- Staples is reviving its “Easy Button” for a new marketing campaign that showcases how the company continues to meet the needs of its consumers in an increasingly complex world.
- The new, social-first campaign introduces the icon as “E.B.,” to offer perspectives on modern work conversations, offering productivity tips, takes on LinkedIn and humorous office observations.
- The Easy Button first debuted for the office products retailer in 2005 as a plastic desktop device that, when pressed, proclaimed, “That was easy.” The device became a pop culture sensation, with millions sold and finding a place in offices, classrooms and in viral internet memes.
The new campaign updates the Easy Button for the modern world, showing off the company’s breadth of services (including marketing and tech support) and products (including janitorial products, furniture and other supplies).
The work personalizes the Easy Button (now referred to as “E.B.”) as a business assistant, offering productivity tips and playful takes on the realities of modern work with a simple message, “Easy has changed… and so has Staples.” The brand has begun teasing the campaign with a social effort that includes pop stars and influencers, including singer/actor/producer Lance Bass and model and reality TV star Kordell Beckham in a paparazzi shoot. A social video featuring Bass also depicts the star in a podcast studio setting up his out-of-office message as he takes a break from work.
“This campaign is more than a cultural comeback, it’s a bold reintroduction of the Easy Button and what it represents for consumers and businesses in 2025,” said Staples’ chief marketing officer Amy Steel Vanden-Eykel, in a statement. “Staples has evolved as a business and as a brand, and we’re excited to share how our team of experts today is making work and life easier than ever before.”
The campaign will run across out-of-home, digital, social, radio and streaming platforms.