Boss From 'Office Space' Is Back and Wants More Meetings, Electronic Mail

Advertising Age Player //--> The reviled manager in the 1999 Mike Judge comedy "Office Space" is re-entering the conference room for the first big campaign for HipChat, a free chat service. To position HipChat as the most efficient way for company employees to communicate internally, "Office Space" actor Gary Cole reprises his Bill Lumbergh role to play the foil, with Lumbergh encouarging massive "electronic mail" chains and calling for more meetings. The character reprises many of his "Office Space" catchphrases, and in one video mentions TPS reports -- a type of document used in software engineering that in "Office Space" basically meant mindless paperwork. HipChat secured the rights to the character from Fox Studios. The campaign, which starts today and uses the tagline "Don't work in the past," will include one 90-second video called "Team Meeting," along with additional 15- and 30-second spots for the web, banner ads and some out-of-home ads. The work was created by Brass Ideas, a new San Francisco-based shop founded by Andrew Clarke, an agency veteran who has worked at TBWA, Hal Riney, and Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners. He was also the global head of innovation at ZenithOptimedia. Bill Lumbergh also appeared in a State Farm a few years back:

Boss From 'Office Space' Is Back and Wants More Meetings, Electronic Mail

Featured Stories