Orange County Register

Jim Walker thought it was a joke when an assistant producer of the popular TV show “The Office,” called about using one of his company’s room-sized baling machines.

Steve Carell of The Office with Olympic baler in background

Olympic Wire and Equipment in Newport Beach is a big distributor of baling wire and recycling equipment. What would a sit-com find funny about that?

But after several conversations the show agreed to use the baler in six episodes. Two have aired including one following the Super Bowl XLIII.

The Olympic vertical baler was visible during most of the episode that took place in Dunder Mifflen’s warehouse (the show’s company, for those of you who aren’t fans).

Steve Carell’s character is the subject of an office roast held in the company warehouse.

Walker says “Seeing the Olympic logo beside Steve Carell was more exciting for me than the Super Bowl itself.”

Hm, must not be a Steelers fan.

Balers, in case you wonder, bundle recyclable materials, such as paper (Dunder Mifflen is a paper company), plastics or aluminum.

This is a marketing coup you couldn’t manufacture on your own. Can you imaging Walker approaching The Office folks and suggesting, ‘Hey, why don’t you work this gigantic piece of equipment into your story line?”

“It is hard to say if orders have been obtained from this exposure,” Walker says. “However, we do get credibility. This is very important in our industry for the simple reason that everyone needs to recycle. We have a hard time marketing to so many different industries.”

You can view this short clip of the Olympic baler’s star turn.

Click here to see a longer video on the company’s web site.

Other local business stories…

• World’s Great Workplaces list honors O.C. company
• Government money is salvation for contractor
• Business is ‘fantastic,’ this O.C. executive says
• Would these special services make you spend money?
• Old scam reappears in O.C.
• One O.C. company foresees 80% growth in ‘09
• O.C. manufacturer finds sharing limits layoffs
• O.C. firm pays $70,000 to settle software piracy claims
• 2 O.C. firms involved in business buyouts
• Breast-cancer test receives $15 million funding
• Local company cuts prices to help customers
• Half-acre O.C. basement wins award
• Merger = survival for two O.C. firms
• O.C. company buys Peruvian firm

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