A year ago, one of the surprise holiday breakout hits on the Web was ElfYourself.com. It was a promotional viral video site created by OfficeMax that let people upload their pictures and create dancing elves that they could then send as e-cards to family and friends. ElfYourself turned out to be the fastest growing site last December, peaking at 39 million unique visitors in the U.S. (and attracting a total of 100 million unique visitors worldwide throughout the campaign).
When Greg Spiridellis, CEO of JibJab Media, saw ElfYourself, it resonated with him because JbJab is organized around a similar series of “Starring You” videos that allow people to upload their photos so that they can star in the videos, and send them as digital cards. The JibJab videos also often involve dancing characters.
Spiridellis decided to look up ElfYourself’s traffic numbers on Quantcast, and this is what he saw:
For that one month, it rivaled Facebook in traffic. But Spiridellis thought JibJab could bring the site up a notch. In February, he cold-called the chief marketing officer of OfficeMax and proposed a partnership: JibJab would create new dancing elves around its Starring You platform. There would be not one dance, but three: Disco Elves, Jazz Elves, and Country Elves. There would also be the opportunity to sell digital downloads of the videos and personalized images printed out on cards, mugs, and mousepads.
It could turn ElfYourself from an expensive marketing cost into something that might actually make money. OfficeMax agreed and this year JibJab will run the site, which is scheduled to relaunch later this week. That’s a teaser shot above that JibJab sent us featuring some of the TechCrunch crew (Michael, Mark, Heather, and me).
where’s jason? and where’s the vid?
ah, nevermind on the vid. but jason should have been there.
I had fun with the site last year, too bad they had to make changes to it, they messed it up! it takes forever and freezes up when you try to upload a photo. Like the old saying goes, ” If it aint broke, don’t fix it”.
that is funny.lol
The site is not up yet. And, yes, we need to get Jason in there.
how do you elf yourself? i wanna elf me and my friends
Way to go Gregg… that’s how you hustle and do BizDev folks!
I love Jibjab!
cool i never heard jibjab until now
Elfyourself.com was not created last year. It has been around for several years. I remember creating one in 2005 (maybe 2004, not sure). Last year definitely gained momentum with multiple dancers.
My memory may be a little fuzzy on this, but I thought I read somewhere a couple of years ago that OfficeMax acquired the Elfyourself domain and code….
ElfYourself launched in November 2006.
What ever! It was created almost two years ago (still in 2008) and then in 2007 it was discovered! Ding Dong
Sending kudos to Maccabee Group, A brand Public Relations firm that spread the buzz and catapulted the success of the launch of ElfYourself.
http://www.macc...mpaign.asp?id=4
JibJab Originals crack me up
Elfyourself was a refreshing original viral advertising, those guys deserve a prize…
Any word on Scroogeyourself.com? I used that one for our boss last year and sent that around the office…
Marketers loved talking about the ’success’ of ElfYourself last year but I do not believe anyone could ever point to any financial success that OfficeMax had due to it. Great app, very popular, no ties/capability to generating revenue. Maybe things will be different this year.
So many people forget the most important part of strategic planning: “Make a return on every investment!”
See comment below “this is the third year” of Elfyourself. That should be some indication that it has been a success, or that they are convinced it can be.
rubbish
OfficeMax cashes in on the elf, eh? It will be interesting to see whether people find the whole thing quite as charming when the site hawks products and downloads (the NY Times article says $3.99 for a download . . . really??).
I love JibJab though . . . so we’ll see what happens.
As someone who actually worked on publicizing the first campaign for OfficeMax, our client at the time, I can tell you without a doubt that this is the third year of Elfyourself. Our PR agency elfed everyone from Paris Hilton to Dick Cheney to get the fever started. Glad to see it is still creating quite a frenzy.
The next step is to print the elf in 3d with your face on it. We are working on that. Should be out before this Christmas.
why cant u call and sound like an elf like last years
I love JibJab and have shared elfyourself with everyone I know!
Uploading a face in the 2008 version is a pain in the behind! The “Uh Oh! There is an error!” is driving me nuts! Can OfficeMax please go back to the 2007 version?
