Macy's Presents Yes Virginia Santa Claus Ad
The Retailer Converts Editorial into Multimedia Christmas Campaign
Nov 16, 2008
Both Virginia O’Hanlon and Francis Pharcellus Church would probably be amazed at the way her 1897 letter to the New York Sun and his "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus" editorial have been developed into a 2008 Christmas multimedia advertising campaign.
Macy’s is using two-page newspaper ads, a sophisticated interactive section of its website and other media to promote a national letter writing campaign designed to provide $1 million to the Make-a-Wish Foundation for children.
Donald Trump and Martha Stewart
In the website video, Donald Trump, Martha Stewart and other celebrities recite lines from Church’s editorial.
"How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus," Trump says.
"It lives and lives and lives," Stewart adds.
The Macy’s campaign encourages children to write letters to Santa, to drop them into a Santa mailbox at the closest Macy’s store. Macy promises to count the letters, mail them to Santa at the North Pole and contribute $1 for every letter, up to $1 million, to the Make-a-Wish Foundation.
O’Hanlon, Church and the New York Sun have all died, but newspapers have printed Church’s editorial every Christmas for over a century. According to the Newseum, it has become "history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps."
Macy’s new advertising campaign will probably bring it to millions of additional readers.
The Magic of Macy’s
The Macy’s campaign is titled "a million reasons to believe." The ads also carry the company’s theme line "the magic of macy’s" in subordinated locations.
Both the website and the newspaper ads provide stationery templates for children to use in writing their letters. A graphic and button carries viewers from the main Macy’s website to the Santa Claus promotion and another button carries them back to the main section.
Macy’s has installed red post office receptacles in its stores to receive the letters.
The Virginia Santa Claus story began in 1897 when the 8-year-old O’Hanlon asked her father if there really was a Santa. Her father, a doctor, suggested she ask the New York Sun because "if you see it in The Sun, it's so."
O'Hanlon Wrote Letter to Sun
O’Hanlon wrote a brief letter to the popular paper, explaining that her friends told her there was no Santa.
Church, a prominent mustached editor answered her in an editorial, telling Virginia her friends were wrong.
"Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy," Church wrote.
References:
- Macys Believe.com
- Newseum.org
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