"Office Space" is one of my favourite films, and perfectly represents the horrors of many IT office jobs. It also has an interesting product-related story. No, not Tom and his "I'm good with people!" bit, but the story of Milton Waddams and his beloved red stapler 👇
Milton is very attached to his red stapler. He's terrified that his boss is going to take it away and, when this happens, it contributes to the final act of the film. The red Swingline stapler became iconic. There was one problem though... Swingline didn't make a red stapler.
The Office Space crew bought 4 Swingline staplers and painted them red because it give them the look they wanted. After the film came out and became a cult hit, Swingline had a constant stream of people trying to buy the non-existent stapler.
Swingline did the obvious. They started producing a red stapler! It's now their most popular stapler. The lesson here? Sometimes your market changes due to unexpected, external factors. The best product teams respond and take advantage.
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