You may have read the recent post here about my good friend, Jeff Slutsky, and how his signature story from a speech somehow wound up being repeated — practically word-for-word — on an Office Depot commercial without his prior knowledge or permission.
Good news! Office Depot has stepped forward to resolve the situation!
Jeff’s wonderful wife, Helene, sent along this message from her blog, which I’ve excerpted here…
“Here is an update to end all updates! My Office Depot Drama has ended well.
First, let me just say, I am so thankful for the outpouring of support about my husband Jeff’s $6 haircut story being used in a television commercial by Office Depot. I am pleased to report a very happy ending…
Once I posted the details surrounding our story, it started a viral campaign like I’ve never experienced before.
Within a few days of all of this action, Jeff got a call from Mindy, the head of PR from Office Depot. She obviously saw the postings and wanted to know what was going on. (That Google Alert feature really works, huh?)
Mindy listened as Jeff explained; he sent a letter outlining how his story was being used without his permission. The only response was a letter from the law firm representing the advertising agency in New York who created the commercial. Mindy instantly understood Jeff’s loss of one of his best signature stories.
The two began to discuss how to make it right. Both Jeff and Mindy have a PR background, they got along marvelously and it was agreed that the world would be a lot better if PR people handled these types of things instead of lawyers.
After the discussions it became clear to all of us, that it was a unfortunate communication oversight.
No one can argue that Jeff has been sharing this awesome story from the platform for over 20 years. It’s not uncommon for audience members to share memorable stories with friends, so, yes, it’s floating around.
The important point is this: All too often, a big company does something that upsets the public and they get a ton of bad press as a result. In this day and age, with the Internet on our side, that is just a fact.
In some cases, companies go out of their way to make up for it. In our unique situation, Office Depot reached out to Jeff, worked out a number of ways that Office Depot’s customers could benefit from Jeff’s expertise and likewise, assist Jeff to promote his business.
For all my blogger buddies who helped get the word out about the problem, it’s only fair to let your readers know about the positive turn of events in this story. The world is right again, and Office Depot actually DID take care of business.
More importantly, Jeff has a Street Fighter story to tell from the platform and it ends with him being the “inspiration” behind a national commercial that aired following the Super Bowl! How many keynote speakers can put that on their resume? Of course now, we both hope Office Depot brings that commercial back.
Thanks again for helping me, help Office Depot, take care of business.”
And, my thanks, too…to Office Depot for stepping up to the plate and doing the right thing.
I’ve heard it somewhere before…it’s never bad business to do what’s right.
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