OMX Officemax Incorporated

More than 41 Million Elves Created Since Site Launches; Visitors Average Time on ElfYourself.com Equivalent to 800 Years NAPERVILLE, Ill., Dec. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- OfficeMax(R) Incorporated (NYSE:OMX), a leader in office products and services, today announced that ElfYourself(TM) -- an online pop culture phenomenon in 2006 -- is quickly emerging as one of the hottest holiday greeting sites for the second year in a row. More than 65 million ElfYourself.com visitors have created more than 41 million elves to date since the site launched in mid November. On average, 35 elves are being created per second and based on the total number of users visiting the site, the average time people are spending on ElfYourself.com is equivalent to more than 800 years*. Last year, the marketing world recognized ElfYourself.com as one of the most successful viral campaigns during the holiday season. Thirty-six million visitors created approximately 11 million elves worldwide throughout the five week campaign. For individuals who are not quite in the holiday spirit, OfficeMax is also featuring ScroogeYourself.com. More than one million scrooges have been created to date and ScroogeYourself.com has received more than three million visitors since the site launched in mid November. "We expected ElfYourself.com to do well because of last year's popularity, but the results we're seeing are fantastic," said Ryan Vero, executive vice president and chief merchandising officer for OfficeMax. "People like the option of creating up to four elf characters and the number of site visitors and number of elves created reflect this. It's great to see how people are using ElfYourself.com and ScroogeYourself.com to spread holiday cheer electronically, especially during a shopping season that can be hectic and stressful. The idea is to get people to smile and I believe we're doing this." ElfYourself.com's and ScroogeYourself.com's popularity began primarily on personal blogs, and then spread to industry blogs and social networks like Flickr, Digg and Facebook, followed by mainstream media coverage in USA Today, ABC World News Now and CNN American Morning. The site has been used by millions to create messages, promote events, send holiday party invitations and dress up pets for the holidays, and has begun to surpass traditional holiday e-greetings. OfficeMax's ElfYourself.com allows visitors to upload up to four photos and record a synchronized message through a special toll-free phone number. The faces are then attached to an animated elf body, the voice is processed to sound elf-like and the result is dancing and talking elves that can be forwarded to family or friends, or posted to personal web sites or blogs. ElfYourself.com and ScroogeYourself.com holiday web sites were concepted, designed and produced for OfficeMax by New York-based advertising agency Toy NY, along with its partner EVB, a digital content agency. Last year Toy NY created one of the most successful viral campaigns in history for OfficeMax when it developed 20 holiday websites, including the first generation of ElfYourself.com. OfficeMax brought back eight popular online holiday games that were first introduced during the 2006 holiday campaign. In addition to ElfYourself.com and ScroogeYourself.com the other sites include: Reindeer Arm Wrestling (http://www.reindeerarmwrestling.com/) Roast A Turkey (http://www.roastaturkey.com/) Greetings from the North Pole (http://www.greetingsfromthenorth.com/) Shake the Globe (http://www.shaketheglobe.com/) Yes I'm Working (http://www.yesimworking.com/) Save the Snowman (http://www.savethesnowman.com/) Faux Charity Donation Generator (http://www.fauxcharity.com/) North Pole Dancing (http://www.northpoledancing.com/) Customers looking to give gifts that inspire creativity and imagination can check out OfficeMax's featured holiday products online at http://www.officemax.com/ . OfficeMax is offering an expanded selection of technology and digital photo gift bundles as well as a larger selection of personalized calendars and gift cards through OfficeMax ImPress(TM), OfficeMax's print and document services. *Years on site calculated by total ElfYourself.com visits multiplied by average time per visit. About OfficeMax OfficeMax Incorporated (NYSE:OMX) is a leader in both business-to- business office products solutions and retail office products. The OfficeMax mission is simple. We help our customers do their best work. The company provides office supplies and paper, in-store print and document services through OfficeMax ImPress(TM), technology products and solutions, and furniture to consumers and to large, medium and small businesses. OfficeMax customers are served by more than 36,000 associates through direct sales, catalogs, e-commerce and more than 900 stores. To find the nearest OfficeMax, call 1-877-OFFICEMAX. For more information, visit http://www.officemax.com/. OfficeMax makes no proprietary claim to any third party names, trademarks or service marks appearing in this press release. Any third party names, trademarks, and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. OfficeMax Media Contacts OfficeMax Investor Contact Bill Bonner Jennifer Rook John Jennings 630 864 6066 630 864 6057 630 864 8205 DATASOURCE: OfficeMax Incorporated CONTACT: Media, Bill Bonner, +1-630-864-6066, or Jennifer Rook, +1-630-864-6057, or Investors, John Jennings, +1-630-864-8205, all of OfficeMax Web site: http://www.officemax.com/ http://www.elfyourself.com/ http://scroogeyourself.com/ http://www.reindeerarmwrestling.com/ http://www.roastaturkey.com/ http://www.greetingsfromthenorth.com/ http://www.shaketheglobe.com/ http://www.yesimworking.com/ http://www.savethesnowman.com/ http://www.fauxcharity.com/ http://www.northpoledancing.com/

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