Watch out Dunder Mifflin, more folks from Hollywood is getting into the paper business.
Woody Harrelson launched an environmentally friendly paper product this week. Step Forward Paper is made mostly from agricultural waste rather than virgin trees. The company says for every two packs of standard paper replaced with their product, one tree is saved.
It does indeed sound like a step forward for the environment, but why would anyone invest in paper at this stage in the digital age?
A recent report from Zoom Direct, an online stationery retailer, has the industry declining by one-third since 2008. But according to the report, there is one niche that’s growing — high end and premium brands, such as Moleskine and Parker.
Italian notebook maker Moleskine recently raised $300 million in a splashy IPO on the Italian stock exchange earlier this year. The company has used its luxury branding to stay alive and well. And that’s the right way to go according to P.K. Kannan, a marketing professor at University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business
“The brand should be appealing closer to a customer’s sense of identity rather than looking at this as a functional product where you take a notebook and write something down,” Kannan told Marketplace.
You can buy Step Forward Paper at Staples, where incidentally, they also sell Dunder Mifflin paper.
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
