I’m Not Just a Reporter, I’m an End User, Too… and an Elf

Every now and then we write about a promotion or a deal that gauges our interest. And sometimes we want to just go Elf ourselves… This one is both.

I’m awaiting a follow-up call with Bob Thacker, the senior vice president of marketing and advertising for OfficeMax, about ElfYourself 4.0. The 4.0 we’re just throwing in because, really, it’s the fourth year Office Max is allowing users to turn themselves into elves for the sole purpose of entertaining yourselves (and your friends).

So as someone who was on the cutting edge in 2006 and elfing myself, but wasn’t in the elfing spirit in 2007 and 2008, I decided to see what it brought for 2009.

That photo is as far as I got before getting back to work. But I like what they did with the Facebook integration. You can connect to Facebook through http://elfyourself.com and elf a photo from your album. The of course if I went through with the elfing, I could have posted my ElfYourself video to my profile.

So what would that do? Most likely, because there’s a lot of copy-cat behavior on Facebook, my friends would have to elf themselves, too. And if my Twitter account is linked into my Facebook page, that link would hit my friends, too.

Maybe I’ll finish the job, and use a different Facebook photo (dogs are always funny). And I’m sure I’ll post it on Facebook, because I’m one of those overactive Facebookers. And because I have some sort of a crazy cult following, I’m sure a few dozen friends will go elf themselves.

So that’s a good thing for OfficeMax. Many consumers may think of OfficeMax as a place to get a ream of paper, or some labels, but not as a place to buy Holiday gifts. So the more they can spread the word in a pull-marketing environment, the better.

I’m hopefully speaking with Thacker on Tuesday, so expect an article to post on the Multichannel Merchant site by the end of the week.