So… do you know who the staples baddie is? If you’ve been on TikTok at all in the last month or so, there’s a good chance you’ve met her. And if you haven’t seen her yet, buckle up because this is one of the best real-time marketing case studies I’ve seen in a long time… maybe since the poopouri and super coffee collaboration… and there are some really specific things you can take away from it for your own business.
Here’s the short version. A 22-year-old print specialist at Staples started making TikToks on her break, just showing off services that Staples offers that most people had no idea existed. Custom mugs, direct mail, banners, stamps, art supplies — all this stuff that’s been sitting right there in the store forever and nobody was using it. Her videos blew up. Like, millions of views blew up. Her personal TikTok account now has over 470,000 followers. The official Staples brand account? About 47,000. One employee with a phone and is reaching ten times the audience of the entire corporate brand.
I actually came across her content a couple of weeks ago. Someone popped up on my FYP talking about her, so I went and looked up her account. And then of course the algorithm, algorithmed and I started more of her content and the people talking about her and how they were influenced by her.
Then… it crossed over into mainstream media. CNN did a whole piece on her. Fast Company. Inc. Magazine. It’s everywhere now. Serious, google the Staples Baddie and you’ll see tons of content about her.
So of course… being the marketer that I am, I had to talk about it. So let’s break down why this blew up the way it did, the lessons you can learn for your own marketing strategy, and of course we’ll talk about how you too can use Staples for your business needs.
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Who is the Staples Baddie
Her name is Kaeden Rowland, but she goes by Oblivion on TikTok — her handle is @blivxx. She’s 22 years old, she works as a print specialist at a Staples location in upstate New York, and she has a background in graphic design. Back in January, she was basically just bored at work and started filming quick videos in her red Staples shirt and lanyard, showing off things the store could do.
And her delivery is what made it. She wasn’t doing some polished corporate presentation. She was clicking her long nails on her name badge, using Gen Z slang, doing ASMR content with the printers, and just being genuinely herself. In one of her most popular videos — which has over 5 million views — she says something like, “It’s come to my attention that y’all don’t really know the full scope of what Staples does. We can make ornaments. We can make mugs, shirts, backpacks, signs, posters, whatever you could need. A banner that’s like eight feet long? Sure. Why not?”
People ate it up. The comments on her videos are flooded with people saying things like “I had no idea Staples could do this” and “I just went to Staples because of you.” One woman posted a video that got over a million views saying she saved a thousand dollars on a project because of the Staples Baddie. People are literally switching their business orders to Staples because of this one store employee.
She went from about 10,000 followers to over 470,000. Her most viral videos are pulling between 2 and 6 million views with engagement rates over 16 percent. She’s been invited to MAC Cosmetics events, she landed a deal with Lyft, she’s getting recognized on the street in New York City. All because she started making videos about a store most of us forgot existed.
And she said it herself in one of her videos. She said, “I don’t have any formal training in marketing. I’m just opinionated with cheekbones.” She has the best one-liners.
She immediately connected with audiences and it’s already been confirmed by Staples that they’re truly seeing an uptick in in-store traffic and sales from her.
Now of course, you’re not staples with tons of physical stores or bored employees that can post content on their personal pages… but there are still a lot of lessons we can learn from this. Let’s talk about it.
Lesson One: She showed people what they didn’t know existed
This is the most obvious one and honestly, it’s the most important. Staples has offered custom printing, mugs, banners, direct mail services, and all kinds of marketing materials for years. YEARS. And basically nobody knew.
One person with a phone changed that overnight.
I’m sure you’ve heard me say this before… no matter how good your product is, if no one knows it exists, it doesn’t matter.
And this is truly proving that point.
So ask yourself, what do you sell or do that most customers don’t know about? And are you talking about it enough? Is that on your website? Are you talking about it in your emails? Because if you mentioned it once in an Instagram story six months ago and never brought it up again, nobody knows.
People are busy. Their attention is being pulled in a thousand directions. You cannot mention something one time and assume the message landed. You have to talk about what you offer, how it works, why it matters, and you have to do it over and over and over again in different ways.
