OfficeMax Sees Beauty in the Workplace

OfficeMax is seeking to appeal to the product-design aesthetics of female shoppers by bringing the sensibilities of home decor to the workplace.The new "Life is Beautiful. Work Can Be Too" marketing platform aims to help the chain stand out in the office supply channel by introducing products and ideas that will add style to an individual's work space, which OfficeMax chief marketing officer Bob Thacker says is often categorized as "dull, drab, and manila," and sometimes even compared with a jail cell. Advertising agencies and design firms usually have "great work spaces, and they know that creating that environment stimulates thinking," Thacker notes.OfficeMax was looking for a new way to speak to its audience, which consists primarily of women -- Thacker points out that 70% of new businesses are started by women. It enlisted Taxi, a Minneapolis design agency that specializes in trend research, to deliver a report on trends, styles, designs, colors and patterns that the chain could use when designing new products. The agency helped OfficeMax design last fall's back-to-school collections. (See "OfficeMax Gives Power to the Penny" in Related Articles.)Using Taxi's work, and with help from creative agency Escape Pod, Chicago, OfficeMax developed an integrated campaign that presents a consistent graphical theme through in-store signage, circulars, the company's website and an in-cinema video ad. The theme also extends to new products and patterns added to the private-label portfolio.The initiative includes the "fashion-focused" Divoga brand, which rolled out in October 2008 (see "OfficeMax Adds Style" in Related Articles) and now gets prime upfront real estate on dedicated table displays and endcaps that sport such slogans as "Amazingly Elegant" and "Perfectly Poised." (Prior to the "Life is Beautiful" launch, the line was merchandised on generic endcaps.)Although rival Staples undertook a similar design-focused strategy in May 2008 with the launch of its M by Staples line (see "M's the Word at Staples" in Related Articles), Thacker feels there's a big difference in the philosophies of the two chains. Staples "understands that people don't like to shop for office products, and that it's a list-driven experience," he says. "The [chain's] Easy Button is a statement of that. They want to make it easy to get in and out [of the store] without any hassles." OfficeMax's effort, on the other hand, is more "pervasive ... touching every aspect of the store" to make the shopping experience more enjoyable, he says. "We feel that there is an opportunity to give people new ideas, new products, and things that they weren't necessarily putting on their list." The goal is to give them a product that "they weren't expecting to see, but suddenly becomes something they have to have that they never knew they needed." The campaign's graphic elements were created by an in-house team, and employ a predominately orange-and-yellow color scheme and illustrations of flowers and other natural items; butterfly imagery is visible on most displays. The theme is used on ceiling banners, endcap signs, window clings, posters and stanchions throughout the store, including the printing and furniture departments. As is common in the office supply channel, leading product brands including Sanford Corp.'s Sharpie and Expo, Brother's P-Touch and Elmer's are incorporating the theme into their own displays.The in-store program began rolling out in late December, along with an in-cinema spot that debuted in theaters and on YouTube just after Christmas. The spot, which precedes R- and PG13-rated films, depicts a woman walking to work through a field who picks OfficeMax’s iconic rubber band ball off a tree. When she sets the ball down in her empty cubicle, the work space comes to life with the colors and animated graphics from the campaign. The spot also features Divoga product shots. In a 2008 interview with The Hub magazine, Thacker noted that the chain has been shifting away from traditional TV advertising to online and other alternative media. "Television is occasionally part of the mix, but it's not the primary driver that it would have been five years ago," he told The Hub. (See Related Articles.)Although it's been little over a month since launch, Thacker claims that the campaign has already inspired some shoppers to dwell longer in the store. "[And] the longer you have customers in the store, the more opportunity you have to connect with them and sell," he says.OfficeMax, Naperville, IL, operates 920 stores in the U.S.

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