• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, October 29, 2024

 "Abbott Elementary" creator Quinta Brunson

What do actors like Quinta Brunson, Matthew McConaughey and Henry Winkler have in common? They’re so amped about ways to help kids become more creative that they’re joining in -- unpaid -- to participate in Crayola Creativity Week, scheduled for early January. It’s the fourth and biggest iteration of the brand’s school-based initiative. Victoria Lozano, executive vice president of marketing at the Hallmark-owned company, says it is one of the company’s substantial efforts to engage all three of its audiences: Kids, teachers and parents.
Interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Marketing Daily: What’s the marketing premise behind Crayola Creativity Week?

Victoria Lozano: We've been in people's lives for 140 years, and the brand was founded on this fundamental belief that creativity is essential, and matters not just to each child, but to the collective success of our country. It’s that Industrial Revolution belief that creativity is a critical life skill that needs to be showcased and nurtured.

We tried to focus on that with “Campaign for Creativity,” which we launched about six months ago, highlighting the role parents play in kids’ creativity. We think of Crayola Creativity Week as a parallel sister program focusing on creativity in the classroom.

It's not just about the art room. It’s about using creativity to teach literacy, social and emotional learning, math, and social sciences. It also focuses on how creativity is aligned with standards, addressing what teachers already have to teach.

Many independent studies show that when kids are engaged in learning, using creativity, self-expression and hands-on activities, it significantly improves retention and outcomes. The program is based on this idea of creative teaching, inspired by all the ways we can help teachers. It’s a tough job. We asked ourselves, “How can we make their job easier and help kids learn better?”

Marketing Daily: How is the “Campaign for Creativity” going?

Lozano: In six months, we've already hit 5.6 billion impressions.

Marketing Daily: How did you pick this particular crop of experts?

Lozano: We're looking for talent that can bring in unique and diverse perspectives that are also challenging and focused on literacy. Most of these people have written books. Matthew McConaughey has written an incredible book about life lessons with a very personal and relevant message for kids.

One of the events is “Flows Like Water,” with NASA scientists, U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, and illustrator Peter Sís, plus a global school assembly that includes actors Jennifer Aniston and Quinta Brunson, 14-year-old musician Nandi Bushell and surfer Maya Gabeira. NASA is one of our long-term partners, and we believe creativity is essential to space missions. Mo Willems, the popular children’s book author and illustrator, is teaching a session on abstract thinking.

Marketing Daily: In terms of marketing, do you think of focusing on teachers in this way as a B2B effort? Do you talk to educators differently?

Lozano: The Crayola brand has always had three targets. We talk to parents, teachers and kids directly. In some cases, the programs are a little separate, but often they overlap, like this one.

It’s a seven-day event, with the school portion culminating on Friday and the two final days meant to happen on the weekend, at home. We encourage teachers to share information about the program with parents, and family engagement is a high priority for schools. When families engage in ways that support teachers, it improves outcomes. Each component has different hands-on activities tied to that message or that book.

Marketing Daily: How have schools responded?

Lozano: Last year, we had nearly 80% of participants, making it a schoolwide event, so the whole school took part, not just a single classroom. Most even take the entire school into the auditorium to stream the assembly event together.

Marketing Daily: What kind of participation are you aiming for this year?

Lozano: When we started, we expected to reach maybe 250,000 kids. In our first year, we got 2 million. We knew we were on to something and have kept building on it. Last year, our third year, we had 400,000 educators and 6.1 million kids across 100 countries. Our original goal was 7.5 million this year, but our team has now updated that to 8.5 million. That would mean we will have grown to reach a quarter of U.S. school children in just four years.

We’re diligent about research and teacher feedback to optimize and improve, assessing content quality and engagement. When kids are excited to learn, that’s a dream come true for teachers.