Ad of the Month: Staples

Elise CzajkowskiEditor, YouGov US
September 10, 2018, 2:00 PM GMT+0

It’s back-to-school time for retailers, and Staples is playing to the people who find aisles of color-coded office supplies soothing. In the television and internet ad titled Essentials in Stock, a deep-voiced narrator encourages the viewer to “let the stress of back to school float away” as colorful pencils and notebooks dance in kaleidoscopic patterns.

These ads, paired with weekly ad circulars, has given the chain a boost with consumers; data from YouGov Plan & Track shows that Staples has had the largest rise in Ad Awareness this month of all brands.

At the beginning of July, Staples Ad Awareness score – which asks respondents if they’ve seen an ad for the brand in the past two weeks – was at 15. By the end of August, the score had risen to 26. The rise was seen across ages groups and regions, and with parents and non-parents.

The ads are part of larger series of “school supply serenity” promotions as the office supply giant faces new competition from online and other brick-and-mortar retailers.

Learn more about YouGov Plan & Track.