January 9, 2015
Office Depot wants to redefine the office supply business
Office supplies are not cool. Gear, on the other hand, is — and new commercials produced as part of the first branding campaign for the merged Office Depot/OfficeMax are emphasizing the term to drive awareness and sales.
Tom Murphy, chief creative officer at McCann New York, the office supply chain’s agency, told MediaPost’s Agency Daily that the chain chose "gear" because the "office supplies" didn’t adequately capture the important role these products play in the success of the individuals and businesses.
The 15- and 30-second "Gearcentric" spots are focused on small business owners and consumers, asking if they are the type of people who understand that "the right office gear" helps achieve "great things."
The spots, featuring both the Office Depot and OfficeMax brand names, are part of a consolidation effort at the chains. According to Ad Age, the company’s online business has been merged under the Office Depot website. The two retail banners continue to operate separately on social media, although they do frequently share the same posts.
![[Image: Gearcentric]](data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCAxIDEiIHdpZHRoPSIxIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjEiIGRhdGEtdT0iJTJGcHVibGljJTJGaW1hZ2VzJTJGZGlzY3Vzc2lvbnMlMkYxODAwNSUyRmdlYXJjZW50cmljLXN0aWxsLmpwZyIgZGF0YS13PSIxIiBkYXRhLWg9IjEiIGRhdGEtYmlwPSIiPjwvc3ZnPg==)
The campaign, launched on Jan. 2, is the biggest branding effort by the company since the merger of Office Depot and Office Max in 2013. It includes placement on national cable, spot TV and network radio. The campaign is also being played up on Twitter (#GearLove), YouTube and other social channels and web destinations such as Yahoo.
In November, Office Depot’s CEO described the first year following the merger with Office Max as "a huge success" and said the company had raised its outlook for the full year. Reports have speculated that a possible merger of Office Depot and its larger rival Staples may be in the offing. A Wall Street Journal piece in December said activist investor Jeff Smith, CEO and co-founder of Starboard Value, could push for merger. Starboard has stakes in both companies.
- Gearcentric – Office Depot
- Office Depot, OfficeMax Get In Gear With New Campaign – MediaPost’s Agency Daily
- Combined Office Depot, OfficeMax Entity Unveils First Brand Push – Advertising Age (tiered sub.)
- Office Depot – Twitter
- Office Depot, OfficeMax
- Will activist investor force Staples/Office Depot merger? – RetailWire
BrainTrust
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Will Office Depot’s new “Gearcentric” campaign get consumers and small businesses to look at office supplies and/or the chain in a new light? What do you like/dislike about the new commercial?
Poll
Most small business owners like myself only go to an Office Depot when we need something for the office or the business. These new ads if nothing else keep their brand awareness equal to or better than Staples. In the past, Staples has spent more on advertising and the results are seen in their sales. So for the Office Depot/Office Max company there can be no bad advertising and the new “Gearcentric” ads are a way to differentiate them from Staples and that should work for them. The ads are more entertaining and that is something I have always liked in an ad, so they should do OK. I think the jury is still out when it comes to a merger of these two major office supply companies and let’s hope it does not happen. Competition keeps both of them on their toes.
If you look at the way the consumer electronics business has evolved over the last few years the brick-and-mortar consumer electronics retailers have had some challenges when competing with the online pure-play companies like Amazon. The brick-and-mortar retailers have attempted to compete by using a combination of their own online offerings, increased personalization and better in-store services. This approach provides some instructive lessons for the office supply companies.
An increased focus on personalization and differentiating services that are best delivered at the point of consumption in-store would be a value proposition that online pure play companies would be hard pressed to easily compete against. With an increasing number of consumers having what would traditionally have been considered office technology in their homes, coupled with more work-at-home individuals and a solid base of SMEs, the office products companies could find an attractive market in providing personalized offers and value-added services to these different customer segments.
Analyzing their customer data would enable office products companies to understand the needs of their individual customers, identify the largest opportunities to grow and determine the actions to take in order to satisfy their customers’ needs better than the competition.
I like the new commercial and the NFL feel to it! Will it change the way consumers look at the chain? No. If they had new or innovative produced maybe, but you can buy that same portable printer at multiple companies, and have Staples or Fedex/Kinko’s bind that presentation. Great commercials don’t change same old product and stores.
If you put lipstick on a pig—it’s still a pig.
Not that office supplies are a “pig!” Office supplies are much needed by both businesses and consumers. And in many categories of office supplies there are still decent gross margins to be made.
Changing the ad campaign focus to “Gearcentric” seems to be a shallow attempt to drive traffic. If consumers don’t see, and more importantly experience, “gearcentricity” when they visit stores, this “lipstick” will be very short lived.
It’s a catchy campaign. The use of “gear” as opposed to “office supplies” is a strong idea. The spot positions the company to be on the side of the successful worker.
What I don’t understand is why the two companies haven’t united under one brand name.
I agree—”Gear” is sexier and more 21st century than “supplies.” (“Supplies” feels quaint in today’s world, where paper is becoming antiquated.)
However, in terms of the ad itself, I was much more captivated by the first campaign, “Where Did You Get That?” These ads featured people in various contexts (coffee house, office, bar) where “cool technology” was the hero. The bystander would ask, “Where did you get that?” and the response would be “Office Depot.”
