Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a promotional event in Manhattan that showcased the new Martha Stewart Home Office with Avery product line available exclusively at Staples. It was great to see the line described by Martha Stewart herself, so I wanted to share some video of her atthe event with you, along with my initial thoughts on some of the product that I got to take a look at.
A few interesting things I picked up from the event listening to Martha:
- First, I found it interesting to hear Martha mention that she actually still owns and uses a typewriter, but later in the event (not in this video clip) she did run through the fact that she has multiple Blackberries, an iPad, iPhone, and two computers at her desk, so she is definitely tech-savvy and connected, however she did state that she still finds it important to actually be able to write things down with pen and paper and print things out.
- In the video above at the 1:34 mark, Martha does make the somewhat significant mistake of saying that the product line includes “Post-it’s” which is the 3M version of what I would generically call a “sticky note” if I wanted to avoid the brand name of a competitive product in the market. Not sure how many people may have picked up on this but knowing the audience at the event I’m sure someone must have noticed. I did cringe a bit when I heard it leave her lips, but “Post-it” has become such a well recognized name that people sometimes forget it is the actual brand name rather than a noun.
- I also chuckled at the statement at the very end of the above video where Martha explains to the crowd (as if we need to be told this) “My own home is pretty well ordered.” I would imagine that her home probably has a storage bin where she neatly tucks away the dust to take care of later, and not one item is ever out of place. I’m pretty sure that saying her home is “pretty well ordered” is probably the understatement of the year.
- Amazingly, the entire product line was developed in only one year. When you look at the variety, uniqueness and the quality of the products, it is impressive that they were able to accomplish so much in such a short period of time.
You can definitely hear more detail if you watch the video above though, so click on that and see what Martha has to say about all of her new products.
The above photo shows the Martha Stewart Home Office with Avery merchandising display that you will find in Staples. The variety of different notebooks was impressive, and there were also quite a few different labeling and organizing (ie. folders, storage bins, and containers) solutions on display as well. Some of the non-notebook items of interest that I saw were:
- Chalkboard labels that can be reused, meaning stuck, unstuck, then re-stuck, and also written on with chalk, erased, and written on again
- Self-adhesive weekly dry erase to-do lists for your fridge as well as standard paper to do lists.
- Stick on book plates, which are those small metal frames with a paper insert that go on the spine of the magazine container that Martha is looking at in the video up there
- Elastic band attachable tags
- Lots of different dry erase and sticky note labels
- A variety of filing pockets, folders, and accordion folders
- Desk trays and other organizational containers
3M may protest Martha’s use of “Post-It” to protect their trademark. Think about “Band-Aid” and “Thermos”.
Ah…that was classic Martha! I bought some of her stuff online recently for kitchen organization, file organization, mail art and scrapbooking (those labels make fun journaling cards) So far, I am really impressed…especially with the kraft labels and those chalkboard ones!
Sticky notes are like tissues. They may be another brand, but we still call them a Kleenex.
I’ll be interested in your opinion of the chalkboard lables. I picked up a pack when the Staples at 6th AV and 21st had a sale to preview the line. I like the concept but not the end result. I picked up some of the dry erase lables but haven’t tried them out yet.
Thanks for this post. I was in Staples last week and loved what I saw, but I didn’t see any furniture. Is it available only in certain markets?
I went to Staples earlier this week and purchased the small binder, the calendar insert, a few notebooks, and labels. I really like the stuff. It’s durable and I enjoy the colors. I think the line is a great idea and the stuff is pretty cheap. Thanks for the video!
These notebooks are the best ones I have ever bought for school , they are cute and effective i do wish they had mor ecolors and also subject notebooks for the classes in which i have more things to write about. Other than that they are a good waste of money and i love them.