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OfficeMax turns to own office supply guy for inspiration

By Theresa Howard, USA TODAY

Ever wonder where advertisers get their inspiration? Sometimes it comes from months of market research or interviews with consumers about tastes, preferences, perceptions. Sometimes it's from social anthropologists Ð'-- people paid to observe and record social dynamics and consumer behavior patterns.

The Rubberband Man delivers all kinds of office supplies just when his colleagues need them.

Sometimes, a light bulb goes on while sitting around with feet on the desk, tossing makeshift basketballs at a wall-mounted hoop.

And sometimes inspiration can just be the person next to you. That's where Don Pogany, DDB senior group creative director, got the idea for the Rubberband Man character in the latest ads for OfficeMax. Rubberband Man, played by actor Eddie Steeples, is modeled after the ad agency's own service center coordinator, Keenan Linder, 29. And that's OK with him.

The character is the center of a signature commercial for a new OfficeMax campaign that started in January with the theme: "What's your thing?"

Rubberband Man gets his name from the big ball of rubberbands he has on his push cart, spinning like a disco globe. The song playing in the background as he happily cruises the cubicles, tossing office supplies to co-workers: Rubberband Man , a 1970s hit by the Spinners.

The ad, and two others in the campaign, tries to put some pizazz in a product category perceived as not having any.

"People think office supplies are very boring and mundane products," says Tom Russell, director of marketing for OfficeMax. "But we found whether it's a notebook, pen, highlighter or organizing system, they have to have a certain one. They feel passionate about it."

The ads and the storyline are a shift for OfficeMax: from ads mostly set inside stores to an office scene and to storylines that go beyond vignettes about people shopping for specific products.

"Ads in stores set up certain limits to what you can do creatively. People know OfficeMax has stores. We said, 'Let's get out of the store.' That opens up a world of possibility for you."

The two other ads are equally lighthearted and offbeat. One shows two friends who plot to get out of work by feigning illness. They color their faces with highlighters to make their skin look sickly. Problem is, the trick worked for the guy who used the yellow highlighter, but the boss didn't buy it from the friend who used pink.

The remaining ad shows two mountain climbers, with one trying to pull the other down the mountain in a fight over who forgot to bring the food. The moment is caught in a photograph in which it looks like they are actually helping each other up. That photo then appears in a "motivational poster" behind a speaker who tries to rally a group of workers. (Yes, OfficeMax sells motivational posters.) All the ads close with the message: What's your thing?

The ads, with their novel approach, are also an effort to distinguish OfficeMax from rivals Office Depot and Staples. "No matter what your thing is, we wanted to deliver the message in a humorous and unconventional manner," Russell says. "There's a lot of confusion between the major three players about who's who and what's different, and that's something we wanted to address right away."

"We had a good first quarter as a company. Our next step is to try to tie it to (ads)," Russell says.

Isolating the ad impact is tough because other variables, such as Sunday newspaper supplements and promotional pricing, also affect sales. "But based on the hundreds of e-mails and responses from employees and store associates," he says, "we really feel like we've got a winner on our hands."

The ads were winners with consumers polled for Ad Track, USA TODAY's weekly survey. Some 25% like the ads "a lot" vs. the Ad Track average of 21%. Just 6% "dislike" the ads vs. the average of 13%.

"From where we're