The brief landed on our desks with a sparkle of holiday spirit and a task that was both inspiring and challenging: Bring to life Coca-Cola's Christmas campaign, "The World Needs More Santas." At its core, the campaign aimed to spread kindness, joy, and the spirit of giving—embodying the essence of what Santa represents. The challenge? To translate this message into a real-world activation that resonates across diverse audiences during the holiday season. Our objectives were clear: inspire acts of kindness and increase brand engagement. Because when people embrace their inner Santa, Real Magic multiplies.

The creative idea came from the personal experiences of our team members. Three people working on the project have their birthday during the Christmas season. And in their own words “It sucks!”. Who but Coca-Cola, a brand that made itself a Christmas staple for the past 100 years, to do something about it? That’s why we got an entire city together to celebrate one single person’s birthday. Giving one lucky soul - Olivia - the Christmas gift she most wanted: a birthday party.

But we didn’t just give her a birthday party, we did it LIVE, not a pre-recorded LIVE because it had to be on her birthday date and not to close to Christmas, because we wanted to inspire everyone around the world to participate and remember the “Happy Birthdays”, amongst the “Merry Christmas” wishes throughout the season.

We adopted a 'micro to macro' approach. Recognizing that our target audience is as inclusive as the holiday spirit itself—everyone—we focused on a specific niche within the demographic, certain to resonate broadly. After all, you're either a Christmas baby, or you know someone who is. This is how we aimed to touch the hearts of all, regardless of age or background.

The backdrop for this activation was a year marked by challenges worldwide, making the need for joy, kindness, and unity more pronounced than ever. Merry Birthday did just that by asking people to remember and celebrate their loved ones who share their special day with Santa.

Coca-Cola partnered with an entire city to celebrate one person’s birthday.

We started by scouting a small close-knit community. Then, we talked to the community’s main representative - the mayor - presented the “Merry Birthday” idea and… he loved it!!! With him on board, he helped engage the whole community. Small businesses, from bakers to knitters, crafted “Merry Birthday” assets. Even big corporations like JCDecaux, the national Tourism Bureau, an airline company, and the main internet provider became Santas, through small acts of kindness: discounts or free media, flights, and promotion. Next, we had a huge casting challenge of discovering an English speaker in a non-English speaking country. We discovered Olivia, whose birthday fell on Christmas week. After three months of planning and transforming a city, without her ever suspecting anything - on the 22nd of December, we celebrated her birthday LIVE, inviting the world to be part of it.

“Merry Birthday” turned out to be Coca-Cola’s most engaging live to date. On average, viewers were hooked for over 9 minutes each. With almost 2.3 Million Views. Plus, it was a huge community effort; we got 1,782 people to volunteer on top of the production crew. The volunteers included locals, expats, small business owners, theater groups, school choirs, the fire and police departments, to name a few. Even the Mayor of Cascais got on board and brought along the Portuguese Tourism Bureau, TAP, JCDecaux and other national brands.