Christmas is a magical time of year for kids.

Kids spend hours poring over what to put on their Christmas wish list with the slight sense of anxiety and regret over whether that last argument with their brother had pushed them onto the ‘Naughty List’.

For 24 years, Spark, New Zealand’s biggest telco, has been providing Kiwi kids with a direct line to with Santa to share their wish list through an answer phone service called Santaline. But this had become quite boring in an age with so many high tech personalised options available for kids to share their list with the man in red. The double-digit year on year decline of kids calling the Santaline reinforced this.

Our brief was to enable 20% more magical Christmas connections than the previous year.

1. RECRUIT:

We scoured the country's rest homes, and placed handwritten notices on community noticeboards and in RSA's encouraging the elderly to join Sparks Santaline.

2. ANNOUNCE:

We launched Santaline to the nation, prompting calls via a heart-warming social video, radio ads which utilized recordings of our Elves talking to children on the Santaline, and profiles of our Elves on Facebook introducing them and calling out their favourite requests received so far.

3. SHARE:

We amplified content showcasing the best conversations between our elves and hopeful kids on social to remind parents to get their kids to call the Santaline. We worked with NZ’s biggest radio stations to interview the elves live ‘from the north pole’ about what it’s like to work with Santa to further amplify the Santaline story

We even made one kids’ wish become a reality live on New Zealand’s biggest breakfast TV show.