Rainbow Bright
Alumna Erika Merklinger, public relations and communications manager for Crayola, holds up her favorite crayon color, sea green, at an event.
Erika Merklinger, MA’97 (Flor)
By Kenna Caprio
“Most times, when people find out you work for Crayola, they want to tell you their favorite crayon color or how they remember their first box of 64-count crayons with a sharpener on the back,” says Erika Merklinger, MA’97 (Flor). “It makes me smile every time.”
For the record, Merklinger’s favorite crayon color is green, if she’s pulling from the classic 24-crayon pack. But if she gets to pick from the 64-box, it’s sea green.
“It’s my 25th year at Crayola — I’ve had multiple jobs within the company, in sales; in education and partnership marketing; in consumer promotions; and now, in public relations. It’s only in the last 10 years that I’ve been working in public relations.”
Merklinger studied communication as an undergraduate student at Muhlenberg College and as a graduate student at FDU. “I worked for the Lipton Tea Company [now a joint venture of Pepsi Co. and Unilever], and FDU was one of the schools where my employer offered tuition reimbursement. My favorite class was advertising. I took it on Saturday mornings.”
She spent most of her early career in sales before moving into marketing and promotional roles.
“In order to create meaningful promotions for consumers, brand-related partnerships and touchpoints with media, you must have excellent communication, negotiation and writing skills — all of which I learned while studying corporate communication at FDU.”
Over the past decade, Merklinger has been responsible for many Crayola public relations campaigns, generating buzz through media outlets, social influencers and the network morning shows.
In 2020, Crayola introduced Colors of the World. “It’s a 24-pack of crayons that matches the skin tones from people all around the world. Many times, there have been kids and adults who have reached into that crayon box and had to pick a color that didn’t exactly line up to their skin color.”
The product was so well-received by the public, with consumers asking for more, that Crayola expanded Colors of the World to include markers, colored pencils, paints and even construction paper.
“That was an amazing launch campaign and product line to bring to life and share with media and consumers,” says Merklinger. “The biggest reward is that kids can express themselves, feel good about the shades they are using and be able to bring what they see in the world around them into their artwork.”
Another standout moment happened on National Crayon Day, March 31, 2017, when Crayola “retired” a blue crayon called Dandelion from its top-selling 24-pack.
The team placed three 10-foot-tall crayon boxes around New York City as a promotional tool, asking consumers “which crayon will go?” and drawing media attention. Once Crayola announced that Dandelion would retire, and that a new blue would debut, the public submitted potential names for the brand-new color. Crayola narrowed it down to five names, asked people to vote, and had a huge unveiling event to introduce the winner, “Bluetiful.”
“It was a yearlong, ongoing promotion, first preparing to retire Dandelion and then to launch the new crayon — a moment in pop culture history,” Merklinger says.
Ultimately, it’s her belief in Crayola’s mission — “helping parents and educators raise creatively alive children” — that keeps her motivated. “I infused some of those values into raising my own children, so it’s been win-win all the way around for two-and-a-half decades.”
DREAM DESTINATION
“My husband and I went to Bora Bora on our honeymoon, 25 years ago, and I’d like to go back.”
BIG BOOKWORM
“I love to read fiction. It takes my mind away from the day and is a great escape.”
PREFERRED PRODUCT
Color Wonder, the “mess-free marker-to-paper system.” The markers “will not draw on skin, carpets, furniture or anything but Color Wonder paper.”