This story appears in the May 2015 issue of strategy.
Silver: CSR
Make-A-Wish Canada is an organization that grants wishes to terminally ill children. But during Christmas 2013, Make-A-Wish decided to broaden its focus to include all children.
A universal truth about kids today is they stop believing in Santa Claus at increasingly younger ages. As a result, parents will do almost anything to preserve their children’s belief in Santa.
Using this insight, Zulu Alpha Kilo created a way to keep the magic of Christmas alive.
Kringl: The Proof of Santa video app was released three weeks before Christmas Day. The free app uses pre-recorded scenes of Santa in action, combined with footage from the user’s home to bring the custom scenes to life.
Each video clip of Santa was filmed on a green screen to create unique scenes to choose from and match to a user’s own home.
Everyone who downloaded Kringl was given the opportunity to donate to Make-A-Wish Canada through the app, raising support and awareness for the cause and keeping the magic of Kris Kringle alive.
To make it easy to share, each video was formatted for YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and email. And each video was hosted on the Kringl YouTube channel.
Without any paid media support, the app’s popularity spread predominantly by word of mouth. It was picked up by national and international news outlets, blogs and industry publications. In less than three weeks, the Kringl app was downloaded over 110,000 times and Kringl videos were enjoyed by children in over 150 countries.
During the app’s peak activity on Christmas Eve, more than two videos per second were created. And by Christmas Day, Kringl had generated over 35 million media impressions. The app also earned a 4+ star rating in both the iTunes App Store and on Google Play.
Credits:
Advertiser: Make-A-Wish Canada
Clients: Elissa Schmidt, Chris Pon
Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo
CD: Zak Mroueh
CD/AD: Ari Elkouby
Creative technology director: Jeff Vermeersch
Designer: Andrea Romanelli
Design director: Mooren Bofill
CWs: Jonathan King, Jerry Brens
Account supervisor: Alex Potter
Strategic planner: Zoe Neuman, Emma Brooks
Agency producer: Ola Stodulska
Videographer: Jamie Morren
Production house (development): Thinking Box
Animation (title sequence): Troy Graham
Lead interactive programmer: Curtis Mak
Interactive programming: Michael Vay Lee, Kevin Mak, Eric Wong, Kevin Prendergast, Tim Wientich, Justin Desjardins
Interactive producer: Carrie Jeffels, Christine Kim
Production house (video): Notch Video
Director: Yotam Dor
Director of photography: David Dvir
Producer: Samantha Hall
Grip: Cameron Noble
Compositor: Joe Pascal
Makeup: Meccage
Santa: Al Scott
Sound: Pirate Toronto
