How did Santa Claus become a super marketing IP?

Santa Claus is itself a world-class super IP.

When talking about Santa Claus, the image that comes to mind is an old man wearing a red robe and a red hat, driving a reindeer sleigh and climbing up the chimney to give gifts to children. But did you know that this is the result of a century of marketing in the advertising industry?

What did Santa Claus go through to transform from a fictional character into a recognized IP?

In the last century, Santa Claus, without any copyright constraints, was everyone's common property. It was very common for various brands, shopping malls, and grocery stores to use him as a mascot or for promotions. The most important thing was that the image of Santa Claus was not fixed at that time. Depending on the needs, he could be dressed in green clothes, or he could be a dark-skinned old man, or he could even be imagined as an elf, orc, etc.

It was not until 1931 that the Coca-Cola Company asked Sweden's Sandblom to tailor a Santa Claus for it, requiring the design to be in the main color of the Coca-Cola logo. Therefore, the amorphous Santa Claus was defined as a round figure with a naive face, a friendly smile, and wearing cola red. And this cheerful image was widely accepted by people and passed down, so the image of Santa Claus we are familiar with today is actually also a "marketing image" of Coca-Cola.

In other words, in the marketing leveraging the Santa Claus IP, there is no need to stick to the image of this chubby, red old man. Instead, as long as it fits the brand appeal, Santa Claus can be transformed as he pleases in the infinite imagination.

When creating an IP, you may need to consider the IP's own re-creativity, fan audience, and commercial marketing. The richer the IP's audience and the closer its linkage with the brand, the more common value can be gradually realized. Therefore, after hundreds of years of marketing advancement, Santa Claus has become the most iconic representative IP of Christmas, and its audience has expanded to men, women, young and old around the world, so brands have many ways to leverage the Santa Claus IP.

1. Image: Subverting the inherent impression

Just as Coca-Cola can define the image of Santa Claus, brands can work hard on the image of Santa Claus, allowing the creativity to bring visual impact to the audience while also seamlessly implanting the product image.

For example, Audi’s Christmas advertisement a few days ago featured a skinny Santa Claus who lost weight through running, aerobics, 200 sit-ups, and fast running, which was very heart-warming.

In the ad, Santa Claus is munching on cookies in the living room when he glimpses a brand new Audi sports car. It would be so cool to drive a sports car to deliver gifts to children, but first he needs to have a perfect body to match this handsome supercar. So he made up his mind to start a painful weight loss plan. Finally, at the end of the training, he got a brand new red Audi RS 5. The change of Santa Claus in the advertisement also virtually grafted the brand's slogan "Progress is rewriting your story."

2. Content: Do Santa Claus' job well

Santa Claus is a mysterious figure who secretly gives gifts to children on Christmas Eve. The two parties who can interact with Santa Claus are the reindeer who serve as his transportation and the recipients of the gifts.

Therefore, there are two major aspects to consider within the scope of Santa Claus's job: first, the relationship between Santa Claus and the reindeer; second, the relationship between Santa Claus and the people who receive gifts.

(1) Santa Claus and his elk

The pet market is expanding rapidly and the status of pets is constantly improving. As soon as the interactive videos between owners and pets are released online, they will be watched and liked by the public. Therefore, the owner-pet interaction between Santa Claus and elk can also attract everyone's attention. For example, McDonald's Christmas advertisement this year revolves around the "feeding" between owners and pets, which makes people exclaim in cuteness, and cleverly links to McDonald's sales scenes, which is very natural.

(2) The story between Santa Claus and the gift recipient

Giving gifts has always been a technical job. Marketing centered around the theme of Santa Claus giving gifts must clarify the 3W questions of “who, what, where”. The 3W questions determine your audience, the products you promote, and the external communication of your brand concept.

This year, Huawei's Christmas marketing for the new Mate20 was very good. In order to cooperate with the launch of StorySign, it targeted deaf and mute children and used the identity of Santa Claus combined with AI technology to bring warmth to deaf and mute children. The children went from silence to smiling, and the tone of the whole short film also changed from depression to warmth. This is actually similar to McKinsey's previous public service advertisement. Huawei pays attention to people and gifts, while McKinsey focuses on places and people. Children in Africa are regarded as the protagonists of Christmas. Santa Claus is running on the African continent in a cotton robe. The absurd advertisement conveys the concept of regional equality. Both advertisements have invisibly elevated the brand image.

3. Reversal: What to do if an accident occurs during gift giving?

No one knows what will happen during the gift-giving process, which is also the cleverness of brands leveraging IP, because brands can use their imagination to arrange storylines that suit their own demands. For example, in an Aldi advertisement in Australia not long ago, Santa Claus had a plane crash. Fortunately, the Australian Aborigines took in the down-and-out Santa Claus and helped him live in the local area. Finally, with the help of the Australian Aborigines, Santa Claus successfully embarked on his journey of delivering gifts. The advert is filled with abundant food, family, friends and Santa Claus, all of which fit in with the beautiful customs of the Australian outback and the advertising appeal of "the more the merrier".

There are actually countless IP marketing ideas around Santa Claus' life and work. For example, you can imagine whether he is making money in a low-key manner when he is not giving gifts. Otherwise, how can he give gifts? At this time, financial products have room to play. For example, after giving away all the gifts, he will go to the bar for a drink or reward himself with a gift...

Look, this is the most attractive part of IP, because it can infinitely generate abstract and reasonable high-quality content, allowing brand concepts, seasonal products, etc. to be seamlessly grafted and promoted.

That’s all I’m going to share about leveraging Santa Claus’ IP this time. In fact, beyond the IP scope of Santa Claus, there are many other ways to play with Christmas elements. For example, the Christmas scene marketing in core shopping malls in various cities is already in full swing. Without further ado, Nene has to quickly make a date to spend Christmas with someone.

Source: Yipin Content Officer (ID: content-officer)