• by Karl Greenberg , April 29, 2011

OfficeMax -- David to Staples' Goliath -- has more than a tough competitive landscape to deal with. It also has to deal with the fact that the office environment tends to make everything that enters it an automatic commodity (thus the double-entendre of its competitor's name.)

The company's SVP of marketing, Bob Thacker, says its battle over the past few years has been against the tyranny of the cubicle. He detailed just how far the company has come -- from giant balls of rubber bands (now part of its logo) and "The Rubber Band Man" to ElfYourself, and designer manila envelopes.

"We are looking for ways to get the most out of small budgets. Staples outspends us, ten to one," he said, during a speech at a CMO Council event last week. Flashing a photo he took of a guy begging for money with a sign that said: "Wife kidnapped by ninjas; need money for karate lessons" (he gave the guy money), he said: "If you don't have the big bucks, you have to have big ideas."

The company's big ideas are focused less on big media than on interactive, viral programs such as its "Power to the Penny" program, involving 12 Web videos wherein a guy with a suitcase full of pennies goes into various stores trying to make big purchases. In one, he goes into a jewelry store and attempts to buy a $3,000 wedding ring with the coins. The program was linked to a penny sale at OfficeMax stores. "We got 80 million online impressions from that," said Thacker. "We got over 250 OfficeMax-branded news stories and 110 million total impressions. That's $2.8 million in ad value just from PR, for $50,000."

Thacker said that program, and its much-better-known ElfYourself gambit, evince OfficeMax's "Look before you leap, but then leap" mantra. "We took a big risk five years ago: I say Christmas and people don't say 'office products.' Yet we also sell technology -- computers, digital devices." He said the company had a million-dollar budget for the entire season. "The agency came to us and said: "Let's put everything in viral. Let's create 20 viral sites and see if we can get the connection out that OfficeMax is actually a Christmas store."

Elf Yourself became the most viral campaign in history. The 2009 iteration, which included a flash mob of dancing elves at New York's Union Square, reportedly generated 110 million media impressions, and 160 million elves. He says the campaign has paid for itself in sales of Elf-branded merchandise at retail. "If you can find a way to create a Christmas tradition, you have license to bring it back again and again. People don't get tired of tradition; it defies marketing rules."

The company's retail strategy, per Thacker, has been to become less office supply store than designer shop. "There are 80 million cubes in the world and 90 million people who hate them. They have no personality," he said, showing a slide of the Alcatraz prison floor plan juxtaposed with the floor plan of a business office. "People feel they are imprisoned in space; they have no affinity for it whatsoever. We see this 'dead zone' as a huge opportunity."

Part of the company's design-forward strategy involves a store redesign and a marketing focus on women. "Men buy, women shop. Our stores are now about the shopping, not the buying experience. Our customer is a woman; and not just a businessperson," he said, adding that women control 80% of business decisions and constitute 80% of OfficeMax customers. "Our industry hasn't spoken to her. Women want style design and personality."

The company has taken a "revolutionary approach" in reaching that customer, said Thacker, including sending people out to different global markets to find new design themes. "Office products haven't changed in decades, but we have taken a whole different look. The company has taken unorthodox approaches to launching its designer products by doing things like sponsoring Fashion Week. The company has also been running a national social media cause-marketing campaign where OfficeMax reps show up at schools to give supplies to teachers who are deemed top teachers by consumer online votes."

The bottom line, said Thacker: "Don't make ads, make news."