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| Monday, November 13, 2006 |
| Staples sold how many Easy Buttons?!?! |
The Boston Globe column Business Filter (great column by the way) reports in: How many Easy Buttons have been sold? Get ready. It’s 1.5 million. At $5 a pop, that’s $7.5 million in revenue. The revenue is gravy, and to their credit, Staples donated the first $1 million dollars earned to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. But the ultimate ROI? A Staples brand icon made it into our cultural currency. Alan Siegel, CEO of the branding firm Siegel + Gale, admits that it’s a testament to good advertising, but also that it’s ‘‘an elegant metaphor for the fact that everyone is frustrated as hell about how hard it is to get things done today.’’ I find this little factoid fascinating. These 1.5 million people realize these buttons are not magic right? How many of these things are decorating cubicles across this country? How many people bought them for display at home? Did you buy an easy button and if so, what do you do with it? |
| posted by Boston Gal @ 9:57 AM *
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| 8 Comments: |
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people buy those red buttons? I mean, are they for real? The buttons I mean. I thought it was an ad thing all along. :O
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One of the managers in our department bought them for her entire team a few months ago. So, the secretary who sits outside my door has one on her desk. They can be a bit annoying when people press them repeatedly. But like those little squeeze balls, they help relieve stress. Finish a frustrating task, and then punch the button. That was easy!
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I have a button. My staff bought it as a gag gift when I was promoted. At first I thought it was cute, but now they use it to frustrate the hell out of me. It always end up making me laugh though. I like it!
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The admin in my dept has one. Every once in a while someone will push it, but thankfully my coworkers have not abused it.
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I bought one for my classroom (I'm an English teacher, grades 7/8), and my students loved it SO much I used it as an end-of-the-year prize! When I bought it, I had in mind kids who whine about the smallest tasks, like writing in complete sentences, reading 2 pp. for HW, etc. Soon it became a never-ending source of entertainment for my tweener boppers. I especially loved it when kids would try to be extra good to compete for the chance to win it at the end of the year. I want to buy another one for this year, but I spent my $7 coupon to defray the cost of a flash drive instead.
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I've got one decorating my cube. It sits off to the side is of course a novelty item. The only bad thing is after pushing the button it will sometime randomly go of again without even being near it. So it usually has the batteries removed until a real hard task is done.
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lol! i have one -GUILTY-
but i didn't really pay for it. i used a dividend coupon towards it and some other items, so no cash out of pocket for it (and this was after a long time of not wanting to "buy" it either...). i like strange gadgets. ex: i have an enterprise rent-a-car matchbox sized 'package' car than says "we'll pick you up!" when you push it down.
it's funny -- a high ranking mgr here complained he wanted an easy button... it was kind of cute. he makes a lot more $ than i do yet i guess doesn't feel like he can buy one? i told him how much they were and he was like "i know..." still wistful. was cute b/c he's usually a jerk.
it sits on my desk off to the side. once in a great while someone pushes it (after asking me what it is, then i welcome them to push it. yep.)
maybe ppl are buying them as stocking stuffers? gift exchange items?
adam - sounds like you got a bonus version!
ib
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I'll stick with my magic 8 ball for easy answers.
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people buy those red buttons? I mean, are they for real? The buttons I mean. I thought it was an ad thing all along. :O