I had a Japanese client many years ago who loved the movie Gung Ho. He would do a brilliant imitation of the Japanese boss in the movie who told protagonist Hunt Stevenson (played by Michael Keaton) “I like you, you make me laugh” after Stevenson had basically gone postal. Funny enough, I had great relationship with this particular client and I did indeed make him laugh. It was life imitating art imitating life. Laughter cemented our relationship, making it easier to do business together and smooth out the cultural divisions.
When marketers make people smile, they are paving the way to have a lasting relationship with their customers. We all talk a big rational game when asked about a particular purchase decision but the truth is that most of us choose brands like friends– on a highly emotional basis saying to ourselves “I just like this one better.” Brands that help their customers and prospects share a smile are providing even more value, value that can be exchanged for loyalty through thick and thin. Given all that, it’s easy to understand why I am such a big fan of OfficeMax’s ElfYourself.com website. Here’s what they said about it on MediaPost:
ElfYourself.com, the wildly popular
game launched by OfficeMax last year, is back with a twist:
additional dancing elves have been added to the mix, along with a
new Web site called ScroogeYourself.com.
Both sites are worth visiting,
but good luck getting through the heavy traffic anytime soon.
OfficeMax also resurrected nine of the 20 holiday-themed
procrastination sites it created along with ElfYourself. If you have
some time to kill, check out Reindeer Arm Wrestling…
This is the second year of ElfYourself and it seems to have gotten better age. Here’s to lots of good laughs in 2008 and that we all get better with age.