Adventures in Nametagging: STAPLES Style

July 17, 2006 1:08 PM

That was easy. I spent last Friday in Boston speaking with my new friends @ STAPLES! Man, I was SO excited for this speech, as one of my favorite stories (that I’ve been telling for years to 1000’s of people) involves an old lady asking me to help her find the envelopes in a STAPLES aisle. I, of course, helped her find what she needed; although I did not receive commission.

We focused primarily on spreading word of mouth about That Guy inside (and outside) of an organization.

I suggested keeping a “Cool Journal,” in which you keep track of all things, people and events that are cool. If you’d like to try this idea, here’s how it works: on the left side of the page, write the name of the thing/person which is cool. On the right side, write WHY it’s cool, and what your response was, i.e., emailed all your friends, bought the product, etc. This exercise will help you gain an understanding of the properties of cool and enable you to increase you or your idea’s present coolness.

Now, since I’m a huge fan of the STAPLES Easy Button, and simply could not miss the opportunity to have a little fun with my favorite office supply chain, I closed my presentation with the following faux-advertisement. (Special thanks to Design Shark Studios for putting this comp together.)