Crayola means crayons. Crayola is the crayon king more than Google is the king of search or Coke is the king of pop. Crayola means crayons like Kleenex means facial tissue.

Over the past few years, Crayola has taken over more and more shelf space in the art and craft aisles. And from my vantage point, secondarily as a marketer but primarily as a parent of creative kids, they've done an excellent job of it.

The hot item for Christmas this year -- this year's Cabbage Patch Kid, as it were -- turned out to be the Crayola Crayon Maker. When the full line of 100+ Crayola crayons isn't quite enough, the new Crayon Maker allows you (or your child) to take the scraps and broken pieces to mix and match and make your very own new creations.

My poor kids still don't have one. They were sold out everywhere!*

In a smooth way, without sacrificing their landmark product line, Crayola now means more to the same set of customers than it did just ten years ago.

When you think of crayons, you think of Crayola. But now you can also find the Crayola brand on a much wider variety of creative product lines. A crayon maker by any other name may not trigger interest or a purchase, but because it says Crayola on the package, you sense that you know what you'll be getting.

I think that's what separates a typical product line extension from a "blue ocean strategy." Is it just a new product or service, or does it expand what your name means to customers?

What does your name mean? What else could your name mean to the very same customers? If it's something that solidifies and expands your relationship with those customers, make it happen!

* Christmas is over, and their birthdays are in June, August and September. I may have to simply splurge on this and just buy it as soon as I find one.

Labels: branding, creativity, differentiation, management, marketing, planning, strategy