Santaland

With over 4.5 million UK children living in poverty, Action for Children identified a heartbreaking insight from its frontline staff; some parents were managing their children’s expectations by telling them that Santa might not be able to come. With a two-person in house PR team, small budget and facing fierce festive competition, we needed to be brave to cut through the noise. We developed a concept rooted in real insight and took it to agency, Studio Yes to bring it to life. By partnering with Emmy-winning actor and campaigner for vulnerable children, Anna Maxwell Martin we created Santaland, a festive, comedic short film with a sharp disruptive twist. Crucially, we handled the subject with care to ensure the magic of Santa was protected. By blending humour with a hard-hitting message, we captured the public’s attention; deeply resonating with our ‘devoted families’ target audience, evoking an instinctive sense of protectiveness towards the child in the film, and prompting meaningful action. Santaland delivered blanket coverage and was launched on ITV Lorraine with an interview with Anna Maxwell Martin. Coverage appeared across 305 media titles, as well as attracting new celebrity support through organic social (115m OTS). Overall, Santaland achieved £334k however, the ‘halo’ effect was much bigger and the ultimate reason for the campaign’s overall success, raising a record-breaking £2.7m. High-profile corporates have approached us with new opportunities because of the PR campaign. Santaland was driven by love, insight and sensitivity; proving mighty results can be achieved on a small PR budget.