Question

Read and complete the Capstone exercise on page 177 and answer all of the questions associated with the case.

In 1885, Binney & Smith had a product line of ONE—An-DuSeptic dustless chalk. While promoting this product to teachers across the United States, the company founders discovered that teachers were importing expensive wax crayons from Europe. In the early 1900s, nearly 20 years after starting the company, Binney & Smith introduced a new product, eight colored crayons packaged in a green and yellow box. Crayola Crayons remain a staple in American classrooms today. The size of the boxes and the selection of colors have changed over the decades, but the basic product remains essentially the same. (The “Big Box” with a mind-boggling 96 crayons was introduced in 1993.) In 1964, Binney & Smith acquired Permanent Pigments, an acrylic paint manufacturer, and in 1977, it acquired the rights to Silly Putty. In 1984, the Binney & Smith company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Hallmark Cards, Inc. In 2007, the Binney & Smith corporate name was changed to Crayola because of the brand familiarity. The name Crayola has a 99% recognition among U.S. consumers. Eighty percent of all the crayons sold in the United States today have the Crayola brand name. Crayola products are sold in 80 different countries and packaged in 12 languages. The name change also reflected the company’s new direction. For nearly 100 years, Crayola targeted children and their parents with a product line of back-to-school products. The products had expanded from crayons to water paints, markers, chalk, colored pencils, and poster paints. However, in an effort to expand the market and generate revenues throughout the year, Crayola entered the toy industry. Bath tub art, glow stations, Color Explosion products, Mess-Free Art, flavored drinking water, and even a colorful computer keyboard and mouse are just some of the products added to the Crayola line. Today in any big box store, Crayola will have shelf space in both the art and school supply aisle AND the toy section.

1. How would you define the attributes and benefits of Crayola products?

2. Define the core, actual, and augmented product benefits.

3. Where was Crayola in the product life cycle before it entered the toy market? Where do you think they are now? Explain.

4. Do you see the move from school supply products to toys as product development? Explain.

5. Describe the Crayola product portfolio strategy.

Answer 1

ANSWER -1--.:

ATTRIBUTES BENEFITS

• DIFFERENT SIZE OF BOX ----------------- CAN BE SELECTED AS PER REQUIREMENT  
• DIFFERENT COLOURS ----------------- MORE COLOUR OPTIONS FOR WRITING
• BIG RANGE OF PRODUCTS --------------------- PRODUCT CAN BE CHOSEN AS PER REQUIREMENT.

ANSWER -2

• Core benefit:- It is the basic feature that product is made for. For example crayola products are made for writing or painting so their product benefit writing or painting.
• Actual benefit:- Actual benefit is benefit that represents quality of products. For example crayola products are made from good paint and pgiments so their writing quality is much better from competition.
• Augmented Benefit:- Augmented benefit is product feature that sets it apart from competition. For example Crayola has a very good brand image with history of more than 100 years in this sector. They are recognised by 99% US consumers.

ANSWER 3-

. Crayola was in maturity stage of product life cycle. Sales volume was already high and they have a good name in the industry. Now to increase sales they are resorting on product diversification so they are mature stage.

ANSWER -4

. Move from schools supply to toys is a product development as crayola came up with product like flavored water etc that they didn't have earlier.