And it doesn’t have to be polished.
Kaedon just shows people what Staples offers, holding her phone while she records the product offerings in specific store categories like calculators, art supplies, laptops… or shows how the printing process works. She’s created mugs, stickers, vinyl banners with grommets, showed different book binding options, etc.
Ultimately, she’s finding new ways to present the same core message: Staples can do more than you think.
That’s exactly how you should approach your content too. You are going to get bored of talking about your products way before your audience gets bored of hearing about them. I promise you that. Most of your audience hasn’t seen most of your content. So that product feature you explained three months ago? Talk about it again. That behind-the-scenes video you did last year? Do another one. Repetition isn’t annoying when each version feels fresh, and there are a million ways to say the same thing differently.
There are two small business owners who do this really well that I always reference and refer people to study… Megan of Glass Ladder and Natalie of Klassy Network. A few years ago they both just became the content creators of their brand and I always talk about how when you look at their content – it’s basically just the same thing over and over, from a new angle or perspective.
It’s a great example of how most of us overthink our content strategy.
The point is.. This can be you. Show your audience your process. Show them the details of your product they can’t see in a flat photo. Tell them about services or options they might not know you offer. Assume they don’t and keep telling them about it.
Lesson Two: Personality sells. Period.
The Staples Baddie’s content is not polished. It’s not scripted. She’s not using a ring light and a teleprompter. She’s at work, in her uniform, talking to her phone the way she’d talk to a friend. She uses slang. She’s funny. She’s got personality for days. And THAT is exactly why it works.
People are so tired of corporate, overly produced, perfectly curated content. We’ve been swimming in that for years and everyone’s numb to it now. What cuts through is someone being a real human being who’s genuinely passionate about what they’re talking about. That’s it. That’s the whole formula.
There’s actually a show on Tubi right now called The Z-Suite with Lauren Graham — yes, Lorelai Gilmore herself — and it’s basically about this exact thing. It’s a workplace comedy about an ad agency where the old-school corporate marketing executives get ousted and replaced by their Gen Z social media team. It’s playing on this exact tension between the polished, traditional way brands have always communicated and how younger audiences actually want to be talked to. And here’s the Staples Baddie proving the whole premise of that show in real life.
But here’s what I really want you to hear: this isn’t just a Gen Z thing. Yes, her content was made by and for a younger audience. But it crossed over to literally every other generation. I’m talking about it right now, and I am definitely not Gen Z. The reason it crossed over is because authenticity isn’t generational. Everybody, at every age, responds to someone who’s being real. We all have that filter where we can tell when something feels forced or corporate versus when someone is just being themselves and actually cares about what they’re saying.
So what does this mean for you? It means stop trying to make your content look like a brand and start showing up like a person. I know that sounds simple but it’s genuinely one of the hardest things for business owners to do because we’ve been conditioned to think that “professional” means polished and perfect. It doesn’t. Professional means helpful, knowledgeable, and trustworthy. You can be all three of those things while also being funny, or casual, or a little weird, or whatever YOUR version of personality is.
And this applies everywhere — not just TikTok or social media. Your emails, your product descriptions, your about page, the way you reply to customer messages. All of it. If everything you put out into the world sounds like it was written by a marketing textbook, you’re blending in with every other store in your space. People don’t remember brands. They remember people.
Lesson Three: She led with value and entertainment, not a sales pitch
Pay attention to this one because it’s subtle but it makes all the difference.
The Staples Baddie never once said “come buy things at Staples.” Not once. What she said was “did you know we can do this?” and “let me show you how this works.” That’s a completely different energy. One is a sales pitch. The other is education wrapped in entertainment. And guess which one people actually pay attention to?
Every single one of her videos gives the viewer something — either information they didn’t have before, or a genuine laugh, or both. She’s not asking anything of them. She’s just being helpful and interesting. And THAT’S what makes people want to go to Staples. Not because she told them to. Because she showed them something cool and they thought, “wait, I want that.”
This is exactly how I want you to think about your content strategy. Whether it’s an email, a social post, a product page, or a blog post — lead with value. Lead with something that’s useful or interesting or entertaining to your audience. Not with “buy my stuff.”
