Ronn TorossianRonn Torossian

Ever wonder how Crayola comes up with their unique colors? Sometimes, it’s intentional. Sometimes they hold a survey. Other times, it’s just a happy accident.

After a team of scientists at Oregon State University accidentally created a brilliant blue color while working on some electronics, Crayola took notice. The company is now working with OSU and The Shepherd Color Company to produce and market a special kind of blue called YinMin blue. This will replace the recently retired “dandelion” hue. But what will this new blue be called? Well, Crayola is letting its customers decide.

In connecting with their fans in this way, Crayola can stay relevant to a consumer market gradually becoming more connected to tech and less willing to just pull out some crayons and do some coloring. It’s a public relations gambit that has worked for Crayola many times throughout the company’s long history.

Many folks can’t remember a time when Crayola crayons were not a part of childhood, and that’s because the company has been making and selling them to kids and parents since 1885.

Formed in New York City by Edwin Binney and Harold Smith, Crayola started by making products for industrial use, specifically barn paint and tire tint. The company’s name recognition exploded after the 1900 Paris Exposition, where it won a gold medal. Of course, 1900 was also the year Crayola would make a product that opened up an entirely new consumer market: school pencils.

Four years later, the company won another gold medal, this time for white chalk. That opened up the floodgates. Soon came the crayons everyone knows, as well as Silly Putty and high-end creative materials promoted under the Portfolio Series brand.

Crayola released crayon colors in groups, keeping their product fresh and interesting for consumers. First came the eight original shades, which just about every American parent has bought at the beginning of multiple school years. Then came the 16-count box. Then, in 1949, Crayola released its 48-count box … followed a few years later by the 64-count. That particular box also introduced kids and parents to the handy in-box crayon sharpener.

Since then, Crayola has released thicker Crayons for younger fingers and washable lines of crayons, markers and pencils to give parents and teachers some more peace of mind.

Today, thanks to consistent upgrading and periodic direct consumer creative interaction like the naming survey, Crayola boasts 99 percent name recognition among U.S. consumers. That’s a major achievement when you consider that at one time the company could have been rendered just another chemical company.

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Ronn Torossian is CEO of 5WPR.