It’s beginning to look a lot like August, as office supplies retailer Staples Canada launches its signature back-to-school marketing campaign
“It’s our Christmas,” said Staples Canada director of advertising Sandy Salmon of the key back-to-school sales period. “It’s something that we start thinking about as soon as budgets are given to us in February, because it is extremely important.”
Staples even employs some of the vernacular from the holiday shopping season, with Salmon referring to the day that school begins as “Super Tuesday” (a corollary to “Black Friday” or “Cyber Monday”).
The new campaign spans TV, radio, print, digital and cinema – bolstered by a comprehensive flyer program – and underscores both the ease and affordability of shopping for school supplies at Staples, as well as highlighting the company’s “100% lowest price guarantee.”
It also marks the return of “Staples Guy” (“Guy de Bureau en Gros” in Quebec), a representation of the company’s helpful sales associates who first appeared in last year’s back-to-school campaign following his U.S. debut in February of 2015.
“He just embodies our customer service-driven mentality and how we’re always there to meet our customers’ needs,” said Salmon.
The campaign is anchored by a pair of 15-second spots built around the insight that kids will inevitably lose or destroy their back-to-school supplies once the school year gets underway.
One spot opens on a child’s knapsack, pens and notebooks that have been forgotten on the playground as rain falls, before cutting to a mother and daughter inside the Staples store. The mom informs Staples Guy it’s the last time she’s buying this particular item. “No it’s not,” he responds. “No, it’s not,” she agrees resignedly.
Another ad uses a split-screen approach to showcase the retailer’s online shopping functionality. It shows a child riding his bike down the street as various school items fall out of his unzipped knapsack, while the other side of the screen features a mobile device, with a parent adding the same items to their shopping cart as they fall.
“Our key insight in talking to moms and dads is that they know kids are going to need a lot of things,” said Salmon. “Kids are going to lose things or forget things, so they want to make sure that they’re getting what their kids need, but they’re also getting it at a guaranteed low price.”
While Staples faces increased competition from the likes of mass-market retailers, drug stores etc. around the back-to-school period, Salmon said the depth and breadth of its product assortment remained a key point of differentiation. While a traditional mass-market retailer or drug store might offer a handful of pens, for example, a Staples store might offer as many as 30.
“Obviously we want to centre on what our strengths are,” said Salmon. “Everybody from your corner drugstore to Loblaws and Amazon is [in the back-to-school space], but nobody owns it like Staples does. It’s making sure that every piece of creative we put out there not only hammers home price, but also the breadth and assortment.”
Staples is supporting the video creative with in-store marketing that reinforces the low price guarantee, as well as a weekly flyer program that launched July 27 and will run for seven weeks.
Its off-line activities are being supported by the Back to School Centre, a shoppable online resource featuring deals, tech guides and a school supplies checklist for students from kindergarten through grade 12. Online traffic to the site increased 10% in 2015, with 25% of all activity generated by mobile devices.
The various components highlight the complexity of a modern media campaign, said Salmon. “Years ago you had seven TV stations to choose from and you’d be good to go, but there isn’t a silver bullet anymore,” she said. “You have to make sure you have a smart media mix that gets your message out to as many people as possible.”
DentsuBos created the digital and cinema work for the back-to-school campaign, while Connelly in the U.S. created the television commercials and Carat handled media buying and planning.
