Last year, we set out to create a memorable holiday campaign for Vaughan Mills shopping centre. It involved creating Santa’s Tiny Big Town, the perfect place for families to make memories. Unlike other Santa experiences, this one provided a winding entrance full of interactive games for the children to play while they waited to see Santa, as well as a unique narrative focusing on the importance of spending time with the ones you love.
To coincide with the launch of Tiny Big Town, Vaughan Mills also announced a new charitable partner, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). One hundred per cent of proceeds from all photo packages sold were donated to SickKids for the duration of Santa’s Tiny Big Town, with a goal of raising $100,000. Viewers were urged to share the cause across their networks using the hashtag #keytotheholidays. They ended up surpassing their goal, raising a total of $115,000 for SickKids!
The final piece to this awesome campaign was the heart-warming video created by Chime Digital and our sister company, Door Knocker Media, about the real meaning of Christmas—and it had nothing to do with the number of presents under the Christmas tree! To connect our new Santa program with our SickKids fundraiser, we developed a heartwarming “docu-video” about family as the primary communications tool.
The video features four real families, including one family whose child had been touched by SickKids. Shot in their homes and completely unscripted, the video captures honest and enduring moments. When asked about their Christmas wish, parents anticipated that children would respond with a long list of toys and video games, but — surprise — all they really wanted was family time!
We were absolutely delighted to receive this wonderful email from Vaughan Mills this week sharing some incredible news with us:
“ We are so excited to share that we have received an ICSC Gold for our Key To The Holidays campaign. This campaign was so dear to the Vaughan Mills team and it is partners like you that have allowed the vision to come to life. Can’t thank your team enough and we are looking forward to another successful holiday season.”
The ICSC Canadian Shopping Centre Awards Program is designed to honour the industry’s brightest and best. Awards are given for outstanding achievement in marketing and design/development of retail properties, and we were thrilled to hear that #keytotheholidays was such a success!
Want to create your own memorable holiday campaign? Chime Digital can help — give us a call!
