Rubber Band Man


I am such a sucker for this stuff.

The office supply biz on the high side of the 49th is somewhat monolithic. Staples is pretty much it. There are a few Office Depots here and there, and Grand & Toy continues to sort of groan along, but it is pretty much Staples all the way. Which means that (aside from those horrid "Easy Button" spots) we are not privy to the massive advertising war that rages in this particular business arena on television screens south of the border. This stuff must be big money, because the ads have reached the status of veritable mini-movies ... these guys are pulling out all the stops.

Which, in a probably-annoying-to-the-reader somewhat roundabout way brings us to the point: Here in the Great White North we haven't seen the Office Max "Rubberband Man" commercials, which is too bad, because they have some serious appeal. Your mileage may vary, though ... I am a complete mark for the whole thing with "teaser" ads leading up to the real deal, and I have been a closet Spinners fan for years and years. That Philadelphia soul sound just grooves.

If you want to get the full effect, watch the teaser ads first - they ran for about a week in massively heavy rotation before "The Party's Over" was unleashed in all of it's 60-second glory. The "making of" short is also oddly enjoyable - mostly because they don't insult your intelligence by narrating it. We can see what is going on, thank you very much, and it is nice to see someone respect that for a change.

Posted: Fri - October 28, 2005 at 05:09 PM        

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