Show them how to use your product in a way they haven’t thought of. Share the story behind why you made it. Give them a tip that makes their life easier. Answer a question you get asked all the time. Film yourself making the thing or packing an order and talk them through what you’re doing.
Here’s a really concrete example. Let’s say you sell candles. Instead of posting “New scent alert! Shop now!” — what if you posted a video of you testing different fragrance combinations and talking about why you chose this one? What if you showed people the difference between a cotton wick and a wood wick and explained why you use the one you do? What if you gave them a tip on how to get the best burn from their candle? That’s the kind of content that makes people feel like they’re learning something, and it makes them trust you, and THEN when you do say “hey, this is available now” — they’re already sold because they’ve been watching you be an expert this whole time.
Same thing with your emails. If every email you send is “20% off this weekend” or “new arrivals just dropped,” you’re training your audience to only care about what you’re selling, not who you are. Mix in content that teaches or entertains. Share the story behind a product. Give them a look at what goes into running your business. Be a real person in their inbox. That’s how you build a relationship that goes beyond just transactions.
When you do this consistently, the sales come naturally because you’ve built trust. You’ve positioned yourself as someone who’s helpful, not someone who’s always trying to get something from them. And that’s a much better place to be selling from.
Lesson Four: Authenticity cannot be manufactured. And you shouldn’t try
Okay so here’s where the cautionary tale comes in, and I think this is just as important as the success story.
So after the Staples Baddie blew up, other Staples locations apparently started getting pressure from corporate to try to replicate what she was doing. Like — make your own version of this at your store. And there’s a whole Reddit thread from Staples employees who are frustrated about it. One person said they’re dealing with way more needy customers in the print department now, and another one said their team is literally being encouraged to become the Staples Baddie of their store.
And you can already see the problem, right? The reason her content works is because it’s HER. It’s her personality, her delivery, her genuine enthusiasm. You can’t take that and hand it to someone else and say “now you do it” and expect the same result. That’s not how any of this works.
And if you’ve seen the recent beef — pun intended — between McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s after the McDonald’s CEO posted that arch burger video, you know exactly what I’m talking about. That is what it looks like when authenticity is missing.
This is relevant for you because I see small business owners fall into this trap all the time. They see someone in their niche doing something that’s working and they try to copy the format, the style, the delivery — but it falls flat because it’s not THEM.
You can absolutely learn from what other people are doing well. That’s what we’re doing right now with this whole episode. But the execution has to come from YOUR voice, YOUR personality, YOUR way of showing up.
If you’re not naturally funny, don’t try to be the funny brand. If you’re not comfortable on camera, maybe your thing is beautiful behind-the-scenes photos with great captions. If you’re really knowledgeable about your craft, lean into that and be the educator. Whatever feels natural to you — that’s your lane. Stay in it and go deep.
And if you’re not passionate about what you sell – I’m talking about you McDonalds CEO – maybe get someone else to do it.
The takeaway from the Staples Baddie isn’t “go make funny TikToks.” The takeaway is “figure out what YOUR authentic voice is and then use it consistently everywhere you show up.” That’s a very different lesson.
Lesson Five: Staples was smart enough to get out of the way. And this might be the most important lesson of all
So I really want to drive this one home because I think it’s the part of this story that’s getting overlooked.
When the Staples Baddie started blowing up, Staples corporate could have done a LOT of things. They could have told her to stop filming at work. They could have said “this doesn’t align with our brand guidelines.” They could have pulled her in, hired her as a corporate social media person, put her through training, and had her making approved, on-brand content that went through three rounds of legal review.
They did none of that.
Here’s what they actually did. They followed her account. Their PR team reached out to her store and said, “hey, we love this.” They sent her a care package. Their CMO told the press they’re exploring ways to collaborate and support her creativity. And that’s it. They let her keep doing her thing.
And here’s the part that I think is even more telling. She’s landing brand deals with other companies — Lyft, MAC Cosmetics invited her to a launch party in NYC. She’s doing appearances and events that have nothing to do with Staples. And Staples has not tried to restrict any of it. They’re not saying “you work for us, you can’t partner with other brands.” They’re just letting her grow and benefiting from the association.
