Listen To The Show
Transcript
Welcome to The Brief by Kuro House, your daily dose of sharp marketing insights. I’m glad you’re tuning in today—whether you’re on your commute, prepping for a meeting, or just looking to stay ahead of the curve, we’ve got a fascinating deep dive into the evolving world of legacy brands and the strategic mindset driving their continued relevance.
Let’s start with a story that upends assumptions about what a legacy brand can do. In Adweek’s recent feature, “Finding New Relevance for a Legacy Brand: Victoria Lozano’s Crayola Journey,” we get an inside look at how Crayola—a brand synonymous with childhood creativity—is refusing to rest on its laurels. Victoria Lozano, former CMO of Crayola, spoke on the Marketing Vanguard podcast at Brandweek, sharing how even the most iconic brands must keep evolving. The key, she says, is balancing nostalgia with present-day cultural relevance. If you only lean on nostalgia, you risk becoming a relic; if you ignore it, you lose the emotional connection that made you iconic in the first place. For Crayola, this means developing products and experiences that honor their heritage while tapping into modern values like wellness, self-expression, and mental health. One statistic from Lozano is especially eye-opening: 57% of Crayola purchases are now made by adults without children. By repositioning coloring as a tool for adult wellness—competing with everything from meditation apps to wine—Crayola is expanding into new markets and growing that segment by three percentage points year-over-year. Lozano also emphasizes the importance of differentiated messaging: for kids, it’s about joy and fun; for parents, it’s skill development; and for adults, it’s creative escape. The CMO’s role, she argues, is about more than just sales—it’s about shifting the societal conversation around creativity. By aligning the brand with a core value and systematically investing in that message, Crayola is building an enduring competitive advantage that goes far beyond crayons.
That’s all for today’s episode of The Brief by Kuro House. I hope this deep dive into Crayola’s transformation has sparked some ideas about how legacy brands—and maybe even your own brand—can unlock new relevance and growth by combining emotional resonance with a keen eye for emerging trends. Thanks for listening, and remember: the most iconic brands are the ones that never stop evolving. Catch you next time.
