[Anonymous]

Depot in aggressive brand makeover

January 2005 – Delray Beach (FL): Office Depot has embarked on a massive brand makeover, which it hopes will single it out from rivals at a time when businesses are armed with new annual budgets.

The OP giant’s new brand, which will adopt the company’s tagline of the early nineties, “taking care of business”, will be marketed through an aggressive new advertising campaign including television commercials, sponsorship of NASCAR auto racing, and redesigned store interiors.

Chuck Rubin, chief merchandising and marketing officer, told Reuters: “This is a foundation upon which everything we are doing is being built. You could easily look at this and say our entire marketing budget is influenced by this focus.”

The brand is designed to appeal to the company’s small business customers, which account for a huge percentage of profits. The tone will be pitched on a serious note, the company said, rather than relying on gimmicks as done in the past.

“We’ve all relied heavily on humour for quite a while,” said Depot’s VP of marketing strategy, Tony Ueber. “Our (new) ads are much more serious, showing small businesspeople….the challenges they face and the role we can play to help them be successful.”

The cost of the new campaign, launched yesterday, was not disclosed.

[Author]

January 11, 2005 at 10:05 AM