MIDDLE EAST
ESSAY 39
21 December 2008
A Christmas Tale
Impact BBDO’s Peter Vegas gives
us the inside scoop on pitching for
Santa’s account
ou don’t turn down It’s not padding. For starters, we proposed the 21st century. From a eco-PR point of public face of the operation. The power lies
Y
the chance to pitch turning Santa’s weight loss into a reality TV view, we loved the fact he flies round in with a team of elves. The meeting was de-
for the account of one show that would run in the months before a sleigh pulled by reindeer, but we were layed because our laptop wouldn’t work.
of the world’s most Christmas and possibly end with an ap- shocked to find out he’s followed by five How often does that happen? But this time
well-known brands, pearance on Oprah. 747’s. Fair enough, we didn’t really think it was because of the ice. Santa’s IT people
especially during Christmas is about the children, of he could carry presents for every boy and (also elves) sorted it out by making a little
these tough econom- course, but focus groups told us that the girl on the planet in that little sleigh. Our fire next to the laptop with Xmas wrapping
ic times. Speaking idea of an old man breaking into your idea was to offset his chubby carbon foot- paper.
of credit crunches, don’t you think Santa house at night and creeping into children’s print by bagging the mountains of reindeer The pitch went really well, I think leav-
could lose a few pounds? We did, and that bedrooms freaked kids out. And mums poo left on roofs across the world to give to ing the document behind in a Santa sack
was just one of the ideas we threw into the were sick of him traipsing soot through the third world farmers as fertilizer. The media with our logo on was a nice touch.
pot when we pitched for Christmas. house, so we proposed he simply leave the guys wanted a sleigh tie-in with the US Air From the initial line up of 543 agencies
The invitation email said that because goodies at the front door. Force, which would have involved painting we made it to the shortlist of 76. Our elf on
we’d been such a good agency all year we The stockings on the mantlepiece seems all the predator drones they’re flying over the inside said it was looking really good,
had been invited to submit our thoughts at odds with the children thing but we saw Pakistan red and white and draping them but in the end they decided to keep the
for reinvigorating the Xmas brand. a chance to add a racy element to the big with tinsel. But we decided it might not business in-house. We were disappointed,
Big job, getting round the globe in 24 day by tying in with Victoria’s Secret. send the message we wanted. naturally, but with a bit of reworking we’re
hours. Especially carrying all that excess An environmentally friendly Santa The presentation took place at Santa’s hoping to pitch for the Easter Bunny ac-
baggage. Taken a close look at that red suit? seemed like a good way to pull him into secret headquarters. Turns out he’s just the count in Q1.
www.mediaweekme.com
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46