Naomi Marr.com

A new 64-count box of crayons sits on the table in front of me. I crack the lid, thinking about how I only have 64 of the 120 core Crayola ® crayon colors. I think, too, about the more than 400 colors they have introduced since 1903. For years I have been fascinated with their color and naming trends, and have even noticed that crayons color differently now then they did when I was a kid. I have surmised it is most likely due to ingredient changes and can rattle off what economic and health-related concerns have probably caused the shifts. To say I am a crayon aficionado, is putting it lightly.

Watching the way people interact with crayons is also a bit of a social experiment for me. Crayons elicit habits and emotions in people. For example, some people love the newness of an unused box of crayons and will keep a box on the shelf for years; saving them for some special coloring occasion that never arrives. Other people are not phased at all by old crayons and will color for hours with a worn-down, rounded tip. Their box of crayons has a beaten up package and when you lift the lid the crayons have ragged wrappers and are of all different heights. These two distinct groups of people would have very different opinions as to whether the sharpener on the back of the box actually works.

There are still others, who will sit with a new box of crayons and a blank piece of paper and design a masterpiece derived from their mind’s eye. Others need the direction and structure of coloring books and some feel foolish coloring without a child present.

A simple thing like a new box of crayons represents endless possibilities. They represent the smiles on my children’s faces, blooming creativity, an outlet for individuality and personal expression – and, hours of fun. You can melt them and use candy molds to make fun-shaped crayons, grind them up into shavings for confetti, peel their labels off and make leaf rubbings, and even conduct science experiments.

As a marketer fascinated by the use of color and words, the crayon naming trends and ever-evolving color list makes getting a new limited-edition box of crayons (when you are lucky enough to find one) an exciting prospect.

So I sit – with my box of crayons – and ponder my new blog. What should the title be? What should it be about? Should I focus on a particular topic? How much of myself do I weave into my posts? I have so many questions and so many possibilities. Just as with my new box of crayons.