Dunder Mifflin takes paper online

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Client: NBC-TV

NBC's "The Office" seems to be one of the few work environments where people never get tired of sticking around. Consider the success of last summer's groundbreaking webisodes, which used new original programming to extend users' engagement with the show throughout the traditional TV season's hiatus. Even though the show's main characters weren't involved, NBC reported that about one million streams of the webisodes were played during their first week on NBC.com. This set a precedent for networks to reconsider how and when to deliver entertainment content to viewers for maximum buzz, reach and interaction.

But this year, NBC is building early season buzz with old media. Well, sort of. The network has given Dunder Mifflin, the show's struggling paper company, the corporate microsite and e-newsletter treatment. Fashioned to reflect the low-tech, behind-the-times corporate vision you might expect from a paper company in the digital age, the site peppers its standard sections with the show's sly humor and subtle appearances from key "Office" drones. For example, the character of Ryan "the temp" Howard has issued a letter-perfect mock-press release where he honestly addresses his uphill battle as the company's new VP of regional sales. In addition, users who visit the Contact page and fill in their emailing info get a bonus reward: Dunder Mifflin's Scranton e-newsletter, where you can read about the Scranton Branch's recent 7/7/07 party, get summer cooking tips from George Foreman Grill-impaired office manager Michael Scott and get valuable advice about how not to burn your face off this summer from "assistant to the general manager," Dwight Schrute.
-- Jodi Harris, managing editor, iMedia Connection

Creative Showcase is meant to be a teaching tool and an inspiration for our readers. We comment only on creative that we really love. Our panelists discuss what makes it great, but if they feel there were missed opportunities that would have made it better, we invite them to mention those. And finally, we seek out a wide range of opinions that reflect the marketplace for the panel, in order to provide constructive, useable feedback for agencies, clients and others involved in these creative pieces.

I'm kind of embarrassed to say that I've only seen a few episodes of NBC's "The Office," but from what I remember, this site has the same tongue-in-cheek humor. This site's probably not going to win any Webbys for design or Flash brilliance, but what it lacks (purposefully I understand) in style, it makes up for in substance. As a former PR hack, I loved the press release talking about Ryan Bailey Howard's promotion -- it's amazing PR people still sound like this. This is a quote from the press release (it's far funnier than anything I could write anyway): "'I want to shake things up around here,' said Howard. 'This company is stuck in the past and I'm making it my personal mission to take it into the 21st Century, even though we're already seven years in.'" Howard went on to add: "'The whole concept of a paper company in today's paperless world is fundamentally flawed. I plan to take bold steps and initiate enormous reforms to bring this company back to financial viability.'"

Will this make me tune into the show more? Probably not; but those who are hooked will love spending a few minutes and sending to friends. Now if NBC could just get that Victoria Beckham show to catch on…
-- Matt Wright, director, online video strategy, HowStuffWorks 

Let me preface my insight for this campaign by saying I'm a huge fan of "The Office." Huge! Anything above and beyond the show itself is icing on the cake for me. So I'm obviously quite excited about this new campaign.
 
The website could easily pass for an authentic paper company website, which makes the bits of humor infused throughout even more endearing, including a hilarious press release quote from the main character, Michael Scott, about his mentee's recent promotion.
 
The site even features a store where visitors can purchase Dunder Mifflin-branded merchandise, which make great gifts for show fans. The only disappointing portion of the site for me was when the button to apply for an open job at Dunder Mifflin led me to a contact form where users can subscribe to a newsletter. My hopes of spending eight hours a day gazing into character Jim Halpert's eyes were dashed. Oh, well.
 
The newsletter included grilling and summer safety tips from main characters, Michael and Dwight. The information and advice had the same shades of awkwardness and superiority typical of those characters. I'd expect nothing less.
 
The Dunder Mifflin site also links to NBC's award-winning site for "The Office," which features deleted scenes, character blogs, contests for office pranks, etc. I'm excited to see if the Dunder Mifflin site will have enough of the frequent updates to have the same draw that the show's site does.
-- Nanette Marcus, editor, iMedia Connection