OfficeMax Penny Pranks: a Funny Viral WannaBe That Actually Might Sell Something

OfficeMax, who, for the past two years has brought you the very weird and silly ElfYourself campaign, is back with Penny Pranks, in which red-haired comedian Matt McCarthy runs around New York City trying to use truckloads of pennies to pay for everything from diamond rings and steak dinners to horse-drawn carriage rides through Central Park. Just about nobody will take the pennies and just about everyone gets pissed at him. He can't even give pennies away on the street.

OfficeMax claims that the very strange Elf Yourself , site has had 65 million visits, during which 35 elves were created per second. Has that sold any office supplies? Dunno.

Since the Penny Prank campaign is tied into a back-to-school items for pennies campaign in OfficeMax stores, this campaign might actually drive traffic and sales to the site. And as someone who has refused Susan B. Anthony coins in change, it's easy to appreciate the humor.

The heavy hand of an ad agency mars an otherwise fun campaign with the "HILARIOUS HIDDEN CAMERA PENNY PRANK" headline on every YouTube video in the campaign.

Dear OfficeMax: Knowing when to shut up is often the better part of creativity. And I can't help but wonder: can't agencies get a teeny little credit in the small print?

Related: The Formula for Successful Viral Campaigns. Not!

Great post. I'm still trying to figure out what I think about these videos.

I wrote a post just last week inviting people to vote for the dumbest viral video: http://responsiblemarketing.com/blog/?p=502

Keep up the great work.

Thanks for the kind words. I am the creative director of the ad agency responsible for the officemax penny pranks campaign.

It's interesting that you commented on the HILARIOUS PENNY PRANK headline. that wasn't done without some trepidation on our part. coming from, as we do, traditional advertising backgrounds where, ideally, logos are minimalized and exclamation marks are frowned upon.

but when you're fighting for clicks on youtube you find that subtlety is what closes on saturday night. you have become a programmer, not an advertiser. so funny becomes HILARIOUS. and interesting becomes FASCINATING.

i now have a fresh appreciation for the breathless hype of the movie studios when promoting their wares. building an audience is a desperate business.

thanks again,

vinny

Hi Vinny - glad you found this post and thank you for commenting on it. I would like to credit the ad agency and would appreciate you telling me the name and the account team.

As for your evaluation of SEO, I disagree. The heavy-handedness is neither necessary nor wise. There are many other ways to promote your video. Here's one of them.

B.L.

Our agency is called The Escape Pod. We are based in Chicago. Our account guy is Norm Bilow. Our media guy is Matt Johnson.

I'm genuinely curious as to what you found "heavy-handed" about our youtube headlines. I think/thought the videos were genuinely funny. and lots of youtube viewers seem to agree. we are already north of 2 million views and have lots of five star reviews. have received a lot of very positive (and unsolicited) online reviews.

so there seems to be consensus that the videos are outrageously funny. ie, hilarious.

what youtube headline(s) would you recommend?

Fantastic that the videos are getting such good response. They deserve to go viral.

My objection: you repeat the word "Hilarious" in every headline. It's not necessary. You can't dictate what people will find funny by labeling it hilarious.

The comedian is genuinely funny, and as I said in the post, the campaign is more than just a way to spend the client's money - it is geared to selling products.

But people will decide for themselves what is hilarious and what is worth passing to friends. The agency's job is to let people know the campaign exists - and you can do that with blog advertising, blogger relations, SEO for penny pranks, by participating in social media like Twitter, etc etc.

We were talking on twitter yesterday that it would be funny if people turned the tables and showed up at OfficeMax wanting to pay for their purchases in pennies. Were you monitoring your brand well enough to know that? You should be!

I'm talking about the philosophy that consumers have brains and are smart enough to figure out what they like without being hit over the head. Make sense?

Yes, I don't think there's a need to add Hilarious in every title cause these are a scream! Now I see what I'm miss by not watching television (other than the Olympics). Hysterical spots.