Elf Yourself Successful?

You betcha. At least according the Ad Age. Here are the stats on the ElfYourself viral campaign by OfficeMax:

• 26.4 million people, nearly 1 in 10 Americans visited the site.
• 2,614 years--if you were to add up all the time people spent on the site this year.
• 123 million elves created this year; compared to 11 million last year.
• 508%--the site's market share growth over the course of November/December.
• 16%--the site's active reach in December (i.e., how many of the 165 million active internet users that month made a visit).

The question is, did this fun campaign help the OfficeMax brand? The answer is, yes:

• Of the 20 most common search terms in the four weeks of December, six of them included the words "Office Max," indicating that brand awareness had carried through.

According to Bob Thacker, senior VP-marketing and advertising at OfficeMax: "We were looking to build the brand, warm up our image. We weren't looking for sales. We are third-place players in our industry, so we are trying to differentiate ourselves through humor and humanization."What can other brands learn from this? Provided by Ad Age, here are some viral marketing tips:

• Make it Personal.
• Don't Discount Older Audiences. (40% of all visitors to ElfYourself were 55 or older.)
• Offer Fun.