These were great ads because there are two selling propositions: 1. The social cachet of new gadgets, 2. The functionality of the gear itself. I feel that the “gear-centric” campaign isn’t as compelling because the word is contrived, forced even, and the social benefit is sacrificed. The “buddy movie” commentary about the portable printer was not as relatable or natural as the envy of the shiny new object.
I love the gear spots but…I could buy my gear from Amazon and then set up subscription services for all the accessories that said gear requires.
My marketing and branding 2 cents says, focus on setting up services that I can’t get from Amazon. How to set up the office and all its gear? How to repair it? What do I need for a good filing system? Get the picture?
I’m not sure which Shakespeare quote—whether “a rose by any other name…” or “to thy own self be true”—applies here, but suffice it to say this will not be OD’s momentum shifter.
What do I dislike about it? It doesn’t give me a reason to shop there (as opposed to somewhere else). And that clunky name ….
The concept of “gearcentric” is cool, er, timely, and should cause consumers to look at office supplies in a new light. Unfortunately, the commercial doesn’t put the concept across well. I expected to see “cool” uses of the office gear and the images in this particular ad weren’t particularly “cool” or stimulated my gearcentric expectations). If they get the gearcentric message across, I think they will have a winning campaign.
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Most small business owners like myself only go to an Office Depot when we need something for the office or the business. These new ads if nothing else keep their brand awareness equal to or better than Staples. In the past, Staples has spent more on advertising and the results are seen in their sales. So for the Office Depot/Office Max company there can be no bad advertising and the new “Gearcentric” ads are a way to differentiate them from Staples and that should work for them. The ads are more entertaining and that is something I have always liked in an ad, so they should do OK. I think the jury is still out when it comes to a merger of these two major office supply companies and let’s hope it does not happen. Competition keeps both of them on their toes.
If you look at the way the consumer electronics business has evolved over the last few years the brick-and-mortar consumer electronics retailers have had some challenges when competing with the online pure-play companies like Amazon. The brick-and-mortar retailers have attempted to compete by using a combination of their own online offerings, increased personalization and better in-store services. This approach provides some instructive lessons for the office supply companies.
An increased focus on personalization and differentiating services that are best delivered at the point of consumption in-store would be a value proposition that online pure play companies would be hard pressed to easily compete against. With an increasing number of consumers having what would traditionally have been considered office technology in their homes, coupled with more work-at-home individuals and a solid base of SMEs, the office products companies could find an attractive market in providing personalized offers and value-added services to these different customer segments.
Analyzing their customer data would enable office products companies to understand the needs of their individual customers, identify the largest opportunities to grow and determine the actions to take in order to satisfy their customers’ needs better than the competition.
I like the new commercial and the NFL feel to it! Will it change the way consumers look at the chain? No. If they had new or innovative produced maybe, but you can buy that same portable printer at multiple companies, and have Staples or Fedex/Kinko’s bind that presentation. Great commercials don’t change same old product and stores.
If you put lipstick on a pig—it’s still a pig.
Not that office supplies are a “pig!” Office supplies are much needed by both businesses and consumers. And in many categories of office supplies there are still decent gross margins to be made.
Changing the ad campaign focus to “Gearcentric” seems to be a shallow attempt to drive traffic. If consumers don’t see, and more importantly experience, “gearcentricity” when they visit stores, this “lipstick” will be very short lived.
It’s a catchy campaign. The use of “gear” as opposed to “office supplies” is a strong idea. The spot positions the company to be on the side of the successful worker.
What I don’t understand is why the two companies haven’t united under one brand name.
I agree—”Gear” is sexier and more 21st century than “supplies.” (“Supplies” feels quaint in today’s world, where paper is becoming antiquated.)
However, in terms of the ad itself, I was much more captivated by the first campaign, “Where Did You Get That?” These ads featured people in various contexts (coffee house, office, bar) where “cool technology” was the hero. The bystander would ask, “Where did you get that?” and the response would be “Office Depot.”
These were great ads because there are two selling propositions: 1. The social cachet of new gadgets, 2. The functionality of the gear itself. I feel that the “gear-centric” campaign isn’t as compelling because the word is contrived, forced even, and the social benefit is sacrificed. The “buddy movie” commentary about the portable printer was not as relatable or natural as the envy of the shiny new object.
I love the gear spots but…I could buy my gear from Amazon and then set up subscription services for all the accessories that said gear requires.
My marketing and branding 2 cents says, focus on setting up services that I can’t get from Amazon. How to set up the office and all its gear? How to repair it? What do I need for a good filing system? Get the picture?
I’m not sure which Shakespeare quote—whether “a rose by any other name…” or “to thy own self be true”—applies here, but suffice it to say this will not be OD’s momentum shifter.
What do I dislike about it? It doesn’t give me a reason to shop there (as opposed to somewhere else). And that clunky name ….
The concept of “gearcentric” is cool, er, timely, and should cause consumers to look at office supplies in a new light. Unfortunately, the commercial doesn’t put the concept across well. I expected to see “cool” uses of the office gear and the images in this particular ad weren’t particularly “cool” or stimulated my gearcentric expectations). If they get the gearcentric message across, I think they will have a winning campaign.