Across its storied 122-year history, Crayola has never revived a collection of retired crayon colors—until now. As part of its year-long Campaign for Creativity, which centers on the vital role that color plays in inspiring creativity, the brand “unretired” eight beloved hues, then marked the occasion with a nostalgic, family-friendly pop-up “reunion” in New York’s Union Square. Hosted on International Colour Day (March 21), the vibrant activation brought the colors to life as crayon characters, each with a backstory about life in retirement, and with a hands-on activity to match.
“Last year, we launched a campaign that focuses on showcasing the critical role that color plays for kids, with creativity being a key life skill,” says Victoria Lozano, cmo at Crayola. “This year, we’re evolving that message and including the notion that color is so integral to helping inspire us. We’ve done a lot of research that showcases that parents see it; they understand that color is really important to their kids. So what better way than to merge those things… than creating a first-time, one-of-a-kind way of helping celebrate these amazing colors that have not been around for quite some time.”
For a deeper dive into the event strategy, we asked Lozano for her insider tips on harnessing nostalgia and delivering family-friendly experiences that pack a punch.
EDUCATIONAL STORYLINES
The pop-up’s footprint was divided into eight themed vignettes representing the revived colors. Each zone featured a crayon character with its own geographically inspired storyline about traveling while in retirement, along with activities based on their journey.
The strategy not only made the colors (and the brand) more memorable, but provided kids with quick hits of education related to all seven continents. Take Magic Mint, who visited Africa during retirement, and invited attendees to partake in safari animal-themed face-painting. Or Mulberry, who traveled in Asia, and offered mindful meditation experiences.
INSPIRING ACTION
It’s one thing to be educated on color and creativity, but Crayola wanted to go a step further at the event by ensuring that attendees could put their learnings—and their imaginations—to work. To that end, each zone included an interactive engagement. Among them: a travel-charting activity, Polaroid photography, chalk art, a dance floor and, of course, some good-old fashioned coloring stations.
“Creativity is all about putting your imagination into action, so we want to spark your imagination through these immersive spaces, but we also want you to be able to put that into action with some of the activities,” Lozano says.
THE NOSTALGIA PLAY
There’s no denying that nostalgia is a thriving trend that has the power to make experiences more meaningful. And with an inherently nostalgic campaign, Crayola leaned in. While its pop-up activities were geared more toward kids, the experience also served as a blast from the past for adults, who took the opportunity to slow down for a moment and immerse themselves in the environment.
“You’d be shocked at how color triggers nostalgia, because if you really think about it, your big life moments always have a color associated with them,” says Lozano. “Color’s just so personal, so emotional… For parents, or adults that were just there on their own, it really did [evoke] nostalgia, and also the joy of revisiting those childhood memories and being able to have this moment in our crazy lives to have something that is positive, uplifting, emotional, and a little time for yourself, even if it’s just a few minutes.”
Speaking of nostalgia and memory-making, those who participated in Crayola’s pop-up scored a passport that was stamped in each zone, as a memento to take home.
As far as results, the brand aims to “continue the momentum” of the overwhelming response to its retired colors collection, Lozano says. “We’re leaning into earned media and earned social, as well as owned social, and that’s what we’re going to be measuring in terms of the impressions, the conversations, the level of engagement—which has been tremendous so far.” Agency: Golin.
Photos: Courtesy of Crayola
