Michael Bannon, the creative force behind Bob’s Discount Furniture’s ongoing successful advertising campaign of “Little Bob,” is retiring from his post at the discount furniture company. Not to worry though, his spokespuppet will live on.
Little Bob is an animated spokespuppet of Bob’s Discount Furniture’s co-founder Bob Kaufman. The business, which was founded by Kaufman and Eugene Rosenberg in December 1991, opened its first store in Newington
Bannon, the advertising director for Bob’s, has produced thousands of commercials over the last 34 years and became part of the backdrop of life in Connecticut and beyond. The New Hampshire native and North Granby resident brought Little Bob to an audience of millions using stop-motion animation.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in sculpture, printmaking, and art history from Plymouth State University in 1980, Bannon hoped to start a career in character animation. A chance meeting with Rosenberg, years before Bob’s Discount Furniture opened its first store, led to his big break.
“I was ready to set the world on fire,” Bannon said. “The only job I could find was $2 an hour unloading furniture trucks into an arena sale in Concord, New Hampshire. But as it turns out, that arena sale was being run by a fellow named Gene Rosenberg. He was one of the principals that opened Bob’s Discount Furniture over a decade and a year later.
“I started out unloading furniture trucks, and, as an artist, I thought, maybe there’s a better use for these hands than getting crushed with furniture,” Bannon said. “I noticed how bad their commercials were back then, and I don’t know if you remember the loud talking suits.”
Courtesy of Bob’s Discount Furniture
Connecticut resident Michael Bannon produced thousands of commercials for Bob’s Discount Furniture over three decades. (Courtesy of Bob’s Discount Furniture)
At the time, Rosenberg was working for a sale promotion company, running 20-40 sales for businesses across the country. Bannon said he told Rosenberg, “There’s probably a better way to sell furniture.” Bannon said he stayed up all night and taught himself clay animation and stop-motion animation. He said he put together two commercials for Rosenberg to see.
“One of the commercials was of a chair biting a wallet off a guy’s butt and saying, “Is the price of new furniture?” the chair talked and said, “Is the price of new furniture putting the bite on you.”
The other commercial was aliens in a spaceship with a sofa tied with it, saying, “Best savings in the universe.”
The next day, Bannon asked to see Rosenberg, and he was given the opportunity to show his creations.
“He was quite a man of vision,” Bannon said. “He looked at them and he said, ‘That’s weird enough to work.’ We used them and they worked. Pretty soon I was doing all those commercials for his sales promotion company.”
It was the beginning of a long-lasting partnership.
“We put furniture in a truck and drove it up to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where I had my business and studio. We would shoot the commercials. It wasn’t with Little Bob, that happened a little later,” Bannon said.
Bannon said in the early days, he was proud of making a commercial of recliners dancing to music.
“They put it on the air, and they sold a ton more recliners, and they said, ‘Hey, can you do more of that?’ And I said, ‘Well yeah, it’d be good if you give me more help, some space and other things,’” Bannon recalled.
Courtesy of Bob’s Discount Furniture
Michael Bannon is retiring from his post as creative advisor at Bob’s Discount Furniture for more than 30 years. His creation Little Bob has been a recognizable figure throughout the country over the years. (Courtesy of Bob’s Discount Furniture)
After a year of working as a freelancer and subcontractor for Bob’s, Bannon said he was hired to work “in house” in 1993.
“It was a little closet in the middle of a store in Manchester, and it’s so remarkable that we have a production facility capable of world-class, live-action and stop-motion animation production in the back of a furniture store in Manchester.”
Bannon said his first iteration of Little Bob came to life in 2003.
“I’d always wanted to make a Little Bob,” he said. “Little Bob is actually a manifestation of an actual human being, Bob Kaufman, who represented a whole different philosophy on furniture, and Bob is an unbelievable guy, since minute one. This guy is the real deal. He’s authentic.”
Little Bob initially had Kaufman’s voice and later evolved to a separate voice so the two could converse in commercials.
“The intention was to have an icon here that could represent the business and if people want to do business with someone they like and people want to do business with someone that’s like them,” Bannon said. “Little Bob is not much in the real world and stuff, but in the furniture world, he’s king.”
