This is the season when many people reflect upon the year that soon will be ending. In this spirit, we have looked back at what we have encouraged you all to be thinking about in 2014. There have been three major themes we have communicated (or harped on). They all relate to Santa Claus.
Santa Claus, we would submit, is no longer a religious figure. The St. Nick of old has been thoroughly commercialized. He is the unavoidable presence of the December holiday season. He rides in at the end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and sticks around until all the unwanted gifts have been returned and exchanged.
And Santa relates to the three big themes we have been talking about all year.
Purchase Journeys – Who is a bigger buyer than Santa? Nobody comes close. As we hear it, years ago he changed his business model. Instead of manufacturing everything at North Pole HQ, he now has a network of preferred providers. Computerized elves manage this network and recommend toys based on a purchasing algorithm that selects the appropri ate toys based on demographics and other predictive variables. As soon as one of those toys is purchased or considered, a tailored ad will be pushed your way on Facebook. Engagement IQ – While we have not yet measured Santa Claus in our Engagement IQ research (we will!), we created a system that imputes values based on traditional Santa Claus values – likability, lunchability, postability. Our analysis shows that Santa Claus would receive the highest score ever recorded. Reputation – There is a reason why so many marketers use Santa Claus in their ads. He has a great reputation. And unlike other corporate spokespeople recently, he has never been recorded knocking out Mrs. Claus in an elevator or taking performance enhancing drugs or having tawdry affairs.
Whether you believe in Santa or not, we wish you the happiest of Holidays and good luck and good fortune in 2015. May the Holidays bring peace and joy to all – and forgiveness for our having a little fun at Santa’s expense.