That is so smart. Because the moment they try to control this, the moment they try to put it in a corporate box, the whole thing dies. The magic is that it’s organic. It’s unscripted. It’s coming from a real employee who genuinely enjoys her job and wants to share what she does. You cannot manufacture that energy, and you cannot preserve it if you start putting restrictions on it.
And think about what they’re gaining by NOT trying to control her. She’s at MAC Cosmetics events wearing designer clothes, getting covered by CNN — and every single article, every single interview, every single appearance mentions Staples.
She’s out there building her personal brand and Staples gets to ride the wave for free. If they had tried to lock her into an exclusive arrangement or make her go through corporate approvals for every post, she would have either lost her spark or moved on entirely. Instead, they’re getting millions of dollars worth of free marketing because they had the restraint to just say “keep going, we support you.”
Someone actually nailed it when they said the best thing Staples did wasn’t a campaign — it was the decision not to interfere with one. That’s such a good way to put it.
And you can see in the comments of her videos that customers want to support staples even more BECAUSE they’re staying out of it and letting her just do her thing. With so many stories of people who have been fired from their jobs for having an online persona the brand didn’t agree with, this was really a breath of fresh air for consumers.
Does that mean you should have no guardrails for your employees? Of course not, but the point is. People notice.
So what’s the lesson for you as a small business owner? A few things.
First — if something is working in your business, do not overcomplicate it. I see this happen constantly. Something starts gaining traction — a type of content, a product, a marketing channel — and instead of just doing more of that thing, the business owner starts overthinking it. They try to make it “better.” They try to “professionalize” it. They add steps and layers and processes. And in doing so, they strip out the thing that made it work in the first place. If something is working, your first instinct should be to keep doing that thing and get out of its way. You can refine it later. But don’t fix what isn’t broken.
Second — if you have a customer who’s out there promoting your products organically, shouting you out on social media, leaving amazing reviews — support them. Don’t ignore it. Don’t try to control it. Thank them. Share their content. Send them something nice. Build that relationship. That kind of organic word-of-mouth is more valuable than any ad you could ever run, and it costs you almost nothing to nurture it.
And third — if you have an employee or a team member who has a way of connecting with people, let them. Give them permission to show up with their personality. Don’t micromanage how they talk to customers or what they post. Obviously there are guardrails — you’re not giving them a blank check. But within those guardrails, let people be people. That’s what customers respond to.
Your Next Steps
One: take an honest look at your business and ask yourself: what am I NOT telling my audience? What products, services, features, or details am I assuming they already know about? Make a list. And then start talking about those things.
Two: pick ONE piece of content this week — an email, a social post, a product description, whatever — and try showing up with a little more personality than you normally would. Loosen up the language. Share a quick story. Be a little more you. See how it feels and see how your audience responds.
Three: look at what’s already working in your business and ask yourself if you’re doing enough of that. Are there products that are selling well that you’re not featuring enough? Content that got a lot of engagement that you never followed up on? A marketing channel that’s performing but you keep getting distracted by shiny new stuff? Stop chasing the next thing and double down on what’s right in front of you.
I know we all love a good shiny object. Trust me, I get it. But the businesses that grow the fastest and the most sustainably are usually not the ones doing twenty things at once. They’re the ones who found what works and went all in on that thing until they squeezed every drop of juice out of it.
That’s the Staples Baddie in a nutshell — she found her thing and she just kept doing it. Over a hundred videos and counting, all with the same core message delivered in slightly different ways. That’s consistency. That’s what builds an audience.
You don’t need to go viral. You don’t need to become the “baddie” of your industry. You just need to be consistent, be yourself, and actually tell people what you do and why it matters. That’s how you build a brand people care about.
And honestly? It’s a lot less complicated than we all make it.
And that’s really why this story resonated with me so much. A 22-year-old with a phone and a genuine passion for print services just proved that to the entire internet. If she can make office supplies exciting, you can absolutely make your products exciting.
