"The product has found its way into homes through the office channel," says William
Smith, vp for 3M's office supply division. "And this billboard component gets young people involved and gets to the educational arena and to a whole generation of users coming up."
Andrew Adam Newman's story recounts the birth of the notes, which wasn't all pure serendipity, as you may believe. 3M put a lot of thought into creating buzz around the product -- first with its "Boise Blitz" in 1978, then with a generous sampling program among Fortune 500 CEOs and their assistants. Today, there are more than 1,000 Post-it products in 150 countries.
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