Dodd’s Furniture is a Victoria BC landmark whose owner, Gordy Dodd, frequently gives back to the community in the form of donations and charitable contributions. That’s all very nice, but Dodd’s Furniture simply runs the best ad campaign that Victoria has ever seen. Who can forget “Hindiana and the Temple of Savings” or Gordy Dodd in a full Batman costume, complete with cartoon pows and whacks? He’s been making commercials for the past 25 years and his early commercials contain even more random humour than the ones on TV today. One of his first commercials contained the phrase, “The bare facts are simple.” Naturally, it featured a poorly drawn cartoon bear whose head floats away into the forest, only to reveal Gordy Dodd’s cut-and-pasted face in its place.
Gordy Dodd moved to Victoria in 1977 and set up a 2,000 square foot furniture store. Today he owns a 35,000 square foot showroom across from Mayfair Mall. His secret? Being a nice guy, oh, and attaching his face to the corniest and most brilliant advertising campaign ever. But dressing up as famous TV and movie characters, shouting a couple one-liners in almost broken English and using low-budget special effects– what’s so brilliant about that? Well, two main things.
- Fact is, the joke is on us. The quality of the ad makes no difference. In fact, the worse the video quality, the better. This keeps the cost of his ads to an absolute minimum. Basically, his overhead is a video camera, some editing software, and a costume.
- The possibilities are endless. As long as Dodd lives, he will never run out of characters for his ads. He can continue this one campaign forever and will always have new material at his fingertips.
The commercials may get little more than a snicker from most viewers, and the quality may be as bad as an American used car a, but the fact remains that everyone in Victoria recognizes the brand. We see Gordy drive by on the side of a bus wearing a Donald Trump toupee (Dodd’s furniture will trump all others) or swinging through his showroom like Tarzan (You’ll go ape over our contemporary selections). A viral marketing campaign could make this guy an internet star in no time.
Even while writing this post I mentioned to a friend that I was writing about Gordy Dodd. His reply? “I met him once, greatest day of my life.” If only I could be so lucky.
A strong Social Media campaign would spread the word about these awesome videos and ensure that Dodd’s Furniture’s competition doesn’t gain any ground. Give us a call Gordy!
