How to Kick Off an Innovation Project

To build consumer loyalty, Office Max launched a study of what women look for when they buy office supplies

BusinessWeek, June 24, 2009 — "Life is beautiful. Work can be, too." So ends a fantastical commercial for the office supplies company, OfficeMax (OMX), which aired in cinemas earlier this year.

More than just a new marketing campaign, the ad reflects a new direction for a company that had previously based its competitive strategy on price and location

OfficeMax Overhauls to Target Women†

Research Prompts Retailer to Make Over Its Marketing Materials

Advertising Age, January 15, 2009 — Women rule the office. At least that's what OfficeMax has come to believe, leading the retailer to revamp everything from circulars to catalogs to its website.

OfficeMax Magic

Bob Thacker says his plans to make us love OfficeMax are right on target. An exclusive Q&A interview by Tim Manners.

Hub, September 1, 2008 — Twenty years ago, when he was a marketing chief at Target Stores, Bob Thacker says he used to hear the same thing all the time: “Target? Are you kidding me? It’s a discount store in Minnesota. It’s kinda dumpy.”

Well, it took 20 years to turn around Target, and Bob was right in the thick of that transformation from “kinda dumpy” to “pretty darn cool.” Today, as chief marketing officer of OfficeMax, Bob is once again relishing a Target-sized challenge. “We’re the third-place brand in a category that has no differentiation whatsoever,” says Bob. “Office supply stores have long been dubbed as dull and uninspiring. But if you do things that are totally unexpected and surprising, it suddenly begins to breathe humanity into a category... continue reading

The Rules of Viral Web Success, At Least for Now†

Adweek, January 7, 2008 — The site is undeniably frivolous. Visitors are greeted by a quartet of shimmying elves with cutout photos pasted on their bodies. They are invited to do the same and pass it along to their friends. It is neither a work of fine art nor a technological marvel.

Revenge of the Generic

Copying Target's model, chains such as Office Max and Costco are developing more upscale, store-brand products and customers are buying them

BusinessWeek, December 27, 2006 — It used to be that few people would admit to buying generic. You remember, those almost comically minimalist packages of food, starkly decorated with text indicating the contents—"Spaghetti" or "Frozen Peas"—produced and sold by grocery-store chains

a third to a half of commercials do not generate any brain reaction at all

New York Times, September 19, 2006 — FKF Applied Research

Enlisting Science's Lessons to Entice More Shoppers to Spend More

New York Times, September 19, 2006 — A shopper entered the OfficeMax store in Macedonia, Ohio, and paused briefly to pick up a canvas shopping bag from a rack near the front door. Ann Marshall, an artist who has a part-time job as a sort of anthropologist of shopping, noted that on her clipboard.