Due to the Dominican Republic’s financial crisis, the 2012 Christmas season reported a record low in donations to help the poor. 2013 looked the same. La Sirena, the biggest retailer in the country, decided as part of their corporate responsibility for 2013, that they wanted to re-inspire a nation and motivate people to come together and give again.

For this we created a surprise live action in rural poor communities that have never experienced the magic of Christmas, generating real content to help inspire people by showing them, how amazing it could be for someone who feels Christmas for the first time.

Our idea: TAKING CHRISTMAS WHERE IT’S NEVER GONE BEFORE.

The action launched with a campaign through the web and social media, that would take people in real time on the secret journey from the making of the tree to it’s trip to the remote communities.

Print, TV, cinema, outdoor and guerrilla led people to a website where they could go deeper into the stories and get ideas on how to come together and help. This caught the attention of local and international media creating massive good will and free press for the brand and the idea. Celebrities, schools and the whole nation took the campaign as their own; starting conversations, creating groups and even inspiring other brands to take action.

+4,000 people mobilize creating groups to help.

Most mentioned brand in social-networks in Christmas

Most Admired Brand of the year. Source: Mercado magazine 2014

TAKING CHRISTMAS WHERE IT’S NEVER GONE BEFORE.

The action launched with an integrated campaign through the web and social media, that created real content so people could follow to the minute, every 10 to 15 minutes we uploaded locations and videos of the status of the tree, taking people in real time on a journey from the making of the tree to its surprising trip to the remote communities. We made the audience a living part of the surprise. At 6:10 am the tree was lit up and a nice melody woke up the community, hidden cameras captured their surprise reactions. All this material was edited and made into viral videos and Short Documentary films, this with Print, TV, cinema, outdoor and guerrilla led people to a website where they could go deeper into the stories (written and videos) and get ideas on how to come together and help.

All of this, caught the attention of local and international media, creating massive goodwill and free press for the brand and the idea. Celebrities, schools and the whole nation immediately took the campaign as their own; starting conversations, creating groups and even inspiring other brands to take our hashtag to motivate other people to take action.

The 2 minute spots were featured in local and international TV shows for free.

20 radio stations talked about the action and motivated people to donate.

The action was featured in local and international web pages and blogs

+4,000 people mobilized to create groups to help the poor.

Fan Page increased 15% and Twitter 30% (first 3 days)

Most mentioned brand in social networks in Dom. Rep. in the Christmas season

Voted Most Admired Brand of the year. Source: Mercado magazine January 2014