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“The Office” WUPHF Website Makes Waves, Win an Autographed Cast Poster

WUPHF.com might have proven to be a bust in the universe of “The Office,” but the website referenced in Thursday’s episode is generating significant search interest.

NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 08: B.J. Novak attends the VH1 Save the Music after party at BLT Bar & Grill at W New York on November 8, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Brian Killian/Getty Images)

WUPHF, a spelling designed to represent the “woof” sound made by a dog, was introduced as a fictitious social networking utility that links virtually every communication device–Facebook, email, fax, home phone, home computer screen, etc–to a single account. Conceived by Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling) and made into a reality by Ryan Howard (BJ Novak), WUPHF was designed to assure that messages sent would instantly reach the desired recipient (preventing them from using the excuse that their “phone was off” or that they “haven’t checked Facebook today”).

Portrayed as a brilliant idea, WUPHF was nonetheless a failure due to Ryan’s total lack of a strategic game plan for monetizing the service. Meant as an allusion to “The Social Network,” Novak’s character tried to mirror Sean Parker (portrayed by Justin Timberlake) and Mark Zuckerberg (portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg) by spouting off catchphrases about the value of a cool social networking brand rather than immediately looking for opportunities to create revenue (unlike them, he had no plan whatosever for even putting the project into motion). Worth noting is the fact that Novak graduated from Harvard University in 2001.

Amid pressure from several of the Dunder Mifflin Sabre employees who had invested in the brand, Ryan eventually accepted his limitations as a business leader and accepted an offer to sell the domain name to the Washington University Public Health Fund (WUPHF).

NBC, however, has maintained synergy between its web operation and the television show by maintaining Ryan Howard’s version of WUPHF at wuphf.com.

The website features voiceovers from BJ Novak and some of the charts and memorabilia from Thursday’s episode. There is also a sign-up form; a ‘message’ from Ryan Howard is sent to those who register.

— On the subject of “The Office,” as NBC continues to celebrate its latest webisode series “The 3rd Floor”, it has partnered with Headline Planet for a new contest. You can enter by emailing contests[at]headlineplanet.com; three lucky winners will receive a poster for the series, one of which will be autographed by the cast.

To enter, simply email contests[at]headlineplanet.com with the subject line “THE OFFICE CONTEST” and your name, or post a comment below. The winners will be drawn at random. (We will only require a name and mailing address from the winners).

In the meantime, check out the webisode series here!

Written by Brian Cantor

Brian Cantor is the editor-in-chief for Headline Planet. He has been a leading reporter in the music, movie, television and sporting spaces since 2002.

Brian's reporting has been cited by major websites like BuzzFeed, Billboard, the New Yorker and The Fader -- and shared by celebrities like Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj.

Contact Brian at brian.cantor[at]headlineplanet.com.

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  1. I hate this having to register just to win
    a damn signed office poster!

    I mean I really want the 3rd floor signed
    poster but im not signing up to enter!

    hat that registering shit!

  2. FUCK THE OFFICE FUCK THE FANS AND FUCK THE
    VERY STUPID MERCHANDISE THIS IS THE WORST
    FUCKING SHOW EVER AND IT BETTER BE OVER BY
    NEXT FUCKING SEASON CAUSE I CANT TAKE THIS SHIT ANYMORE ALL CAUSE JIM AND PAM HAD TO FUCKING RUIN IT FOR ME SO THANKS YOU TWO FUCKING CLIT DICK SUCKING VAGINA FUCKING CUNT
    FUCKING ASSHOLES YOU RUINED THE FUCKING SHOW FOR ME EVEN THOUGH IT DIDNT HAVE FAR TO GO AND SO YEAH FUCK EVERYONE WHOS A FAN OF THIS
    STEAMING PIECE OF SHIT AND FUCK EVERYONE WHO
    LOVES THOSE TWO CUNT BAGS JIM AND PAM AND THEY’RE FUCKING PIECE OF CUNT SHIT BABY TOO
    FUCKING THING WHY CANT SOMEBODY JUST FUCKING
    GRAB ITS FUCKING SCREAMING AND FUCKING BAWLING HEAD OFF AND JUST THROW IT AGAINST THE FUCKING WALL AS HARD AS THEY CAN SO THE
    FUCKING THING JUST FUCKING DIES THEN BLAST JIM AND PAMS CUNT PLAIN BUTTERFACES WITH A FUCKING SHOTGUN AND KILL THEM INSTANTLY?

    IF SOMEONE ON THE SHOW DOESNT DO THIS TO THEM OR IF SOME INSANE GUNMAN DOESNT SNEAK ONTO THE SET JUST TO FUCKING KILL THEM AND RAPE THEM UP THE FUCKING CUNT AND THE ASS THEN I WILL AND IM NOT KIDDING.

    FUCK THE OFFICE FUCKING CUNT SHIT!

  3. I fucking hate bj novak and I met him once
    when me and my sister were in LA on vacation
    and it didnt go well.

    me and my sister whos older and awesome were
    enjoying the sights just walking around a
    few feet from our hotel where we were staying
    and we had alreadly gotten some nice actors
    autographs in a notebook that looked like a
    small checkbook that I brought with me and
    I gasped as I saw the puny wimpy bj novak
    who plays the weaseal dick head ryan on the
    stupid office show.

    so I walked up to him while my older sister
    stayed behind cause she wanted me to enjoy
    this by myself and I held the checkbook and
    the pen out for him to sign.

    I said to him may I have your autograph please I just love the office and I just
    happened to be wearing my do you woof shirt
    underneathe my dark blue jean jacket and I
    was nervous panting in excitment at the
    thought of standing in front of this little
    man who really is tiny in real life.

    but he just had this confused look on his
    bloated ugly face that said who the hell
    are you and what are you doing?

    so he said nope sorry man I have better
    things to do then to talk to you annoying
    fans and sign fucking autographs so please
    get out of my way.

    so he shoves past me and continues walking
    down the street as I turn around stunned
    and heartbroken near tears cause he had
    quite an angry tone that hurt my feelings
    and so I yelled after him:fine you just lost
    a fan bj novak!

    and I walked back to my sister and we
    continued our fun day of getting autos and
    meeting nice actors and we met james franco
    who was very nice and very happy to sign
    the autograph book and we met kyle gallner
    too who is just as awesome as he is on
    screen and even he was happy to sign so yeah
    we had a very excitiing day as our parents
    just stayed and chilled in the hotel room.

    so yeah fuck you bj novak you fucking rude
    motherfucker I hope you get nut cancer
    and die!

    and you cant even fucking act and your
    comedy if you can call it that is just fucking awful.

    your just not funny man your as annoying
    as jim carrey but at least he was nice
    enough to send me a fucking autograph!

    too busy sucking dick bj?

  4. I met bj novak from the office about two year
    ago and we hit it off right away so we started living together he’d go to work he’d
    come home i’d fix him a drink we’d have dinner.

    and then I found out single he told me single
    my ass not only was he married(oh no)he had
    six wives one of those mormons you know so
    that night when he came home from work I fixed him his drink as usual.

    (very long disgusted sigh)

    you know some jews just cant hold they’re
    arstenic.

    he had it coming he had it coming he took
    a flower in its prime and he used it and
    abused it it was a murder but not a crime.

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