💬 Quoted: “Our Super Bowl.”

February to NFL players is what back-to-school shopping season is to Crayola employees, according to CEO Pete Ruggiero.

The period between Independence Day and Labor Day is Crayola’s busiest time of the year; almost half of the company’s annual sales come during those nine weeks, largely through Amazon, Target, Walmart, and other major retailers. And kids do a lot of coloring: the company’s flagship factory churns out 13+ million crayons per day during the period, up more than 8% from the rest of the year.

• Shoppers are projected to spend $31.3 billion on back-to-school shopping this year, a slight decrease from last year’s $31.9 billion, according to Deloitte.

🗳️ Stat of the Day: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who unconfirmed reports say is planning to drop out of the presidential race later today, has seen his support among American voters drop by roughly half since President Biden exited the race. Kennedy had consistently polled around 10% between March 1 and mid-July of this year – but starting on July 21, when Biden dropped out and endorsed VP Harris, Kennedy’s support has consistently fallen to its current level of 4.7%, according to FiveThirtyEight’s national polling aggregator.

🤔 Did You Know? For those trying to make a good first impression – by the time you open your mouth, it’s already too late. A 2006 study found evidence that people develop first impressions after just 0.1 seconds of exposure to an unfamiliar face.

📰 Worth a Read: 'This will make them scream': Alfred Hitchcock on his film-making secrets → (BBC Culture)