OfficeMax Goes Viral with Penny Pranks
Utilizing the talent of Henry Alex Rubin, who also did the company’s “Schooled” promotion and Burger King’s “Whopper Freakout,” OfficeMax recently released penny pranks.
I will be the first to admit that these videos are relatively entertaining and definitely have the potential to become quite viral. I am certainly not a viral video expert, but I was discussing these videos with a colleague and we both thought that had great potential but that they should’ve refrained from the blatant advertising at the end of the videos. I just think that consumers would be more prone to passing the videos around if they were less of an advertisement. The Whopper Freakout didn’t end with saying, “Go to your nearest Whataburger and buy a Whopper,” which is essentially what OfficeMax is doing in my honest opinion. I just think they could have shown that it was OfficeMax in a more subtle manner.Some people tend to agree with me (all comments from YouTube comments):
“I got duped maxed – this isnt about pennies – its an Advertisement”
“what the hell? For office max? It was funny until the school supplies came in.”
“THIS IS AN AD FOR OFFICE MAX!!”
“So now that I was misled into watching your **** AD **** masquerading as a ‘hilarious prank’ I just want you to know that my company office spending just shifted to Office Depot or Staples. I usually can spot an ad but this one had me fooled.
–So what you just did is made a fool out of your customer—“
“I went to office max and paid for $40 with pennies. They wouldn’t take it.”
But they’re also getting the types of responses they want:
“They’re like 2 dollars at Target. You can get 200 glue bottles for the same price at Office Max.”
“wow im going to office max. 1 cent glue? and all that stuff? Nice”
“I’ve watched all of his pranks like this. They’re hilarious!!!! And guess what??? I’m going to office max!!!”
“…best…commercial…ever?”
“I don’t care that it’s a commercial. it’s freakin hilarious!”
I guess at the end of the day it boils down to simple economics. Does the fact that they have the blatant advertisements at the end of the videos entice more people into the store (of those that watch the video)? Would more people watch and pass around the videos without the advertisements at the end (probably)? But would enough of those extra people know it was OfficeMax and go into the store? (I think so, the consumer is more intelligent than most companies give them credit for these days).
Please weigh in. What do you think? A viral success? Would the videos be improved, more viral, etc. without the advertisements at the end of them? Any opinions I get via Twitter (in the next 24 hours or so) will added to this post in tomorrow evening’s revision.
Popularity: 37% [?]
I don’t know that I’d call myself a viral video expert, but I do have an instinct for what will and won’t fly. The series from Office Max seems to be doing fairly well, with the used car prank video pulling in over 350,000 views in just a week.
One of the challenges of viral videos is striking the balance between entertainment and marketing. If you’re doing this to get the word out about your brand, there has to be some type of branding there. Have you ever watched a TV commercial that has nothing to do with whatever it is they’re advertising? You end up scratching your head at the end of it, saying “Huh?” And can you recall any product that was being promoted by such roundabout marketing? Neither can I.
Office Max has a history of doing great viral marketing – just look at their “Elf Yourself” site from the past two years. In December 2006, they opened the site and then promoted it heavily when TBS aired the Will Ferrell movie “Elf.” They repeated it again in December of 2007 and it was a smash hit. I think the Office Max marketing team (and their agency) have a good handle on viral.
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admin Reply:
June 26th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
@Scott – Thanks very much for your input, I certainly appreciate your contribution to the discussion. OMX’s videos are doing pretty well. They’re getting a solid amount of views, they’re funny, and they seem to be inspiring some decent discussion.
Your insight regarding the notion that there has to be some type of branding is spot on, and I agree, but I can’t help but think that there was a slightly more subtle way than to turn it into a full-fledged advertisement there at the end of the videos.
The videos will be released to television spots on August 4th so it will be interesting to see their reception. “Back to School” is essentially OfficeMax’s Christmas so I know they’re hoping the Penny Pranks are as successful as the Elf Yourself campaign.
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I think we all have to realize that no one is ever going to please EVERYONE. Interactive media has just made that fact all the more obvious.
People were miffed when the popcorn videos DIDN’T admit to being ads.
In my opinion, Office Max executed a full on viral campaign and did a great job. My question is this: Does the ad for all the penny stuff date the video? When I go looking for my penny crayons in 6 months, will they be there? Hmm…
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August 24th, 2008 at 7:59 pm[...] couple of weeks, and thought it would make interesting conversation fodder. I was quick to judge OfficeMax’s viral video campaign (and hold true to my sentiment) despite the campaign’s great success, but it is tough to question [...]
September 13th, 2008 at 4:59 pm