Staples is sponsoring Channel 4’s Inspiring Success group of programmes, which are aimed at small businesses and the self-employed.
Office supplies retailer Staples is targeting B2B sales through its involvement with the well-known business shows, including The Secret Millionaire, Undercover Boss and new series Mary Queen of the High Street.
All the shows are either made in a work environment or star well-known entrepreneurs and business people, so the sponsorship should capture the retailer’s target audience.
The sponsorship idents, which run either side of the advertising break, direct viewers online where Staples has cleverly sought to further engage consumers with advice from the series’ stars.
Created and produced by agency MediaCom Beyond Advertising, the short idents themselves are amusing, though not laugh-out-loud funny. Each one features specific products such as envelopes and post-it notes in mock job interviews, and comedian Darren Strange plays the role of potential employer. Sending up the typical job interview, one clip takes the point of view of a candidate entering the office of a suited-and-booted yet cheesy job interviewer, who reaches out for a handshake, sits down, and says: “I think this has got your name written all over it.”
The spot then reveals that in the candidate’s chair sit several of Staples’ office supplies and not the expected interviewee.
Even if the idents’ humour doesn’t tickle the viewers’ funny bones, placing the products at the centre of the punchlines and sponsoring entertainment content based around the workplace is likely to deliver a lasting impression of Staples’ product offer to viewers.
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