Easy like Sunday morning

I've convinced myself that you lot will hate this and you will all think I've gone mad. But I don't write for you. So here goes.

If you've had any recent interaction with your local Staples store you will have seen that they're using this 'easy' button thing, a lot. I like that. Look it's on that sign up there.

And there it is on the website. Nice and big.

There it is again, smaller. Now I don't want you thinking that I like the design of the button or the typography or even the 3D rendering, but none of that really matters.

I like the idea a little bit, but what I really like is the thoroughness.

I'm always trying to persuade small brands to do something simple and do it a lot. That always seems like a sensible low cost solution to me. Find something that works and then stick to it. Now that's not how awards are won and it's maybe not even how empires are built, but it's a good way of keeping the wolves at bay whilst you think of other more important things.

Obviously Staples aren't a small brand and they've spent some money on this. You can download it to your desktop and it links you to straight to Staples.com. I think that's good. No Black Pencils, no Lions, but that's not always a bad thing, is it?

Best of all you can buy the 'easy' button. This might be fun or it might seem horribly naff, but you know what, I can imagine a million buttons in a million offices up and down the land.

So although I'm still sure you will all hate it, here's a piece of communication that's as close as it needs to be to that horrible term 'brand utility' as well as being 'media neutral' and '360'. It works online, it works in print and it works as product. It's relevant to the brand values and it makes sense to the consumer. That's the kind of stuff you (we) talk about all the time, isn't it?

Comments

[Steve O]

Couldn't agree more. Not a particularly big fan of it, but it is used well.

[John]

I agree with you about thoroughness but wonder if they missed a trick in not having the Staples name on the button you download to your desktop. That would be keeping it simple and I suggest even more effective. Interestingly I didn't notice this in evidence in the US staples store I was in a week ago.

[Prescott Perez-Fox]

They've been using that for a while here in the States. I didn't even know they had landed in the UK.

The only problem I see is that it required the shopper to be familiar with the tv ads, which they may or may not be. I for one haven't seen a Staples ad with that uses the actual button in a good 3 years.

Also, they're too expensive. They should be 50p considering they're nothing but plastic with a stupid chip inside. Like a greeting card with more plastic.

[Courtney]

I could kiss you for this post.

[Rob Mortimer]

Great idea, nicely implemented.

[N Miller]

Horrible idea and poorly executed. Its so easy it doesn't work with Mac, Windows Vista, or even Linux. Its so easy it makes your computer connect to the internet when it's idle, why does it need to do this? It also sits in your system tray and utilises system resources when idle. To me, it looks like another piece of crap software that bloats your system further perhaps even allowing the exchange of information with Staples that you might not want it to. Furthermore, programs like this are not usually very well tested for security which may allow others to piggyback its flaws into your system. All this for the ability to utilise a psuedo internet application from your desktop? Try opening a browser next time and navigating to the staples website. Too lazy? Poor typist? Create a bookmark. Now that's easy!

But I guess if it wasn't for big button thinking like this marketing folks would be out of jobs. But it's because of big button thinking like this that you guys start fawning over what is essentially a bit red, expensive piece of crap that'll be around for another 400 years at least. It is also patronising and pointless.

[Dino]

The Easy button has transcended Staples and the marketing department, it's become a part of culture. A success by any standard.

You knew this thing would be a hit when they actually started selling them following the advertising campaign.

[april]

Ben, I like it. This may put you off but both my dad and brother have the actual plastic buttons.

[Mark A. Dodge Medlin]

I was at Staples in San Diego the other day, and I noticed that they were selling "easy" buttons and, for Spanish speakers, "facil" buttons. Nice.