Global Branding Lessons from Crayola's Former CMO Victoria Lozano
For global brands, achieving a balance between maintaining a consistent identity and adapting to local audiences is critical. This is not merely an operations issue but a strategic imperative that can significantly influence brand growth. Victoria Lozano, former Chief Marketing Officer at Crayola, has provided insights into this delicate balance by emphasizing the necessity of a stable core in brand positioning and narrative that remains recognizable across various market experiences. This core consistency, according to Phrase Blog, is essential while allowing flexibility for teams to address specific audience needs.
Lozano accentuates the advantage of brand consistency, supported by data from Kantar's 2025 analysis, which reveals that brands with a clear and consistent perception experience a brand-value growth advantage of 111% over those with less consistency. This substantial figure underscores the strategic importance of developing a brand identity that resonates uniformly across diverse markets, without losing sight of local nuances. Her assertion points to the need for a well-grounded identity that acts as a foundation upon which brands can build unique narratives in different market contexts. She articulates the concept of borrowing and building: leveraging the established core values of a brand while executing them differently to suit each market's particular demands.
The practical challenges associated with maintaining brand consistency are non-trivial. A 2026 Visme study highlights that 42% of content creators have released off-brand materials before noticing inconsistencies, indicating a prevalent risk of communication misalignment. Furthermore, brand managers face logistical hurdles, with 62% keeping brand guidelines dispersed across multiple locations. This fragmentation can lead to inconsistencies that dilute brand perception. Therefore, Lozano advocates for a collaborative approach, wherein active engagement from cross-functional stakeholders is crucial to the brand’s expression and growth. She believes that the handover in brand strategy execution should involve dynamic participation across different disciplines, ensuring that brand value is consistently elevated within every space it occupies.
Ultimately, the guidance from Victoria Lozano, as shared by Phrase Blog, underscores the necessity for a coherent yet adaptable brand identity. By anchoring the brand in a consistent narrative while enabling localized adaptations, companies can successfully engage global audiences and sustain their competitive advantage.
Intelligence
Why this matters
- Consistent brand identity drives significant growth advantage.
- Local adaptations are essential for engaging diverse audiences.
- Cross-functional collaboration mitigates brand inconsistency risks.