Yes, NBC’s long-running sitcom The Office might have fallen on hard times in the past few years, both in terms of viewership and quality of content. However, leave it up to the ever shrewd office supply chain Staples’ B2B division, Quill.com, to cash in on the series’ waning popularity with Dunder-Mifflin brand products.
Having purchased licensing from Comcast in 2011, Quill.com has expanded Dunder Mifflin’s offerings beyond strictly paper in recent months, tapping Olson PR to help manage a national advertising campaign which included a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl. This second spot, “The Battle,” created in partnership with crowdsourcing platform Tongal, will debut during the Oscars on Sunday.
Seeing as we have a PR agency as opposed to an ad agency running point on the campaign, here’s how we were pitched this story:
“Quill.com had originally intended to air the ad in Scranton, but the ABC affiliate there, WNEP-TV, rejected the ad, apparently because of the brand’s NBC ties. (The CBS affiliate in Scranton had no issues with another Dunder Mifflin ad running during the Super Bowl.)”
Sounds like some total dramz is happening in the Northeast.