OFFICEMAX

The Shift from Price to Preference

BRAND

OfficeMax

INDUSTRY

Big Box Retail

BACKGROUND

OfficeMax operated in a commoditized big-box category dominated by price, utility, and masculine visual language. Despite women being the primary purchasers, the brand didn’t reflect their reality — balancing work, home, and personal identity.

The experience felt transactional and interchangeable. Customers often couldn’t distinguish OfficeMax from its competitors.

INSIGHT

Women weren’t just buying office supplies — they were curating spaces that helped them feel organized, confident, and in control.

Function wasn’t enough. Beauty, intention, and emotional clarity mattered. Office products were part of personal identity — not just productivity.

BRIEF

Reframe OfficeMax from a commodity retailer into a lifestyle-informed brand that supported women as whole people.

Shift the category from price-driven necessity to emotionally resonant preference — creating permission for premium, design-led products.

WHAT WE DID

We applied Blue Ocean thinking to reposition the brand around identity instead of price.

Introduced “Eve”, a working, design-aware woman, as a living brand persona to anchor messaging and visuals.
Leveraged the emerging Rubber Band Ball as a joyful brand icon and launched the “Life is Beautiful” platform to humanize the experience.
Shifted creative tone from transactional to lifestyle-driven.
Led the development and launch of 10 premium private-label brands across five categories in partnership with product and merchandising.
Reframed merchandising stories around personal environments, not just products.

Success came through deep cross-functional alignment and trust across teams.

RESULT

OfficeMax evolved from a functional supplier into a trusted lifestyle partner.

The repositioning enabled premium trade-up, stronger differentiation, improved margins, and elevated seasonal programs — unlocking preference and pricing power in a traditionally commoditized category.