It’s a tale as old as Christmas; every year Santa gets all the attention and accolades and Mrs. Claus stays quietly in the background. Just another housewife defined by her husband.

But this year, Marks and Spencer’s empowering campaign changed her for good.

We created Mrs Claus for the 21st century and introduced her to the world in an epic film directed by Academy Award winner, Tom Hooper. The heartwarming film launched on social media and saw her help a troublesome little boy make his sister’s Christmas. She flew a helicopter, read erotica, ate as many mince pies as she wanted, and became the biggest thing at Christmas since, well, her husband.

The 3 minute film was shared on social media – supported by shorter lengths on TV directing to the full film online. We hid dozens of funny moments in the background of the shots – that could only be spotted when viewers on social media paused the film. These included the name of her helicopter (R-Dolph 1), her snowmobile (Dash-R) and the name of the book she reads (50 Shades of Red). Eagle-eyed viewers spotted these jokes and made the name of her erotica, 50 Shades Of Grey, trend on twitter for 3 days.

We believe that one of the smallest stats is also the most powerful in demonstrating the change Mrs Claus made to empower girls and women: this year, for the first time, the Royal Mail reported that thousands of girls wrote to Mrs Claus.

“In 2016 every little girl should know that she's just as capable as any boy. Thank you M&S.” - The Telegraph

“The only Christmas campaign your daughter should watch” - Stylist

“A feminist manifesto about female empowerment” - Metro

“M&S wins Christmas” - The Sun

65 million unpaid views across the globe.

1.2 billion media impressions.

The original soundtrack reached #1 on the global iTunes Classical chart.

M&S had their first sales growth in six years.

Mrs Claus was widely hailed as the best Christmas campaign of 2016 (by the Evening Standard, The Sun, The Daily Mail, Express and Metro amongst others).