Sharpie Research
Research Process (Why I Made The Decisions I Did):
In class, I proposed the pen (not really a specific one) as my research topic. It was an on-the spot decision because I felt that pens had a lot of research potential. They have gone through several iterations and will continue to be relevant. Since early civilization we've invented some form of writing tool so I thought that pens would have a rich history to delve into and plenty of symbolic significance. However, once I dove into the actual researching aspect of the project, I realized that the pen's long and diverse history was actually detrimental to the creative process. There were too many valid angles to approach this project from and I was becoming overwhelmed. While researching the economic data of pen's sales over the years I encountered an article about Sharpies in particular. I then decided to switch over my research from pen's in general to the Sharpie brand.
With this new goal in mind, I switched over my 2 dimensions to Context and Economics. I think that these two dimensions could have some interesting correlations so I decided to use Archival and Data Research to supplement this hypothesis. I chose the form of a blog post because I found it to be the best form of expression, since it allowed me to enter a sort of stream-of-consciousness state where I can just let my thoughts flow without inhibition and I am using to using writing as a form of self-expression.
All sources found at the bottom.
Context: The Evolution of Sharpie's Target Audience
The first dimension that I focused on was context, specifically what audience sharpie was creating their product for and why. This dimension somewhat overlaps with the Historical dimension since I had to do research on the history of the product in order to understand who was using it. Initially, Sharpie was created to keep up with the emerging marker business in the 1960's and the demand for non-smudging permanent ink that could write on a variety of surfaces. It was an instantly beloved and publicly endorsed product. At this time, Sharpie could be considered a product for professionals as an alternative to the ink pen or for construction/contract workers who needed a marker to write on different surfaces with.
So in the recent past decade or so, Sharpie has launched advertising campaigns to cater to new audiences, specifically teenagers and artists. They have also tried to market themselves as essential back-to-school items and see increases in revenue around this time of the year. Sharpie has become the symbol of self-expression. There are even whole Etsy accounts and other independent artist stores that focus on customized objects using Sharpie pens, such as shoes, helmets, and skateboards.
There are whole social media pages around using Sharpies to draw on coffee cups. Sharpies have become synonymous with custom art. Perhaps the key to Sharpie's long-term success is their ability to appeal to different audiences without losing the interest of old customers. Construction workers, office workers, and celebrities still find use in the Sharpie even as the brand is looking to new horizons for customers.
In addition to this shift in audiences, Sharpie found a new niche group to represent by becoming the official writing utensil for astronauts aboard the International Space Station because they work in zero-gravity and can be used upside-down.
Financial Data:
After establishing the context for who uses Sharpies and why, I decided to look at the statistical data of how Sharpie has performed as a company over the years to see if there's any correlation between the evolution of Sharpie's advertisements and target audience and their revenue. Overall it was kind of difficult to find anything other than a surface level amount of information on how the company has performed, and as someone who doesn't have a degree in economics and doesn't always understand the financial jargon, it was a little difficult to understand what information I did find meant.
What I did find was this:
I also found a news article with an interview from the Newell Brands CEO discussing the rise in profits over the pandemic due to work-from-home conditions. He said that even as the pandemic levels off, due to continuing remote work and innovations within the company, they expect to continue to perform well. This can also be seen in the graph above where the revenue increases around the time of the pandemic.
Conclusion:
Without further research into economics, my analysis will be very shallow but I still believe that it's concrete enough to say that the context in which Sharpies are being used and the context that the company strives to place Sharpies in affect the economic history and growth of the product. I don't think it's merely coincidence that the product performed well in the early 2000's right off the hype of the memorabilia age, grew in profit during the campaigns to appeal to artists and self-expression, and then regrew during the pandemic when the context that sharpies appeared in yet again received a massive change with the new work-from-home culture.
If I continued this research, I think the next logical step would be to consult an economic expert who can better explain the information I find and provide further insights on the topic. It would also be nice to compile Sharpie advertisements over the years and see how the marketing changes. I tried to do a very surface level dive into finding advertisements but it was difficult without access to old newspapers or finding some kind of archive. A lot of information is from the last decade but anything older than that would take some time to dig up.
Sources:
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