The Challenge was to find a relevant idea for an event that would involve citizens of Madrid, in the City Council Christmas campaign. A Christmas related idea but not a cliché. We create a concept for a participatory action that fulfilled the challenge: The Wishing Tree that grows with the wishes and hopes of Madrid citizens, for 2008. On that base we built a stunt in the Retiro Park, Madrid’s most famous park, located in the centre of the city.

Over 120,000 people participated and wrote their wishes. Over 40,000 people attended the final event of balloons release, great media coverage in main newspapers (El Pais, El Mundo, ABC) and on main TV News. Madrid City Council wants this event to become a tradition at Christmas in following years.

Starting December 21st, a huge Christmas tree kept growing in the Retiro Park in Madrid, thanks to the participation of the citizens who went to set down their wishes for 2008, written down on helium balloons; the tree got to a height of 32 metres. 21 actors dressed up like gardener elves, with their giant snails, welcomed the visitors, and made the process easy, emotional and fun. This was a very moving experience for all participants.The action ended in a special ceremony, the tree opened up and all the balloons were released: all the wishes flew into the Madrid sky.

By creating a participatory activity, we made Madrid City Council Christmas campaign, more relevant to the citizens A part from the fact of the massive participation, this was a very moving experience, not just for the kids but for grown people, who focused their energy and hopes in the moment that their balloon wishes for 2008 were feed into the tree.