Binney & Smith, Inc. put Crayola Crayons on the market. On March 31st in 1903 the company began selling their Crayola Crayons to the public. They came up with the brand name Crayola when they put the French Words Craie (chalk) and ola (oily) together. The first Crayola crayons came in a box of 8 and sold for 5 cents. Today, Binney & Smith produce about 7 million crayons every day in 120 colors. The average American child uses 730 crayons by his 10th birthday. It’s no surprise that a study shows the smell of Crayola crayons is one of the twenty top scents recognized by adults in the U.S.
(source: http://www.crayola.com/)
CRAYON AS ART:
Herb Williams is one of a handful of recognized artists that use crayons in their work. But he does it on a large scale (using hundreds of thousands of crayons in his original sculptures – similar to the one shown). In fact for his work which has appeared in as America, China, England, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Australia, Croatia, and Japan, Williams has received National and International recocgnition including The Joan Mitchell Foundation Museum Purchase Grant in 2004 and the Next Star Artist Award in 2008. You can visit The Design Inspiration website to see more of Herb Williams Crayon Sculptures.
CRAYONS IN THE NEWS:
Crayons project gets high marks ~ In 2006, The National Honor Society/National Junior Honor Society recognized The Miramar High School’s chapter (in Florida) with an Outstanding Service Project award for its Crayons for Kids project. Students created Crayons for Kids as a way to give children from low-income families the items needed to begin school. “They spent 25 weeks collecting material,” said David Cordts, associate director for the national group. “They collected boxes of crayons, pencils, composition books and colored folders.” These items were then distributed to first-grade students from lower-income families, he continued. (Source: Sun-Sentinel)
So how could your company use crayons to promote your brand? Become an artist? Create an event such as an art contest?
If you’ve ever eaten out with your kids you know that many restaurants give crayons away to children accompanied by parents – not only a great way to keep the little tykes busy, it could be a good branding opportunity for a restaurant who purchased custom imprinted boxes the kids took home. Now there’s an idea!
Crayon Facts and Trivia:
Did you know that Americans buy 2.5 billion crayons a year? And that if you laid them all end to end — the crayons, not the buyers — they would encircle the Earth more than 4 1/2 times
The hundred billionth crayon made by Crayola was Periwinkle Blue.
Crayola crayons come in 120 colors including 23 reds, 20 greens, 19 blues, 16 purples, 14 oranges, 11 browns, 8 yellows, 2 grays, 2 coppers, 2 blacks, 1 white, 1 gold and 1 silver.
The first box of Crayola crayons was sold in 1903 for a nickel and included the same colors available in the eight-count box today: red, blue, yellow, green, violet, orange, black and brown.
Kids, ages 2-8, spend an average of 28 minutes each day coloring. Combined, children in the U.S. spend 6.3 billion hours coloring each year.
Douglas Mehrens uses more crayons annually than anyone else in the world. The Phoenix-based artist goes through about 24,000 a year, many of them melted, to complete his works.
Binney & Smith, maker of Crayola products, produces nearly 3 billion crayons each year, an average of twelve million daily. That’s enough to circle the globe 6 times. It would take about 400 million crayons to go around the world.
(Source: http://www.crayola.com/)
To learn how Crayolas are made, visit the Crayola Factory
Other Events of Note on March 31st:
Happy Eiffel Tower Day! The Eiffel Tower opened on March 31 in 1889.
Cesar Chavez Day! Today is the birthday of Cesar Chavez (deceased), the famous Mexican-American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist.
Today is also Dance Marathon Day. The first dance marathon in the United States was held in New York City in 1923. Wearing out six different partners, Alma Cummings danced non-stop for 27 hours, breaking the previous record set in Britain.
Be sure to check out Quirky Marketing Calendar ~ How to Use Zany and Non-traditional Holidays to Promote Your Business 365 Days a Year for More great marketing ideas.
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