Random Culture

Elf Yourself 2008: For Office Max or Jib Jab?

Office Max has launched the popular "Elf Yourself" holiday campaign for the third year in a row. This time, there are a few differences... most notably, the site is now powered by the folks at Jib Jab. In addition, you can now purchase items such as mugs, cards and ornaments with your elf creations through the Jib Jab store. But will this campaign be able to top the staggering 193 million visits it garnered last year?

There are a few limitations this year that may affect performance:

• Registration required - Visitors can't pass along to others without registering for Jib Jab
• Pay to download - The only way visitors can download the video they create is by paying $3.99
• Jib Jab takes over - Office Max branding is very minimal, and visitors are eventually taken to a pure Jib Jab experience... the URL even redirects to elfyourself.jibjab.com.
• No webcam support - What is this, 1999? Every new laptop has a webcam in it... why doesn't the site support webcams?

From my vantage point, this year Office Max gave too much power to Jib Jab. While I do think the quality of site is great, and the purchasing of products is genius, I see this campaign being more effective for Jib Jab than for Office Max.

Elf Yourself 2008: For Office Max or Jib Jab?

Office Max has launched the popular "Elf Yourself" holiday campaign for the third year in a row. This time, there are a few differences... most notably, the site is now powered by the folks at Jib Jab. In addition, you can now purchase items such as mugs, cards and ornaments with your elf creations through the Jib Jab store. But will this campaign be able to top the staggering 193 million visits it garnered last year?

There are a few limitations this year that may affect performance:

• Registration required - Visitors can't pass along to others without registering for Jib Jab


• Pay to download - The only way visitors can download the video they create is by paying $3.99


• Jib Jab takes over - Office Max branding is very minimal, and visitors are eventually taken to a pure Jib Jab experience... the URL even redirects to elfyourself.jibjab.com.


• No webcam support - What is this, 1999? Every new laptop has a webcam in it... why doesn't the site support webcams?

From my vantage point, this year Office Max gave too much power to Jib Jab. While I do think the quality of site is great, and the purchasing of products is genius, I see this campaign being more effective for Jib Jab than for Office Max.

NBC Parodies Itself: Zeroes

A pair of YouTube videos that parody the popular NBC show Heroes have gotten almost a million views on YouTube. The parodies, called "Zeroes", feature normal people with "pointless" abilities... and yes, the videos were created by NBC. Here's the first video:

According to an article in Variety, NBC promo guru Vince Manze admits they created the pair of videos, and admits that these were just the tip of the iceberg:

"The "Zeroes" clip is just one of dozens, if not hundreds, of
NBC-created viral videos the network has unleashed over the past year."

Variety also points out the irony of the situation... that NBC sees value in utilizing the video sharing website to increase viewing of their shows, yet they're suing YouTube at the same time?

Link via Adthropology.

NBC Parodies Itself: Zeroes

A pair of YouTube videos that parody the popular NBC show Heroes have gotten almost a million views on YouTube. The parodies, called "Zeroes", feature normal people with "pointless" abilities... and yes, the videos were created by NBC. Here's the first video:

According to an article in Variety, NBC promo guru Vince Manze admits they created the pair of videos, and admits that these were just the tip of the iceberg:

"The "Zeroes" clip is just one of dozens, if not hundreds, of NBC-created viral videos the network has unleashed over the past year."

Variety also points out the irony of the situation... that NBC sees value in utilizing the video sharing website to increase viewing of their shows, yet they're suing YouTube at the same time?

Link via Adthropology.

Travelocity Roaming Gnome MySpace

The agency I work for, Click Here, just launched a MySpace custom community for the Travelocity Roaming Gnome. You can view the profile at: http://myspace.com/roaminggnome.

It's a project that I was closely associated with, and we're all very proud of the results. And unlike the efforts of many other advertisers on MySpace, this custom community won't be static! The Roaming Gnome will be actively blogging, commenting on profiles and sending bulletins, special deals and announcements to his friends.

Add the Travelocity Roaming Gnome as a friend!

Travelocity Roaming Gnome MySpace

The agency I work for, Click Here, just launched a MySpace custom community for the Travelocity Roaming Gnome. You can view the profile at: http://myspace.com/roaminggnome.

It's a project that I was closely associated with, and we're all very proud of the results. And unlike the efforts of many other advertisers on MySpace, this custom community won't be static! The Roaming Gnome will be actively blogging, commenting on profiles and sending bulletins, special deals and announcements to his friends.

Add the Travelocity Roaming Gnome as a friend!

Axe Advergaming: Dirty Rolling

Axe has launched a great advergame at www.dirtyrolling.com. It's an extension of some of their latest TV advertising, where a couple in an embrace roll down a hill, getting dirty along the way. The object of the advergame is to get as dirty as possible. Visit the website to play the game, and check out the commercial below.

Thanks to Brian for the link!

Axe Advergaming: Dirty Rolling

Axe has launched a great advergame at www.dirtyrolling.com. It's an extension of some of their latest TV advertising, where a couple in an embrace roll down a hill, getting dirty along the way. The object of the advergame is to get as dirty as possible. Visit the website to play the game, and check out the commercial below.

Thanks to Brian for the link!

Burger King Video Games

Seriously... Burger King is actually releasing three games created for the Xbox and Xbox360. You can read more about the effort in these articles at Game Informer and Gamespot. Here's a list of the three games, as well as a brief description for each:

Pocketbike Racer - Racing game pitting Burger King mascots against one another.

Big Bumpin - Bumper car game pitting Burger King mascots against one another.

Sneak King - The most entertaining of the bunch, it's an adaptation of the stealth action genre, but instead of sneaking up and snapping someone's neck, you give them the gift of food.

I'm actually impressed that the first two games are Xbox Live enabled. They may be simple in nature, but it's often the simplest games that are the most addictive. But my favorite part about this campaign is that Burger King isn't giving the games away... According to Game Informer:

"The
Xbox and Xbox 360 games will be available from November 19 through
December 24 for $3.99 with the purchase of a value meal."

This is classic CP+B, making advertising so good that consumers are willing to pay for it. They've used this before for Burger King, as well as in the "Counterfeit Mini" campaign, where consumers paid for an instructional DVD... and they sold out.

Yet another home run from CP+B and BK.

Thanks to Dave for the heads up!

Burger King Video Games

Seriously... Burger King is actually releasing three games created for the Xbox and Xbox360. You can read more about the effort in these articles at Game Informer and Gamespot. Here's a list of the three games, as well as a brief description for each:

Pocketbike Racer - Racing game pitting Burger King mascots against one another.

Big Bumpin - Bumper car game pitting Burger King mascots against one another.

Sneak King - The most entertaining of the bunch, it's an adaptation of the stealth action genre, but instead of sneaking up and snapping someone's neck, you give them the gift of food.

I'm actually impressed that the first two games are Xbox Live enabled. They may be simple in nature, but it's often the simplest games that are the most addictive. But my favorite part about this campaign is that Burger King isn't giving the games away... According to Game Informer:

"The Xbox and Xbox 360 games will be available from November 19 through December 24 for $3.99 with the purchase of a value meal."

This is classic CP+B, making advertising so good that consumers are willing to pay for it. They've used this before for Burger King, as well as in the "Counterfeit Mini" campaign, where consumers paid for an instructional DVD... and they sold out.

Yet another home run from CP+B and BK.

Thanks to Dave for the heads up!