Check out this story about OfficeMax’s wildly successful “Elf Yourself” viral campaign (http://adage.com/digital/article ?article_id=123226).
Perhaps the most relevant message to take away from this piece (for us, anyway) comes from OfficeMax vice president of marketing and advertising, Bob Thacker:
“We were looking to build the brand, warm up our image. We weren’t looking for sales … The proof [that it worked] is that we’re still talking about it.”
More often than not, corporations get caught up in old-school ways of thinking about ROI – that is, how many things were sold because we did what we did? It’s refreshing to those of us with a social media bias to see such a blunt (and smart) statement coming from a VP of marketing: “We weren’t looking for sales.”
Does this mean the “Elf Yourself” campaign won’t increase sales, or the bottom line is any less important than it used to be? Of course not. It just means that in order to reap the benefits of a good viral marketing campaign, you must first concede a loss of control and empirical understanding. The sales will follow.
Just wait.