OMX Officemax Incorporated

NAPERVILLE, Ill., Aug. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- OfficeMax® (NYSE: OMX), a leader in office products and services, is launching its back-to-school marketing campaign for the 2010 season designed to capture the excitement and opportunity the new school year brings to parents, teachers and students.  

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Television spots including "Good-bye" by Chicago ad agency The Escape Pod and "Astronaut" by OfficeMax's brand team capture the emotion around back-to-school season and new opportunities that lie ahead for each child. Airing nationally, the spots highlight a new back-to-school promotion each week and are supported by OfficeMax's official back-to-school website. Designed to support parents and teachers with all their back-to-school supply needs, the website offers useful tools including a zip code search for weekly local promotions and recommended school supply lists for each grade level.

OfficeMax also created a special back-to-school tab on its Facebook fan page that includes a "Can you make the grade?" quiz that allows viewers to test their grade school knowledge or give out kid-centric status stickers such as TMI, Cat Lady or The PA System to friends.

"Many families and educators approach this time of the year with mixed emotions ranging from excitement to anxiety as they try and get everything together by the first day of school," said Ryan Vero, EVP and chief merchandising officer for OfficeMax. "Our strategy is to celebrate the start of a new year and to dispel a common perception that once the deals and the inventory are gone, they are gone for the season. We have a wide assortment of products and competitive weekly local promotions throughout the back to school shopping season that parents and teachers can take advantage of when they are ready to shop."

To offer additional value, OfficeMax and Payless have teamed up for the second year to launch a cross-promotion that will offer shoppers the opportunity to get new shoes and back-to-school supplies with additional savings this summer. By visiting an OfficeMax or Payless retail location, shoppers will receive a coupon at checkout to use at the other respective retail store. From July 27 to September 6, OfficeMax stores will print a coupon for $5 off a $25 purchase at Payless that will be valid until September 27. Alternatively from July 25 to September 11, Payless retail stores will print a coupon for $10 off a $30 purchase at OfficeMax, which will be valid until September 18, 2010.

To assist back-to-school shoppers in-store, OfficeMax retail locations feature school-supply lists on free-standing displays, easily accessible to parents and students to ensure they get the materials they need. The stores also feature a variety of new back-to-school collections and hip grade school supplies including OfficeMax's kid-centric private brand, Schoolio™, designed to make back-to-school affordably cool. The Schoolio line comes in a selection of patterns and designs including Butterfly Skye, Hearts and Skulls, which feature everything from notebooks and binders to backpacks, lunch totes and desk sets.

While summer is a great time to stock up on supplies, OfficeMax has expanded its stock of school supplies for grade school, middle school, high school and college students to carry a larger selection of items throughout the year, becoming a reliable resource for parents, students and teachers for all their back-to-school needs at any time.

About OfficeMax

OfficeMax Incorporated (NYSE: OMX) is a leader in both business-to-business office products solutions and retail office equipment. 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®, technology products and solutions, and office furniture to businesses and individual consumers. OfficeMax customers are served by more than 30,000 associates through direct sales, catalogs, e-commerce and approximately 1,000 stores. For more information, visit OfficeMax.com.

SOURCE OfficeMax