Calling All OfficeMax Elves

The holidays are just around the corner and a well-developed holiday marketing campaign can live forever.  In 2006 OfficeMax developed a campaign called Elf Yourself, which got almost 200 visits every second after its launch.  This success of the campaign continues to grow as elements of the original dancing elf characters change each year. Why though, from a marketing standpoint is this campaign so popular and so successful?

Part of the success of the Elf Yourself comes from the personal nature of the campaign.  As a visitor to the site, or the app, you upload a picture of yourself or some good-natured participant, and watch as the picture is transformed into a dancing and singing elf.  The site, and the campaign was the brainchild of OfficeMax Senior VP of Advertising and Marketing, Bob Thacker.  It was meant as an inexpensive tool to draw attention away from traditional advertising that saturated the airwaves during the holiday season, and it worked.  It better positioned OfficeMax to compete with other stores during the economic downturn while others spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on their ads. The best part, most people didn’t even know they were being marketed to.

Even with the popularity of the Elf Yourself, it’s hard to say if the campaign helped to increase sales for OfficeMax.  Although, it seems to have helped maintain interest in the organization long enough to see two of the biggest office supply chains merge into one, $17 billion company.  The fate of Elf Yourself?  I guess we’ll have to wait a month or two to find out.

References

Beesley, C. (2014, October 1). 6 Good Reasons to Start your Holiday Marketing Plan Now | The U.S. Small Business Administration | SBA.gov. Retrieved from http://www.sba.gov/blogs/6-good-reasons-start-your-holiday-marketing-plan-now

CazuaLLUK. (2012, December 14). Merry Christmas from My Family! – Elf Yourself. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggVxMcQhFJY#action=share

Fine, J. (2009, January 28). OfficeMax’s Wacky Marketing Strategy – Businessweek. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2009-01-28/officemaxs-wacky-marketing-strategy

Kovner, K. (2014, October 2). 5 Best Practices to Use in Your Holiday Marketing Campaign. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2014/10/02/holiday-marketing-best-practices/

Long, C. (2006, December 15). Elf yourself with holiday eCards | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com. Retrieved from http://hamptonroads.com/2006/12/elf-yourself-holiday-ecards

OfficeDepot|Max. (n.d.). Welcome to the NEW Office Depot, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.officedepotmaxmerger.com/