Staples Connect, the rebranded office supplies retailer formerly known as just Staples, nearly tripled its spot count to 43,627 occurrences for the week of June 21-27, landing in radio’s top 10 for the first time in nearly one year. With a get-out-of-the-way 32-5 move, Staples Connect shot up from 16,356 detections the week before (No. 32) and 13,900 during the week of May 31-June 6 (No. 47).
Responding to the massive shift in how its customers work and learn, Staples on April 14 introduced its evolution to Staples Connect, repositioning itself as “the working and learning store” to provide customers with new products and services so they can “be productive from anywhere.” Staples launched the Connect concept with six stores in the Boston area, not far from its Framingham, MA headquarters, by debuting 40 new products to help customers adapt to new ways of working along with a dedicated digital experience on staplesconnect.com.
Now it’s turning up the volume on radio to market the new concept and products.
Staples Connect has made radio part of its new marketing mix since the week of May 3-9 when a flight of 7,885 spots landed it at No. 28. Staples has long included radio in its marketing plan and was the 29th largest AM/FM advertiser in 2020, airing 586,784 spots, according to Media Monitors which tracks advertising in 110 markets.
The first official week of summer also brought a bigger marketing wallop to the airwaves from home improvement and garden centers. Perennial radio fixture The Home Depot is once again perched at No. 1 with 59,705 spots while competitor Lowe’s rises 16-6 with 41,482 and Menard’s is No. 71 with 8,424. In a similar vein, paint and varnish retailer Sherwin Williams increased it radio flight to 20,983 spots in the latest listing, putting it inside radio’s top 20 at No. 18, up from No. 36 the week before.
A total of seven promotional entries from iHeartMedia dot the latest top 100, including three in the top 10. They range from marketing its streaming audio and podcast platform iHeartRadio at No. 4 to its signature fall Music Festival at No. 7 to various podcasts. They’re also promoting the second annual “Can’t Cancel Pride” virtual relief benefit for the LGBTQ+ community with Procter & Gamble, available on demand throughout Pride Month until June 30 via the Roku Channel and Revry, as well as iHeartRadio’s YouTube and Facebook.
Conspicuous by their absence from the top 100 radio advertisers are these marketers, all of which were top 10 at National TV during the reporting period: Neutrogena at No. 3, Dupixent, a prescription medication used to treat moderate-to-severe eczema, at No. 7 and Domino’s at No. 10.
For the week of June 21-27, 2021, the top10 on the Media Monitors compilation are The Home Depot at 1, Indeed at 2, Progressive at 3, iHeartRadio at 4, Staples Connect at 5, Lowe’s at 6, iHeartRadio Music Festival at 7, “The RonBurgundy Podcast” at 8, Babbel at 9, and Liberty Mutual Insurance at 10.