Crayola LLC

Shave your head like that girl at Oregon State my first year there.

And take some Crayola marker and do a really bad arrow.

And then maybe someone will talk to you about it.

Or maybe someone won't ever talk to you about it.

And I think that makes storytelling not only the ultimate sort of expression and one of the most powerful forms of marketing, but I actually think storytelling can extend well beyond that and sort of become the narrative for your entire business and your growth platform.

As I mentioned, the work that I led in Crayola, if you ultimately become a brand that stands for enchantment activity, it allows you to think about, hey, what's the growth thesis? for the business that is based on the brand as a creativity brand? And what are all the ways that we can sort of elevate what we already do in the existing business? How can we get into new spaces, adjacent spaces? How can we create new revenue streams? All of it then becomes possible.

And I think a lot of times the storytelling is foundational to your ability to do that.

Welcome to In Other Words, the podcast from Phrase where we speak with business leaders shaping how organizations grow, adapt, and connect around the world.

I'm Jason Hemingway, Chief Marketing Officer at Phrase, and today's guest is Victoria Lozano, former Chief Marketing Officer and EVP at Crayola, where she spent 17 years and helped transform the company from a product brand into a growth ecosystem spanning physical venues, children's entertainment, and global licensing.

Victoria's roots of the CMO role was pretty unusual.

She's built the business case and financial model for Crayola's entry into what's called location-based entertainment and just think branded physical events where families come to play and create, and then ran that business for seven years with full P&L responsibility.

And before Crayola...

We have card makers.

Hallmark also owns Crayola.

the crayon among many other creative brands and so we have ways that we show people all the talent in our business

so having a flywheel is one thing it feels like you're in many bubbles how do you make sure that you're you know driving people from one thing to the other right because One might argue that your audience on TV is there and that's it.

Dang it, not my Barbie toothpaste.

Crayola Silly Scents bubble gum toothpaste.

Watermelon toothpaste, strawberry toothpaste, my little pony bubblegum toothpaste.

They have this stuff? I was about to ask, are these real or are you just punking us? They're real.

It just makes your mouth hurt? Yeah,

but still, like... a remote chance of a serious medical issue from your toothpaste, I don't want to roll those dice.

I still like the one called Crayola Silly Scents Bubblegum Toothpaste.

First of all, I mean, you only eat crayons when you're two.

Anybody? So I got four golf rounds at Moose Mountain.

And then the Crayola Experience.

I have four wristbands for that, too, at Mall of America.

Obviously, many of our audience members, you have aged out of being interested in this, but what a great gift to give for Christmas.

I don't know, but it was about an artist and their struggle to find the color blue and to actually use it in painting, which, you know, I guess changed everything.

But apparently blue was not... as easy to acquire as we might think now when you can just go anywhere and get Crayola crayons and colored pencils and, you know, I mean, blue jeans, for God's sake.

It's like the most boring, drab, you know, easy piece of clothing that you can put on that and a sweatshirt, you know.

It's like, there it is.

to work with that.

That must have been a tremendous change when you go to high def and it can spot that that's a Crayola figure in the crowd.

There's

a weird thing too that goes on with higher frame rate and higher resolution and it looks like crap.