In America, the land of big box 'category killer' retailers, branding campaigns can feel homogenized. Campaigns are generally rolled out en masse across 50 states where the idiosyncrasies of consumers the South may be worlds away from the North East. As part of Macy's strategy to offer a more compelling local experience across its 798 stores, they needed to find a way to make a closer connection with families in America, during the most important retail period of the year – the lead up to Christmas.

This Christmas, Macy’s created a new holiday tradition with “Yes, Virginia The Musical.” Based on their beloved animated TV special, we gave this totally new show away free to any school who wanted to perform it. What’s different here is that, rather than produce the final creative ourselves, we put the materials in kids’ hands and let them put on their own show. Not only did this get an incredibly high level of involvement at a fraction of the cost of TV, but it gave Macy’s a chance to have an important social impact on the communities we serve. With drama programs facing budget cuts and Broadway shows charging huge royalties, we supported arts education in schools where it faced disastrous budget cuts. The program was run from Yesvirginiathemusical.com, which served as a hub for participating drama teachers and students across the country. It provided an interactive script and score, celebrity performing advice and a mobile version that helped kids learn their lines in a totally new way. Teachers could also use the site to apply for a $1,000 production grant for costumes, sets or anything else they needed.

Through musical publishing companies, like MTI, we were able to reach out directly to drama teachers and parents. To attract more attention we announced that the first 100 schools to enroll would receive a $1,000 production grant. These grants and the larger program were promoted through digital banners on theater and education sites.

We partnered with Stagedoor Manor, a prestigious theater arts camp, to workshop and film the show’s debut. This would give teachers and students a visual to shoot for. This film, along with all the other materials teachers would need to stage their own production, was assembled on yesvirginiamusical.com.

By creating an entirely new script and offering it to schools with some guidance, schools would be spreading the story of Macy’s animated holiday classic, “Yes, Virginia” themselves. We built a grassroots campaign for school drama and music teachers, offering

them production tools and materials far beyond the usual. Our PR teams worked with individual schools to ensure sell-out crowds. From reviews, in-store appearances, to local ad campaigns, promoting each one like a Broadway show. News stories, appearances and

local reviews pulled in 231 million earned media impressions—from sources as diverse as the Dalton Times to the New York Times.

Audiences really embraced the show. It invoked a strong sense of community at participating schools. Parents got involved and students put in long hours of rehearsal. They tweeted reviews and posted performances on YouTube. The 100 production grants were claimed before the school year had even begun. In the end, more than 1300 schools participated and interest has already been mounting for year two. The client was equally enthusiastic and has begun production on year two site upgrades and full scale TV campaign aimed at double the number of participating schools. Just as our vision is to make this an annual tradition with kids, it will now be a fixed part of Macy’s holiday marketing.