Social Rocket
Staples has expanded its well-known Easy Button into a new B2B brand platform on 15 September 2026. The US brand is placing a black Hard Button opposite the red classic. The idea behind "Hard vs. Easy": complicated procurement, too many service providers and operational friction stand for "Hard", while bundled workplace solutions from Staples stand for "Easy".
The campaign is more than a single spot. According to Marketing Dive, the longer films run on YouTube, Hulu and Netflix, among others. Shorter versions are planned for LinkedIn and Meta. In addition, there are out-of-home placements, digital signage, display advertising and dedicated material for sales teams.
A familiar brand symbol with a new job
The Easy Button has been part of Staples' communication for more than 20 years. The current platform uses this familiarity for a different problem, however: Staples wants to be perceived not only as a retailer of paper, printer cartridges and office supplies, but more strongly as a provider of comprehensive workplace solutions.
In the official Staples announcement, the company names, among other things, facility and hygiene products, breakroom equipment, furniture consulting and installation, and print and marketing solutions. According to the company, more than 75 percent of Fortune-500 companies work with Staples. This figure is a company self-report and not independent proof of market share.
The new Hard Button serves as a visual shorthand. In the spots, wrong decisions lead to exaggerated workplace problems, while the Easy side presents the solution. Staples CMO Bob Sherwin explicitly describes "Hard vs. Easy" as a platform that can be used over the long term to tell different workplace-solution stories.
Social is part of the funnel, not the whole campaign
The channel architecture is interesting. The attention-grabbing spots run in streaming, while LinkedIn and Meta take on shorter versions for further engagement. In parallel, the same creative idea appears in display, OOH and even materials for sales teams.
This shows Staples following a pattern that is particularly relevant in B2B marketing: a memorable creative does not have to be optimised for a single channel. It can run as a shared narrative across awareness, mid-funnel and sales. A similar attempt to explain complex B2B products with a lighter creative frame is also being pursued by Zoom with its comedy campaign featuring Kate McKinnon.
For LinkedIn, the approach also fits a market in which younger decision-makers are gaining importance. A recent LinkedIn study on Gen Z in B2B marketing shows how strongly short video and credible expert voices are now weighted in reaching younger B2B audiences.
Why the campaign matters for marketers
The core of the Staples campaign lies less in a new ad format than in the repurposing of an existing brand asset. The company does not need to make its brand known first. Rather, it is trying to extend an existing association – office supplies and retail – to a broader B2B offering.
This is what distinguishes the approach from a classic rebrand. The Easy Button stays, but gains a counterpart in the Hard Button that is meant to explain new service categories. Sonos is working similarly at present with its new brand positioning "Love the Sound. Feel the System": awareness already exists, and what is mainly to change is the picture of what the brand stands for.
For marketers, this is a useful test case for a simple question: Does the brand really have an awareness problem, or rather a perception problem? If the latter applies, a strong existing brand symbol may be more valuable than a complete restart.