People love themselves.

Marketers must remember this. That is why viral Internet campaigns work so well when they include the viewer. For example, the “Elf Yourself” campaign from OfficeMax was WILDLY successful? But why? Is it because around the holidays people found a newfound affinity for buying office supplies? NO, I tell you! People love themselves. And they find it so amusing to cut out their heads and stick them on dancing elves.

But it’s not just elves that people like to see their heads on. There was the site where you could put yourself on the people dancing to the Scissor Sisters, a site where you can “Scrooge Yourself,” and most recently, a site where you can “Mad Men Yourself” (for an example of that, please refer to my previous post).

People not only enjoy these sites, but send their result to their friends, or post it on their Web page. Right now, two people I know have their Mad Men selves reppin’ them on Twitter, and my brother’s Mad Men dude is his Facebook picture. These sites have the power to be viral and powerful and get people talking.

And it’s all based on the fundamental theory that people love themselves. That’s why celebs Tweet, it’s why people Mad Men themselves, and it’s why people have to look in the mirror at themselves for at least 10 minutes before going to bed each night … maybe that’s just me.

But honestly, if you’re a marketer, your job is to trick people into doing what you want them to. What better way to do it than by distracting them with the thing they love most in the world (themselves) as they interact with your brand?

Food for thought.

That’s all for now, I have to go look in a mirror for a few minutes.