Bannon said one of the reasons for the commercial’s success is that customers find Little Bob funny and trustworthy.
“Those are human characteristics, and that’s just magical to get a spokespuppet to that point. It comes to a lot of hard work, and I think one of the key factors is that we use stop motion animation to achieve that,” Bannon said.
Bannon said the character is a manifestation of Kaufman so he doesn’t have to always be on camera.
“If you go to Bob Kaufman’s house and you look in his closet, there’s yellow polo shirts and jeans in his closet. He’s a regular guy, and that’s who we’re appealing to,” Bannon said. “It’s the authenticity of the brand and the approach that has really helped do that. I couldn’t make the character out of thin air if those attributes didn’t exist. Credit to Bob, all I had to do was capture and consolidate that.”
Michael Bannon with Little Bob at the New York Stock Exchange in February. (Courtesy of the New York Stock Exchange)
Bannon said he enjoyed the early days working with Kaufman. “He was just a genuine man. He was the most unpolished actor you’ve ever seen, and I think that’s part of the charm and the secret to his success.”
Kaufman praised Bannon’s creativity.
“Michael’s creativity and genius is woven throughout the success story of Bob’s culminating in the life of Little Bob — a spokespuppet that has allowed the brand to continue after I stepped away from filming commercials and afforded me the incomparable gift of time with my life partner, Joann, before her passing,” Kaufman said. “Michael’s ingenuity and vision have kept Bob’s going in a fun creative way which sums up so much of his career and talents.”
“From the early days of driving a truck full of furniture to Michael’s studio in New Hampshire to creating ads, to the incredible creative team he helped build, I’m grateful to Michael for making Bob’s what it is today, for helping to shape what it continues to become and for the legacy he leaves behind,” Kaufman added.
Bannon said he has traveled across the country in spots like Chicago, Las Vegas and Los Angeles and saw “Little Bob” on trucks and billboards.
“That’s when it occurred to me that I may have created the next Pillsbury Doughboy here. It’s a good feeling to see it do well. The store has grown from one store to over 200 today,” Bannon said. Current Connecticut locations include Southington, Newington, Orange, Manchester, Brookfield, Bridgeport, New London, Norwalk and Taftville. As of late last year, Bob’s Discount Furniture was the seventh-largest U.S. furniture chain with 203 stores across 26 states.
Courtesy of Bob’s Discount Furniture
Michael Bannon is retiring after more than three decades of service at Bob’s Discount Furniture. He’s looking to continue doing art in retirement as well as spending time with family including grandchildren. (Courtesy of Bob’s Discount Furniture)
Steve Nesle, Bob’s Discount Furniture’s chief marketing office, said Bannon’s impact was great.
“Michael has made so many incredible and indelible contributions to the Bob’s brand throughout the years,” Nesle said. “Culture, creativity, mentorship, the list is nearly endless. Of course, the most obvious is Little Bob himself. What began as a way to give form to co-founder Bob Kaufman’s voice in advertising has evolved into arguably one of the most recognizable brand mascots in the country.
“Michael will be missed more than he knows,” he added. The legacy he began will endure, and while Little Bob was originally an avatar for Bob, you would be forgiven for seeing just as much Michael Bannon in that two foot tall manifestation of the Bob’s brand.”
Over the years, Bannon’s team has evolved and will remain in good hands after he retires, he said.
“I’ll put us up against anybody on earth doing stop motion, live production because they are all handpicked artists or picked for their particular set of skills. Most of them had multiple skills,” Bannon said. “It’s just a really tight, woven machine that is extremely productive, and we only do Bob’s Discount Furniture commercials, and we walk by our customers every day.
“I can walk away and not look back or worry about anything going away. They’ve all worked together for so many years and they get the drill. It’s a good place to be leaving it where you don’t have to worry about what’s going to happen with the brand,” he added.
Bannon said his retirement will be filled with art including landscape photography, sculpting, painting, travel and spending time with his grandsons and family.
“It’s something from within you that you know is the right thing to do,” Bannon said. “I have enjoyed the fact that I got to create this little character, Little Bob, in all the work of doing it and making it work, it didn’t occur to me how prevalent he would be in the universe.”