Great Scott! Dunder Mifflin Morphs Into Real-Life Brand of Copy Paper

The struggles of fictional paper company Dunder Mifflin to compete with real-life office-supply chains like Staples Inc. are a running joke on NBC's "The Office." Now, an online outlet owned by Staples is using the Dunder Mifflin name to try to sell more copy paper.

Staples' Quill.com has struck a licensing deal with NBC's parent company to launch a Dunder Mifflin brand. Priced largely above private-label copy paper, the Dunder Mifflin packages will be emblazoned with slogans such as "Our motto is, 'Quabity First' " and "Get Your Scrant on," well-known phrases from the comedy series. The marketing deal is an effort to combat what Quill's chief marketing officer, Sergio Pereira, calls a "race to the bottom in the paper business." In the estimated $3 billion North American copy-paper market, sales have been declining at about 3% a year—even more during the recession, said Mark Connelly, an analyst at CLSA. The decline stems from a shrinking volume of workplace printing, in part due to the greater use of PDF documents and email. It doesn't help that consumers are most swayed by price when they buy paper, said Pereira. The Dunder Mifflin deal is an example of "reverse product placement." For decades, marketers have worked to embed their brands in the plots of TV shows and movies as a way to stand out in a crowded ad market. Nowadays, they are seeing value in bringing to life fictional brands that are already part of pop culture. That can be far cheaper than building brands from scratch.