Office Max Launches Elf Yourself 2.0 - The Start of a Christmas Tradition

Marketers pay attention.

It's good to acknowledge an old campaign that worked and it's ok to bring it back to life. Actually, sometimes it's better than ok - it can be even more successful.

I applaud Office Max. Welcome Elf Yourself 2.0. Hopefully, the start of a Christmas Holiday tradition. I expect an Elf Yourself 3.0 next year and a 4.0 the year after that.

In 2006, the Elf Yourself microsite for Office Max was a big success bringing in 200 unique visitors per second and creating 8 new elves per second (according to viralblog.com)and generating 36 million visits in just about 5 weeks for a small budget (Office Max created 20 microsites - one being Elf Yourself - for a budget of 3 traditional TV spots. Not to mention how much press time and consumer buzz this creative effort received. You can still find Elf Yourself 1.0 examples on Flicker and YouTube - even the Good Morning America crew created elves and don't forget the ever hilarious farting elf.

To give you an idea of the extent of the success of Elf Yourself 1.0, Burger King’s Subservient Chicken generated 14 million visits in one year.


So, it's 2007...
and, right in time for the 2007 Holiday season, Office Max launches Elf Yourself 2.0. I believe the one difference is that this time you can select multiple dancing elves. Exactly what my little sister decided to do with me, my mum, my grandmama and of course herself - click here to laugh your pants off...I'm the slow elf.

The aspect that I really appreciate about this effort it that it's a fantastically fun and engaging consumer experience that I WANT to share with friends, family, strangers and it actually starts to shift my perception of the stogy and undifferentiated Office Max brand. I caught myself considering shopping at Office Max for a Holiday present. And trust me this is a store that normally would not even come remotely close to falling into my consideration set. I have very high standards - admittedly, a bit of a shopping experience and brand snob.


A couple recos for Office Max:
1) Make this an annual Holiday tradition. Make yourself part of our Holiday experience by providing us with an Elf Yourself version every year. Great way for a brand to become emotionally attached to a consumer during a highly emotional and transactional period of time.

2) Ever hear of Facebook, MySpace, iVillage, Social Networks? I'm missing the Facebook Elf Yourself 2.0 application for 2007. Missed opportunity to generate even more buzz and participation. I would keep an eye out in 2008 for the latest online environments that can help this effort have an even larger presence. Just remember not to force it and to keep it authentic. That's one of the beauties of Elf Yourself.


Now, go spread the cheer and create your own elf.

Great Ambient Creative

Awesome ambient work from MCBD in the UK for the Met Police.



They made a replica of a prison cell that was toured around venues in the five boroughs of London where gun crime is most prevalent within black communities.

The prison cell enabled young people to get a real perspective on what it would be like to be in a prison cell, challenging them to think about all the things they will leave behind if they end up in prison.

I'd beat my dollars that this creative execution had an impact on the audience. Memorable for sure.

The New Benz Site

Have you seen the new Mercedes Benz site? What a fantastic way to educate the consumer on product features. And in a way that's true to the core values of the brand and engages and entertains the consumer. A home run! Nice job, Agency Republic.

Blip.TV

Blip.TV is so cool. It found a consumer need and is trying to fill it - need from individual content creators for a place to distribute their recurring original series.

Simply, Blip.TV is the vice versa of Joost. Where Joost distributes already produced content and puts TV shows on the web; Blip.TV levels the playing field a bit more for independent content creators and shares original shows online in hopes of making it onto the TV screen.

Mike Hudack, CEO of Blip.TV, breaks down video sharing experiences into 3 buckets:
1) Viral Video
2) Friends and Family Sharing
3) Recurring Original Series

Viral Videos are the YouTube's of the world. These videos are primarily one-offs. Think Who Let the Dogs Out. Friends and family sharing, like Afiniti, where 12+ people are sharing wedding and vacation videos. And, Recurring Original Series is the sandbox that blip.tv is playing in. The companies goal is to support shows from independent content creators and to give them the tools that they need to succeed. For example, Blip.tv (which is still in Beta), acts as the sales & marketing department making a 50/50 profit split with the content creator. Wonder how many will bite for the 50/50 split and if the split is negotiable based on quality of content.