AMEN. I have just spent 2 hours trying to do what was a simple 20 minute job last year. As you so correctly said: “the 2008 version is a pain in the ***”.
try this: http://www.bushyourself.com
I seemed to work for me;0) and it is free!!!!!
hi i think this website is al some how do you do it?????????????
hey
hey how is the work going????????????????????
is megan t here?????? it is kayla
please get wq
ElfYourself was created by OfficeMax and brought to life during the holiday seasons of 2006, 2007 and 2008 and has been immensely successful. This is the first year JibJab took part. It was originally created by EVB and Toy. Here’s a good reference article that explains the campaign, http://promomag...1121/index.html
i want to do this for so long and i did not have any pixs of my self
The Christmas 2008 version is TERRIBLE!!! Bring back the simple elves. The software is temperamental and the final product is shoddy to say the least.
I agree I want the old software back, I have not been abel to sucessfully create a single email yet and I have tried about five times. Last year I had created about 10 by now. HELPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!
New version seems to work, but they want $4.99 to download it so you can send it to others…..a little to steep for me in these tough economic times this might not generate the buzz the marketing gurus were hoping for…
Iain
i love this website so much i cant wait to make my own elf
Szia Egike!
Elf Yourself was fun last year. Funny watching family members dancing. This year it really sucks. The elves dance slow & not too the music like last year. Not funny like it was last year. We cracked up laughing last year. JIBJAB you ruined all our fun. We want the old version of Elf Yourself back. Too bad it is always about money.
this is so cool my sister goes on this she does so much funny stuff!!!
Gene This sucks..Since 11/23/08 I can’t download a cd that I can play in any one of three current model cd players..office max says they are having problems with this. doesn’t help me ..I wanted to give to my kids for xmas
i cannot watch this on any computers – it says that i need to update the flash player which i have done but the opening page remains the same – such a shame i was hoping to have a giggle with my fiends!
Its funny and all that, but the website has problems. After all that messing with the face-shaping, etc. whatever link you click on you can’t get back to your animation.
You try to email it and it asks you to accept the Ts and Cs. So you view them and then you can’t go back to where you were!
Schoolboy stuff and very annoying.
COOOOOLLL
so cute…
another cool one – also free
http://www.made...m/?mId=29040822
cooooool is bery bery cool XD
jaja esk no ablo ingles XD asi k a imitar jeje
I bery dificult inglish weno mas o menos
Check out http://www.danc...ngsantacard.com as well, it’s a similar website.
You can see Obama as a Dancing santa here http://www.danc.../?santa=1552432
Anyone know how much OfficeMax paid JibJab? Seems like JJ gets as much (if not more) exposure from the deal.
I created an elfyourself video and gave all the information required. $4.99 was deducted from my account but I never received my video. I have an order confirmation # of 245615. I can’t seem to find anyone to help me in refunding my account or send me the video. Can anyone help me resolve this.
I created a video in the elfyourself and gave the required info. & my credit card #. My account was deducted the 4.99 charge but I never received the video in my e-mail. I believe my order Confirmation # is 245615. Who can assist me in either having my account credited or send me my video.
I pay for people in the family, but never could burn it to dvd. Can you explain why please.
Thank you,
Mychele M LeCouteur
Paid for a download of my family being elfed and cannot get the disk to work any more. When I go to open it a window pops up and says I need the network connection for support. Can you help? I did pay for the download.
I love your vido
hehe well this thing that peole does is very fun!!!
i think you should do more of these things that would be so friggen cool so i hope you does it g2g2 byebey
love kelsei
put like bitches stuff on it now that would be sooo cool!!!
I LOVE IT BUT IT SUCKED YOU WEAK SLUTS
I LOVE IT BUT IT SUCKED YOU WEAK SLUTS
I LOVE JIBJAB, SHARED WITH FAMMILY AND FRIENDS Y LOVID
MI FAMILIA Y AMIGOS SE MORIAN DE LA RISA NO PODIAN CREER LO QUE ESTABAN BIENDO
PEPE EL CHECHE.