'Tis the time for shoppers to descend upon shopping malls and stores en masse in search of the perfect gift, and for advertisers to convince them their clients have it. And while an office supplies store doesn't immediately spring to mind as the ultimate holiday shopping destination, New York-based agency Toy has gone some distance in making OfficeMax synonymous with the season via its recent online campaign for the chain by creating 20 branded microsites, each with a unique twist on a familiar holiday theme.

"The brief was essentially to get them noticed," says Toy partner and ECD Ari Merkin. Judging by the reaction to the many sites under the "Spread the Cheer" umbrella - which range from the Candid Camera-styled "Mistletoe In An Elevator", in which actors make out in an elevator while unsuspecting office workers share the ride, to games such as "Reindeer Arm Wrestling", "Don't Shoot Your Eye Out" and "Stuck to a Pole" - they accomplished that mission. Toy worked with Biscuit Filmworks and Colorado-based prodco Kinetic Films on the video-oriented sites and interactive agencies including EVB, Grow Interactive, Hello Design, The Vacuum Design, WDDG, Templar Studios, Struck Design and Mindflood for the games.

"We decided to put all the money we had into production and then find a way to link together all 20 sites underneath the OfficeMax tab," Merkin explains. As for the brainstorming sessions for the sites, Merkin says, "If we came up with a good idea, we'd put it on the list, and if we came up with something we thought was totally outrageous, we put it at the top of the list."

Thus far, the "Elf Yourself" microsite, in which users can attach a photo and audio message to a dancing elf, is leading the pack in terms of traffic, already on its fourth server due to heavy use. And for the record, Merkin says he's unsure how BBDO's David Lubars and Crispin Porter + Bogusky's Alex Bogusky wound up with their own dancing elf likenesses. "Actually, I left an email with Alex yesterday, reassuring him that I didn't do it."

Toy www.toyny.com
Office Max www.officemax.com