For those of you not familiar with this, there are two major office supply chains in the US: Staples and Office Depot. They both stock pretty much the same stuff; they’re both in strip malls all across this great land. And they’re both Red. You know, the font, the entryway, the building’s facade. Same shade of red. Oh yeah, there’s also Office Max, but that’s red too. Or it was, the last time I saw one, anyway.
So for the past 6 months or so, Staples has been airing television ads which purport to help you cut through the complexities of your life in your office or home office, thanks to the wide selection of stuff available. The central focus of these ads is something they call The Easy Button. It’s a nice simple concept. Cut through the crap by pressing this Easy Button. And the ads have certainly gotten funnier and more clever over time — so in other words, kudos to the team that conceptualised it and brought it to, er, life.
So Office Depot, not wanting to be left behind in the dust, struck back this week (or maybe earlier, I dunno, I only just saw the ads this week): they bring you Thing in a box. The idea is that some creepy disembodied hand in a box will guide you through the crap in your life by pointing out stuff at Office Depot that you can buy. What marketing genius idiot came up with this? Better yet what committee approved this? It’s just creepy.
On the subject of creepy marketing: Zompit’s rant had me rolling.
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