Ever wanted to look like an Elf and dance around in your own little elf music video? You could buy an elf costume and recruit your friends to film you dancing around town like a fool, or you could just ElfYourself in a holiday-themed OfficeMax social media marketing campaign. The end result is certainly hilarious—I laughed for an eternity —but what’s the payoff for OfficeMax?

What’s the Point?

Why did OfficeMax go to all the trouble of creating ElfYourself when the campaign itself doesn’t seem to be selling anything related to office supplies or targeting the enterprise office supply gatekeepers? Yes, you can buy and/or download the custom movie for $4.99 or buy mugs and other memorabilia with your elf-self, but I doubt that’s going to result in big holiday business for OfficeMax.

With all the social options made available to ElfYourself creators, is OfficeMax simply trying to increase brand awareness and make us laugh, combining positive brand associations with the viral nature of the web? That could be it, it’s certainly a lower cost, more personalized alternative than an ad buy on a large television network. It’s also positioned to be seen by a larger audience if the gimmicky social media marketing initiative wins the hearts and minds of the web savvy and attention-loving Me Generation.

As a participant in online memes, I love it. As a consumer and holiday shopper, I’m not sure what to think of the whole thing. It certainly seems to be the wrong type of word-of-mouth marketing for a company like OfficeMax. It’s not like I’m telling all my friends and readers that OfficeMax is the place to satisfy the office supply whore in you.

So I’m puzzled.

Maybe at the end of the day they just want want my email address so they can market to me later? What do you think? What does OfficeMax get out of this equation?

I do make one fine little dancing elf though.

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