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.