March, 2004
For Immediate Release

Confessions of a Post-it® Aholic…
Almost half of Canadians admit they would be perplexed without Post-it® Notes

London, ON - Could you live without Post-it® Notes? If you answered yes, you’d be in the minority. According to a recent national survey, over half of Canadians agree they use Post-it® Notes on a regular basis. Not to stick it to you, but 43 percent even dared to reveal they would be at a loss without these little square sticky notes.

Let’s stick with the facts, can you believe people from British Columbia ranked highest in usage of Post-it® Notes in Canada? It’s true, over 62.3 percent of BC’ers use these sassy little notes either at home or at work on a regular basis. It’s gonna be a photo finish! People in Alberta came in at a close second with 61.3 percent, sticking close behind comes Ontario (59.1 percent), Saskatoon (59 percent), Atlantic Canada (54 percent) and winding up the finish Quebec (42.9 percent).

“We’re over the moon to hear that more and more Canadians are picking up on the Post-it® Note trend,” says Gary Shawyer, Marketing Manager for Post-it® Notes, 3M Canada. “We’re a company full of innovations and we’re proud to be able to help make the lives of Canadians more colourful, fun and organized.”

Forget me not…
Calling out to all boyfriends, husbands, brothers and fathers, have you ever forgotten a birthday, anniversary, name or directions? Noodle this one, 61.3 percent of women use Post-it® Notes, compared to only 48.7 percent of men…does this remind you of anything? Maybe the forgetfulness epidemic stems from not writing little reminders.

Say it isn’t so…
What would you do if you had the last package of Post-it® Notes on the planet? Startlingly enough, only 38.7 percent would use them for ordinary tasks like reminders, phone messages or bookmarks. The other 61.3 percent thought of funky unique uses like starting a fire, saving them for re-sale, putting them in a time capsule, sending messages in a bottle or having them reproduced. Ever think about what you might use them for?

The History of The Post-it® Note:
The Post-it® Note has rapidly become the symbol of fast, effective communication and an icon around the world. This epidemic stems back to the late 1960s when a brilliant scientist, Spencer Silver, created a less sticky adhesive. Persistently Spencer started to look for a problem that this little sticky stuff could solve. Meanwhile, across town, Art Fry, another 3M scientist got tired of losing his place in the hymnal while singing in the church choir. Art wondered, “what if I coated one side of the paper with an adhesive that would lightly stick but would allow me to reposition it?” Could this have been ESP? Art remembered Spencer’s earlier creation and rushed to test out the handy little product. It took years to bring these notes to full commercial fruition but through market research, several prototypes and after vigorous sampling in a little town called Boise, Idaho, 3M discovered that over 90 percent of the people who sampled the product admitted they would purchase it again. The little yellow note was a hit! By 1980, Post-It® Notes were being sold nationally…and the rest, as they say, is history.

Post-It® Note-able Art Competition:
Picture this! 2004 marks the first year of the Post-It® Note-able Art Competition. The art competition is being piloted by 21 Ontario art schools whereby students are challenged to create a funky and fantastic piece of art comprised primarily of Post-It® Notes. Drum roll please…one lucky winner will walk away with $10,000 for their ingenious Post-It® Note creation ($5,000 for them and $5,000 for their school). The Post-It® Note-able Art Competition takes place on March 6, 2004 in Toronto, Ontario.

Contact 3M Canada PR department.

3M is a trademark of 3M. Post-it is a registered trademark of 3M. Used under license in Canada.

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