Tassimo, a hot-drink system for offices marketed by Kraft Foods, is looking for a few good Bobs.
He’s the doofus, mid-management star of the brand’s Webisode promotion, a coffee fanatic who spends more time on make-work projects around the office than he does on actual work: For example, organizing the “secret Santa” program in January. Viewers can follow his antics online at http://www.WhoHiredBob.com and determine the course of the action at certain key plot points in a “Choose Your Adventure” style narrative.
Each episode also features a moment in which Bob pauses the action to speak about the benefits and versatility of the Tassimo system and the importance of “41 hot beverage choices.”
Tassimo and agency Ogilvy are also issuing a call for viewers to e-mail stories about some real-life office Bobs for possible use in the series. The chosen anecdotes will serve as the basis for future installments of “Who Hired Bob?” Entrants’ submissions are posted at the Web site for all to read, with no names attached, only initials and home state.
Visitors who submit stories will get a $20 mail-in rebate on a Tassimo beverage system and free samples of Tassimo coffee. Those whose stories are chosen as future plot points will, presumably, get the secret pride of authorship.
The Webisodes are jointly produced by Ogilvy and Jim Biederman, who collaborated on the “Kids in the Hall” and “Whitest Kids You Know” comedy series. Actors come from New York City’s “Upright Citizens Brigade” improv troupe.
“Creating original, entertaining content gives Tassimo both cultural currency and permission for further conversations with consumers,” Joseph Frydl, director of Ogilvy’s branded content and entertainment group said in a statement. “Purely interruptive marketing simply cannot accomplish that.”
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