Office Depot's Ben the Barber

Have you seen the new Office Depot ad featuring Ben, the barber? There is a really interesting marketing tactic at work here. Ben is depicted as a typical small business person with a local barber shop. A big chain store moves in across the street, advertising $6 haircuts. Ben is chagrined, but he is resourceful. He goes to Office Depot and buys a banner that says "We Fix $6 Haircuts." Five months later the big chain haircut spot goes out of business and Ben's business is saved. According to the ad, Office Depot's low prices helped Ben to compete. It is a victory for the little guy.



When I saw this ad, I wondered how many people would see a connection between Office Depot and the big chain that moved in across the street from Ben? Office Depot is a big chain that advertises low prices. How many small office supply businesses were driven out of business because they could not compete with advertising and pricing offered by a major chain like Office Depot? Clearly, the producers of this ad do not expect the public to make this connection. Office Depot is not the big bad chain store, like the $6 haircut chain, but the "good guy" on the side of the small business person.

Like Starbucks unbranding some of its stores in order to appear local, Office Depot is attempting to position itself as the champion of  local, small businesses. Are they tapping into a growing sentiment among some consumers that local businesses are good for communities and major chains are not? Or is it simply a recognition that their customer base is not big chain stores, but small community businesses? Or both? In any case, it is clear that they do not expect the public to pick up on the irony implicit in their ad featuring Ben the barber.