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May 24, 2019

Staples Undergoes Massive Rebrand

The parent company of Top 40 distributor Staples Promotional Products has unveiled a new logo, social media campaign and many new products.

By  John Corrigan

Staples, Inc., parent of Top 40 distributor Staples Promotional Products (asi/120061), has undergone a massive rebranding effort this year.

Now billing itself as “The Worklife Fulfillment Company,” the Massachusetts-based corporation has updated its logo, rolled out a new social media campaign and created five new internal brands. Staples launched the reboot during its 2019 Sales Conference last month in Orlando, FL, attempting to change its public perception from simply selling calculators and copy paper to becoming synonymous with all aspects of the office.

“The workplace is changing dramatically,” Sam Krause, manager of strategic research & projects at Staples, told Counselor. “Customers depend on us to be successful in more ways and in more environments than ever before. We need to ensure we’re helping customers create more productive, inspired and connected workplaces, however, wherever and whenever they work.”

Staples has ditched its previous logo of an “L” shaped like a bent staple, which was in use for more than 25 years. Now the staple has been flipped around into a table or the ridged part of a light bulb or the Wi-Fi signal strength bar, depending on your imagination. “It demonstrates our flexibility as a solutions provider to make you more productive, connected and inspired,” Krause says.

As part of the brand refresh, Staples has also created several in-house labels to fuel sales growth, Ad Age reported. The new brands include TRU RED for office supplies, Nxt Technologies for internal tech services, Coastwide Professional for providing facility supplies, a furniture collection known as Union & Scale and a soon-to-be-released brand Perk, which will sell products for office breakrooms. Staples has also launched a new guide for all of its products called The Loop.

The TRU RED line features “squircles,” new writing instruments that are designed in a more ergonomic shape so they won’t roll off your desk. Also included in the new line are gel pens, permanent markers, dry-erase markers, highlighters, various types of journals and notebooks, non-stick coated scissors, stackable desk organizers and shredders with adjustable cord management. Staples’ merchandising team developed multiple digital solutions to provide an advanced online shopping experience, creating videos to support the launch of merchandise tied to the new branding.

“Staples has always offered a proprietary line of business essentials – TRU RED is a total overhaul of this line,” Krause says. “Everything in the TRU RED line is smartly designed to be a better tool and contribute to a better solution for our customer. Everything is tweaked to emphasize better form and function.”

Although the TRU RED line is strictly for retail purposes, Staples’ executive team designed promotional products to stir buzz regarding the brand transformation. The merchandising team designed and sourced driver uniforms, marketing team necessities, event kick off giveaways, merchandise kitting, an associate merchandise collection and more. The giveaway bags included a collection of TRU RED and NXT retail items as well as promotional items such as branded apparel, custom socks, lapel pins and drinkware.

“As we do with any customer, we curated products that provide sustainable, brand-correct impressions,” Krause says. “We made sure the brand merchandise investment directly extended the much larger investment. Creative merchandising amplified the whole brand launch experience for everyone.”

To promote the new offerings and branding, Staples has rolled out new social media pages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, encouraging followers to use the hashtag #WorklifeSolutions.

So far, customers have responded very positively to Staples’ rebranding effort, Krause says. “Instinctively, I think we all know there’s a lot less separation than there used to be in our work and personal lives,” he says. “The home office and the office at home are not as different anymore. We all want tools that help us be more productive and inspired wherever we are. The new brand’s promise to help our customers this way seems to really resonate.”

The rebranding effort comes in the midst of Sycamore Partners, the private equity firm that owns Staples, loading more debt onto the company. Staples is now on the hook for an additional $130 million in annual debt payments following a dividend recapitalization executed by Sycamore Partners, according to a report from Bloomberg.

With reported 2017 North American promotional product revenue of $592.9 million, Staples Promotional Products ranked second on Counselor’s latest list of the largest distributors in the industry. The new list debuts in July.