Martha Stewart Helps Avery Get Organized

Pasadena, Calif. — Office product manufacturer Avery Dennison decided to step outside the office and tap into the multibillion-dollar home organization market, and collaborating with lifestyle icon Martha Stewart and office-supply retailer Staples made perfect sense.Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia designers provided the insight to make functional products stylish, while Stewart provided her influential effect on loyal followers through her company's multiple media outlets. Staples, meanwhile, provided the in-store savvy as well as its loyalty program and e-commerce website, which is rated as the No. 2 e-commerce site in North America by Vertical Web Media's Internet Retailer.Avery approached Stewart's company in September 2010 and Staples soon after, and the result is a "Martha Stewart Home Office with Avery" product line being sold exclusively at Staples stores across the United States and Canada. The 300-product collection, priced from $1.99 to $19.99, launched in February. It will be exclusive to Staples "for the foreseeable future," according to Avery's James Johnson, senior director of marketing, personal organization.In 1,350 U.S. locations, the product is merchandised on dedicated freestanding gondolas ranging from 16 feet to 32 feet in length and produced by Ardent Displays & Packaging, East Hartford, Conn. The full gondola (with two endcaps) can stock 294 of the 300 SKUs. U.S. stores with smaller footprints and the Canadian locations stock fewer items.To promote the line, Staples has used coupons in its Sunday circulars, emails to members of its rewards program, messages printed on receipts, window posters and in-aisle signage. Additionally, banner ads on Avery's and Stewart's sites direct consumers to Staples' e-commerce site. "We've really tried driving promotions around building the whole cart, so you see things like $5 off $20 worth of purchases, or $3 off $10," Johnson says. "We're trying to drive consumers to put more than one item in their basket."Avery and Staples are reaping the benefits of the Stewart partnership beyond her style credibility and brand awareness. Stewart boasts 2 million Twitter followers and a huge presence on social media sites Facebook and Pinterest, in addition to print, TV, radio and online properties. "The primary financial investment for driving, in terms of demand creation, lands on Avery as a brand and Staples as a retail partner," Johnson says. "With Martha there is a commitment to access and to earned media. It's not like Martha is buying ads in other publications. She has her own publication, but she's giving us access to that."Johnson says that part of the appeal of Stewart's company was its experience working with retailers (such as The Home Depot) to create in-store environments for Martha Stewart-branded products. "[Stewart's company] learned a lot about how consumers would shop and what consumers would expect, and then drove our decision to do an actual standalone display," Johnson says. "At a super office supply store, consumers shop by category. If they're there for a binder or a label, they go directly to that spot. We could have put the product in those individual categories, but it didn't tell the complete story – how all these products work together beautifully to help you organize."Johnson says that, since launch, sales have been brisk for what Avery calls "surface organizers." These multi-sectioned products are not named "desk organizers" because home-office consumers may use something other than a desk. The nomenclature reflects Avery's research into the target consumer for the new line. The "hybrid mom" – she takes care of her kids and the house while working totally or partly from home – is 24 to 54 years old.The line has a "Pottery Barn/Crate & Barrel" feel to it, Johnson says, with pastel tones. "That was very foreign to Staples because pretty much when you walked through the door, you got black wire, wood or smoked plastic. What consumers told us, and specifically the hybrid mom, [was that the basic style] "is fine at the office where I don't really have a choice, but you're not bringing that in my house. I don't want it to look like I stole it from work.'"

Martha Stewart Helps Avery Get Organized

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