We created an online experience that was both earnest and easily shared, riding the seasonal surge of goodwill. On the platform, people could browse and choose from handwritten letters that they could respond to with gifts. The handwritten letters created a deeply personal connection between the reader and the writer, making Operation Santa a new one-to-one charity system within the USPS infrastructure.

The pilot program launched online, partnering with one of the nation’s busiest Post Offices, located in New York City. At the historic James A. Farley Post Office in Manhattan, children from local, lower-income schools were invited to bring their letters directly to Santa. Santa read some letters aloud to the press and audience after meeting the children. The buzz online and in the news attracted a variety of influencers in the New York area to organically share their experiences with their large networks of online followers. One such influencer reached out to the program, wanting to help with incorporating letters from families in Puerto Rico who were in need after Hurricane Maria.

The website quickly boomed in popularity — so quickly, in fact, that it needed refills of letters multiple times. At least 14 local TV and print news outlets positively covered the heartwarming stories, from the launch of the program to the expansion to include letters from Puerto Rico. This resulted in 9,579,801 impressions for TV media coverage alone.

By day three, 1,000 letters were adopted, matching 2016’s total adoptions. By the third week of the program, almost every letter was being answered. By the end of the program, letter adoptions had increased 340% from 2016.

The U.S. Postal Service has a reputation for not caring about your mail. To the contrary, they took thousands of pieces of mail that were undeliverable, addressed to an imaginary figure, and found a way to deliver. They could have easily, legally, destroyed these letters, filled with wishes from families who don’t have much to believe in. Instead, they invested in building an entire program that harnesses their unique position and their infrastructure to bring these heartfelt, innocent letters to the good-hearted masses.

Taking Operation Santa online opened the program up to a huge new audience — one that is always connected. Studies show millennials are more generous with their donations than other generations but more critical of which organizations they give to. In general, people prefer donating directly to people rather than to big charities. This audience is also one that shares their enthusiasm on social, spreading the word organically. Social influencers took to Operation Santa without any contracts, spreading the word to their large networks organically and causing spikes in letter adoptions. Local news outlets in New York covered the launch and progress of Operation Santa, helping to bring in more people to adopt letters.

Every holiday season, the U.S. Postal Service receives millions of letters addressed to Santa Claus. Most are written by needy children asking for help with basic needs. The Postal Service felt a responsibility to deliver these letters — letters written in the hope of having a happy holiday. Operation Santa was started by the Postal Service to give members of the public the opportunity to respond to these undeliverable letters. Now, Post Offices around the country put out these letters every year for people to read and adopt — and every year thousands go unanswered. Our goal was for every letter to receive a response.