is a recognized and highly trusted brand name and logo. In fact, 98 out of every 100 Americans recognize it. Children age 2-10, their target market, love Crayola products and have selective demand for it. Children demand the products and then influence their parents to purchase them. The Crayola brand name is synonymous with high quality and high brand loyalty.
* They are a global company, with a wide spectrum of individuals who use Crayola products all over the world.
* Crayola has built up a highly successful distribution system. Their products are available everywhere, including grocery stores, drug stores, Internet sales, hospitals, doctor's offices, schools, gas stations, airports, theme parks, hotels and restaurants. They sell retail and also in bulk to organizational buyers at a lower cost. Schools all over the US and in other countries like The UK, Canada, Australia, and Mexico all utilize Crayola art materials.
* Crayola's website is geared for children, parents, and educators. They provide free ideas for crafts and printable coloring pages. The website is used for booking, ordering, promotional information, marketing, and more. Crayola even provides advice on how to remove stains on their official website.
* Crayola is well-established due to their innovation (keeping the company out of saturation and decline). Crayola has been in service for many years and knows how to cater to the needs of the consumer. Crayola is constantly building new products and the growth targets many individual needs. Crayola also developed art products that emphasized international diversity by launching Crayola My World multicultural crayons. The company hoped that by using crayons, markers, paints, and modeling compounds that reflected the variety of skin tones, children would build a positive sense of self as well as respect for cultural diversity.
* Crayola's price range is reflective of their core target market, middle and lower upper class Americans; and their products are priced competitively with their major competitor, Rose Art. The consumer feels that the price reflects the quality.
* Crayola uses all non-toxic, child-safe materials that are cost effective and efficient. They use a variety of colors with fun memorable names, which appeal to children and adults. Crayola is environmentally friendly as well. They have scented products for sensory skills. They have easy grip products for motor skills.
* They have licensing deals with major children's characters, including all Disney characters, and Nickelodeon characters, which increases their appeal to children.
* The majority of their retail promotion consists of television commercials, magazine ads, and point of purchase displays. Their promotion impacts and targets children primarily and foremost, however, it is a pull strategy to create an influence purchase by the parents. In most large retail stores, Crayola has their own aisle!
Weaknesses
* In addition to its inkTank line, Crayola serves the professional market with its Portfolio Series collection of color pencils, oil pastels, and acrylic paints. Because they are most well known for children's art products, they have yet to achieve high market share in this division, and most art professionals do not use Crayola products.
* Crayola launched an unsuccessful line of children's' clothing in the 1980's, and it was scaled back to include only newborn layette sets. In 2007 they launched a test market campaign for Crayola branded bottled water, which was also unsuccessful, as consumers were hesitant to buy it because they anticipated that the water would actually taste like crayons (which it didn't).
* Also in the late 1980's sales began to decline due to increased competition and the company began to slip into saturation, they began a campaign to increase demand by urging parents to purchase a "fresh box."
* Crayola's attempt to build a solar power plant was sidelined in 2008. They intended the power plant be used to help run their manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania, however, they have run into problems finding partners to make it a reality.
* Crayola still ranks behind in sales and market share in their marker product line. In 2007, Sanford Sharpie had a 31% market share, with sales (at Wal-Mart) of $56 million, while Crayola had a 22% market share, with sales of $37 million (at Wal-Mart).
Opportunities
* In 2009 they introduced two innovative lines of products for babies and toddlers; including products that allow babies to explore colors even before they can use a crayon. The products for toddlers are large enough so that they can grasp them, and even color in the bathtub, which allows for easy clean up, therefore appealing to the primary purchaser, parents.
* In July 2009 Crayola launched a school social media campaign on Twitter and Facebook. It is geared towards moms (their core purchaser) and features innovative ways to be creative and save money during back to school shopping.
* In the spring of 2009 they created a summer wellness campaign to encourage children to play outside more.
Threats
* With the advent of computers and web based learning, sales of crayons are projected to decrease as children leave behind hand held art supplies at a younger and younger age. It's called KGOY-kids growing older younger, and many companies have suffered because of it, most recognizable is Mattel, the maker of Barbie dolls. In the 1990's the average age of a child in their target market was 10 years old, and in 2000 it dropped to 3 years old. As children reach the age of four and five, old enough to play on the computer, they become less interested in toys and crayons and begin to desire electronics such as cell phones and video games. Crayola is slowly falling victim to the same phenomena, how will they innovate to overcome this?
* In the downturned economy, parents and schools are spending less on school supplies. A survey from Deloitte found that 64% of consumers said they would spend less on school purchases. Nationwide, parents plan to spend an average of $548 to send their children back to school; and estimates range from a decline of 7.7%, forecast by the National Retail Federation, to as much as 12% in 2009, according to America's Research Group.