For this year’s back to school season, Staples is using 90s nostalgia to stand out with increasingly value-focused parents.

For the second consecutive year, Staples has enlisted the talents of comedians Howie Mandel and Pierre-Yves Lord for a series of back to school commercials in English and French. The comedians wistfully wonder in flashbacks to the 90s how tech gadgets and trendy backpacks would have changed the high school experience (complete with Mandel wearing a wig accurate to his hairstyle at the time).

With children of the 90s now being the primary buyers of supplies for school-aged kids, the ads are an attempt to be memorable among the sea of back to school messaging parents will be seeing. But in the current economic environment, those parents are also more price-conscious, so once Staples has captured their attention, it has a wealth of value-focused incentives to seal the deal.

“We know now more than ever, with inflation and recession continuing to be on people’s minds, that customers are looking to stretch their dollars even further, which is why we’re leaning in even more on value,” says Dave Mazzone, VP of marketing for Staples Canada.

To that end, Staples has introduced a series of deep discounts on a selection of essential school supplies, such as paper, pencils, markers and binders. In-store and online, they are being framed as throwbacks to ‘90s pricing, with more sales being introduced throughout the back to school period.

Mazzone adds that “value doesn’t just stop on the price of the goods.” Staples will also be promoting other opportunities, such as a Staples financing credit card that has either a 4% back offer, or a “don’t pay until 2025” offer to help with big ticket purchases.

Staples is also promoting its partnership with Bell offering parents, students and teachers discounted wireless phone plans on the Bell, Virgin Plus and Lucky carrier brands.

“This is one of the most significant times of year for wireless phone purchases. A lot of parents use the beginning of the school year as a time to buy their kid their first of all. So that is a brand new addition for us,” says Mazzone.

First announced in January, the new wireless rates are set to roll out in mid-August. Additionally, Staples exclusively launched the Apple Flex Plan recently to finance Apple products.

Staples also partnered up with nine influencers as part of their back to school campaign, including: Cat & Nat, Austen Alexander, Khodr Habib, Sammy Barcelos, Zahra Hassan, Lunchbox for 3, Lindsay Pleskot, David Bacque and Study with Ara.

Other elements of the campaign include a back to school hub on the Staples website, which sorts items by grade for convenience. Staples has also updated its Pep Rally private label product line with three new collections, called  Retro Love, Classic Academia and Joyful Expression.

Jackman Reinvents once again led creative, with Jungle on media planning and buying, The Influence Agency leading influencer relations and Golin handling PR.