The story behind Elf Yourself cracks me up. It’s been around for four years. It’s a viral success story. But, no one seems to remember the first few years. You know, the years when it was NOT a success.

My favorite part about Elf Yourself is each year they tweak it, make it better. This year, it integrates Facebook Connect to pull in pictures and allows you to buy stuff with your Elf image. FINALLY, they’ve thought to monetize and really tie the idea back to the brand – Office Max.

In addition, it looks like they’re putting some serious advertising dollars behind promoting the campaign. The first push? The newly popular Flash Mob, this time in NYC.