It’s all in the name

A wave of excitement hit the office recently when we discovered that Crayola will be releasing its own range of nail varnish. Yes, you did read that right. The popular brand of crayons and other great children’s stationery is launching a range of pretty colours that we can paint on our hands and toes rather than on paper.

Now, this major deviation off course of its usual product range will cause some people to take a step back and wonder what on earth has gone through Crayola’s minds. I’m sure many will question whether the leap from stationery to nail varnish is a step too far. My answer is no, well not for Crayola anyway. I doubt I would be excited if stabilo were to launch a range of eyeliners, but Crayola have been clever here to draw (excuse the pun) a link between their iconic colours and nail varnish, a market that is becoming increasingly profitable. So why not use Crayola to colour in your nails?

In actual fact it proves the power of a strong brand name. The colours don’t seem particularly ground breaking and I can’t imagine that the quality of the nail varnish is akin to the more well-known names such as nails inc. and OPI, however, I am in no doubt that the fact that they have been produced by Crayola will result in the varnishes flying off the shelf – regardless of whether they have been made with children or adults in mind.

It’s not just Crayola that have used their brand power to disperse their product offering, PANTONE® used its brand position to expand into the consumer goods market. Not only is PANTONE® the go-to system for colour matching, but now consumers can buy a ‘colour of the year mug’ to enjoy their cup of tea. The PANTONE® name has allowed the company to create a diverse range of products and become a profit-making machine. Dunhill expanded from tobacco to the men’s fashion industry and the WI is using its expertise to shift into the market for baking ingredients.

There is something nostalgic about being able to buy a Crayola product as an adult and not have to pretend you’re buying a present for a niece or nephew (no I haven’t done that…yet). Even the, albeit devastating, fact that the nail varnish is not yet on sale in the UK has meant that demand for it is already high.

Crayola can teach other brands a lesson or two. Building a strong brand name may not be easy, but once you have it, you have consumers eating out of your colourful finger tips.