Beet Farm B&B
Although I’m not really a big fan of NBC TV show “The Office,” I can identify with some of the quirky personalities. And when the topic of paper comes up, I know what they’re talking about, having bought and/or specified paper for years.
There was an episode of the show that featured the Schrute Beet Farm, a new agro-tourism destination. TripAdvisor had some fun with that, which turned into a bit of a windfall in attention. The report, via WebNewser:
Schrute Farms in Honesdale, Pa., is the subject of more than 600 reviews onTripAdvisor, more than the total for several hotels in Manhattan, and 82 percent of the reviews of the beet farm-turned-bed and breakfast were positive.
The only problem: Schrute Farms doesn’t exist: It was part of an episode of The Office on NBC that aired in September 2007, in which it belongs to the show’s Dwight Schrute and his cousin, Mose, The New York Times reported.
TripAdvisor chief marketing officer Christine Petersentold the Times, “We don’t have a big marketing budget and don’t do TV ads. This was the big time,” adding that she was considering adding pages for the Bates Motel fromPsycho and the Overlook Hotel from The Shining.
And proving that not everybody in the country watches The Office, TripAdvisor recently added the pictured disclaimer to its Schrute Farms page, explaining that it was fictional.
Great fun — and good marketing — for both TripAdvisor and The Office.
