‘Tis the Season to Elf Yourself

Posted by Rahna on December 15, 2008 under Consumer Engagement, Strategy | Be the First to Comment

Okay, I love clever, funny pass-a-long emails just as much as the next person, but as a responsible digital branding expert focused on helping companies create relevant on-line engagement,  I am struggling to see the relevance between Office Max and Elf Yourself.  If you’ve never seen this fun holiday application (which is almost as good as the classic elf bowling), you can see a recent Elf Yourself dance done using my lovely family at http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/8RBn5ALLcMBFlwxvYvJb (notice my husband’s grimace—that is truly how he would look if he were forced to dance like that!).

Definitely, there are pure impressions that Office Max will get just because so many people will elf themselves this holiday season….but where’s the relevance?  The dance could be done in an office, distributing office products, or sponsored by a musical group, with specific music behind, or anything more relevant.  It just feels like gratuitous exposure that was done for the raw numbers but wasn’t thought through to the finer details…a real missed opportunity!

If you work at Office Max and are reading this, please let me know how same store sales are doing versus year ago (or whenever you weren’t involved with Elf Yourself)!  I’m dying to know.