I want to add some clarity around the “accepting feedback” because of all the comments.

My feedback wasn’t unsolicited.

Before all of this, I emailed Erika (PR), asking for an interview, and giving some basic context on my questions about the Signature range.

She asked for more details on my feedback. So I sent her a 1700 word summary of my findings, feedback and suggestions.

She said the product team were interested to know more- and THAT is when the first call shifted from a public interview to a private call with Karen from the product marketing team.

On that first unrecorded call, they said they don’t normally go to this level for feedback, but they wanted to talk because of how thorough my feedback was.

Then we spoke for an hour.

The “binder” was a PDF version of the same stuff we discussed, and the same stuff that was summarized in that first email.

During the call they said they should probably just check with legal before I send them the PDF. And I followed up after the call.

And i didn’t get the “legal says no” email until 8 months later when they wanted to send me the new PR kit.


I didn’t go into this much detail in the video because I didn’t think it was needed (and it’s kinda boring) but I hope this clears things up for anyone who thought I was unreasonable in following up during this new interview.

And FWIW, I published all my feedback in the first video, so there was nothing special in the binder. I don’t care if they want it. I just didn’t appreciate the mixed messages and contradictions in our history of calls and emails, and I think they handled it badly.

"I might have burnt the bridge with Crayola with this video." It wasn't a bridge worth keeping. They weren't listening to you anyway.

Why do they sound like they're doing a presentation on a book they didn't read?

One thing I despise with all my heart is corporate talk. The way they are trained to talk for minutes and minutes without saying ANYTHING is outstanding. "Let us follow up with that one"..... And a simple Yes/No question makes them talk for minutes without ever saying "Yes"· or No".

It certainly seems like Crayola rushed to join the alcohol marker/adult coloring space and are using brand recognition and loyalty to cash in with mediocre products.

It’s giving “we made something average, but figured we could just coast on brand recognition from women who don’t know any better” which is… yikes

pov: they are mad you called them out and tried to fix it quietly but still failed.

I find the attitude of the ladies from Crayola rather condescending. And after watching your video... I won't buy their products. Thanks for your thorough review as usual.

your testing is clearly so much better than their development team! I will not be buying these

This is so shocking to me… I had no idea Crayola were that comfortable being so condescending, evasive and disrespectful to someone who just wants them to succeed.

I really had no skin in the game but the way Crayola is acting is so bizarre and lacking PR-awareness… I’ll make the conscious choice to avoid Crayola from now one.

Crayola needs to learn the difference between criticism and product ideas. They are not the same.

god they sound like they're trying so hard to avoid actually admitting they have no idea what they're talking about.

I've been loyal to Crayola my whole life, but watching this has made me extremely disappointed in them as a company.  This seemed like an, "OMG  let's just talk to her for five minutes so she'll go away, and show our product for free," situation, rather than any real desire to address anything.

That extreme bleeding in a product geared toward new artist is particularly concerning. Pro artists are used to tools being temperamental and we deal with it as part of our skill set, but new artist would find this oh so frustrating and discouraging! Major let down honestly.

14:20 so they're basically relying on nostalgia, rather than the merit of their products. Got it

It's obvious that these ladies have never used the actual products. They have read the marketing points, but have no idea what it actually does

Everything the women said is giving "We hear you, but we also don't want to accept your information because then we are legally obligated to compensate you for whatever we use therefore... no."

The marketing talk about how opaque and quality the paint markers are while you swatch the patchy, dull sad-looking paint markers is the highlight of this video for me.

17:08 Chefs kiss

The fact that the ‘all grown up’ line was being presented at a TOY FAIR is really funny to me. Me when my Cabernet Sauvignon is well-received at the juice box convention

"The blotter page was an intentional and thoughtful decision that really separates us from the marketplace" IT'S LITERALLY MAKING IT BLEED MORE HUH?? Like it sure does separate you, by highlighting all the problems with your product