Local actor a perfect fit for postal ads
Second City funnyman really delivers in 'pretty hip' ads for flat-rate boxes
No question about it: Five little words have changed Mike Bradecich's life.
Thanks to those ever-present U.S. Postal Service commercials, the actor's ''If it fits, it ships'' line has made the former Second City ensemble member and longtime Chicago-based actor and filmmaker a familiar figure to millions across the country.
It has become a major gig for the father of two, who recently moved to Long Beach, Calif., where his wife, Abby, is completing an internship for her doctorate in psychology.
The three commercials airing in virtually all U.S. cities include Bradecich interacting with a bear-hugging tool manufacturer, two shop owners selling ''hot'' miniature robot toys, and an office group that includes a hefty employee standing on a scale he claims makes him heavier.
''They definitely are fun spots to do, and I have to give the post office complete credit,'' said the actor about the dry humor those USPS spots deliver. ''They are pretty hip -- kind of out on a limb for [the postal service]. I hope they are working for them."
According to Bob Bernstock, the president of USPS Mailing and Shipping Services, the campaign isn't just working, it's a big success.
Calling from his Washington, D.C. office, Bernstock said the service's campaign to promote flat-rate shipping boxes ''received the highest scores ever for a shipping product, according to testing by the market research organization used by all the shipping companies.''
Given that success, it's not surprising three holiday-themed commercials have been taped and will begin airing nationwide beginning Saturday.
The dry humor will continue. ''One involves me interacting with a baking circle of ladies who are concerned about shipping Christmas cookies to friends . . . ," Bradecich reported from his California home. "One of the others has a married couple arguing about shopping for gifts versus shipping them, since both are such a pain.
''And, of course, I come along and tell them shipping is simple: 'With a flat-rate box from the Postal Service -- if it fits, it ships.'
''Needless to say, I won't forget that line for the rest of my life!'' said Bradecich with a big laugh.
Along with the TV commercials, life-sized cut-outs of Bradecich are on display in many post offices. The day the campaign was launched earlier this year, the Kankakee native happened to be picking up his daughter from a day-care center in La Grange, across the street from a post office.
''I just wanted to see if [the cutout] was there,'' said Bradecich. ''When I walked in, there was only one other person -- checking her post office box.
''I said to her, 'I hate to bother you, but this is creeping me out. Doesn't that cutout of that postal worker look just like me? I feel like I need to contact the post office. I wonder if they got my picture off the Internet and attached it to some postman's body. Am I crazy, or doesn't that look just like me?'
''The woman took one look at me and said, 'Nope. Doesn't look a thing like you,' and then she quickly got out of there, because I think she thought I was some kind of nut!''
Bradecich knows that his selection as ''the guy'' was for a very simple reason: ''I was picked because I am the most generic-looking man in America, but I'm not complaining. It's been nothing but good for me.''
He was selected by no less than the U.S. postmaster himself, assisted by a small team of advisers.
''After first developing a strategy for the campaign, we started with 450 actors,'' culled from casting calls in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, Bernstock said.
That process eventually yielded ''somewhere between six and 10 men. . . . Our criteria was to find someone who looked honest and open, friendly, amiable, conscientious and exuding a high level of trust.''
They also wanted a man who represented the average age of postal workers -- about 35.
For Bradecich, 35, the casting not only meant a lucrative job that pays him residuals with each airing, ''but I'm having so much fun with it -- especially the Webcasts.''
Along with the short TV spots, Bradecich also stars in longer promotional pieces at usps.com, ''which allows consumers to get more of Mike's humor,'' said Bernstock, who said the actor's improv experience at Second City has ''proved to be invaluable.''
While the ads have given Bradecich added financial security, his first love remains the less commercial aspect of his career. Currently, he is busy editing ''The Mole Man of Belmont Avenue,'' an independent film he and his Big Tree Productions partner John LaFlamboy shot in Chicago earlier this year.
Bradecich calls it a ''monster-movie comedy, with LaFlamboy and me playing slackers who inherit a brownstone apartment building that just maybe has some kind of creature living under the building.
''I've been telling people 'Mole Man' is like 'Pineapple Express' meets 'Shaun of the Dead' . . . with us wearing this ridiculous homemade armor. It's kind of like 'Goonies' for grown-ups,'' he said.
Along with getting ''all of our friends to be in it -- like Tim Kazurinsky, T.J. Jagodowski, David Pasquesi and Susan Messing -- our big 'get' was Robert Englund,'' said the filmmaker, clearly still surprised but delighted to have landed the man known to most as Freddy Krueger.
Another reason Chicagoans should remember Bradecich -- aside from a long-running ComEd commercial where he plays a trader -- is from his portrayals of both U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and Ald. Richard Mell (33rd) in the Second City production of ''Rod Blagojevich Superstar!''
While Bradecich has never met either Fitzgerald or the ex-governor's father-in-law, he did come close to meeting Blago himself.
''I had already left the show, but happened to be there the night Rod came to see it. It was bizarre and awkward and very funny all at once -- but, boy, was I glad I didn't have to perform all those really dark jokes about him -- sitting right there!''
