Santa Forgot is a disruptive and powerful animation that imagines a world where the magic of Christmas has been lost because Santa is living with the effects of dementia and no longer visits children across the world on Christmas Eve. Santa Forgot’s central character is a young girl called Freya, who has grown-up in a world without Santa. On learning about Santa’s condition, Freya travels to the North Pole. She offers her own support and re-mobilises the redundant elves as researchers, explaining her belief that ‘if Santa has a disease, research can find a way to fix it’. Through the depiction of Freya and Santa’s elves, Santa Forgot showcases that with world leading research, new approaches and innovative thinking the diseases which cause dementia can be defeated; reinforcing the message of hope for a cure.

We had to navigate several key national media moments and ARUK announcements to ensure cut through in the saturated festive period. We crafted a range of assets and allowed for a 6-week lead time for media preparations. Desk briefings, case study placements, talent interviews and by-line articles were prepared under embargo enabling media to place coverage for launch. PR led on launch day with TV following that evening which ensured the content felt new and exciting and enhanced coverage across the board. Santa Forgot trended on Facebook and Twitter 12 hours before the first paid for spot. Social influencers were briefed to share the animation in line with the embargo to support the groundswell of social buzz. Corporate partnerships, media space donations and gifted talent time were leveraged to help drive the biggest impact on a modest budget. 

• Santa Forgot had a significant positive impact on donations, website traffic and social activity for ARUK: 207% uplift in donations, 165% increase in website traffic, 408% increase in social media activity

• Additional specific commercial gains included: 10,900 directly attributed £5 text donations and a 400% uplift y-o-y in monthly direct debits

• There has been over 14 million views of the Santa Forgot animation to date across earned, owned and paid for channels.

• The campaign generated 360 pieces of media coverage with combined circulation over 134 million.

• Over 108 influencers supported on social media using the #SantaForgot hashtag and sharing the animation generating a combined reach of over 56 million.

• #SantaForgot trended on twitter and Facebook on the morning of launch before any paid for media spend amplification had begun