In Argentina, stores make at least 50% of their annual sales in December. For that reason, the streets and almost every shop are filled with special offers, which ruin the Christmas magic for the kids, because they use the characters children love the most: Santa and his reindeer, mixed with the financial world.

Tarjeta Cencosud is one of Latin America’s most important credit cards, supporting families by granting them credit to purchase which other financial entities won’t give them. It had to be present on such an important date as this one and so it launched an operation as magical as Christmas: Saving Christmas.

It removed offers and prices from its messages in order to keep the magic alive for the children, but still continued informing grown-ups about its special discounts and offers in a very innovative way.

Every brand uses Santa’s iconic character to advertise its discounts and have an impact on customers. The problem is that they end up having an impact on the kids instead, for whom the magic is ruined when they see the ads.

That’s why, in December, the month with the most sales, we shifted the focus and found an excuse to interact with potential buyers. While we distracted the children by showing them gifts on a DOOH, we activated the virtual assistant on the grown-ups’ smartphones using a device which transmits an ultrasonic message at a frequency the human ear cannot detect. This message activated the video call function and put the grown-ups in contact with the same disguised salesperson that had been on the billboard moments before.

Once the conversation was over, we sent a text message with a code for an offer they could use at nearby retailers.

The Christmas magic is an enduring tradition which millennial parents also uphold. We knew they are used to an aggressive approach online and on the street, and that they make a great effort to keep the magic alive for children. That’s why we decided to surprise them when they least expected it, while they were on their phones on a walk with their kids.

We removed prices from all our billboards and innovatively installed a special device to talk to each of them without the children noticing.

First a salesperson dressed as Santa invited the kids to look at gifts and detected which one was the favorite. Meanwhile the device transmitted a 40 kHz audio that activated the video call function and put the grown-ups in contact with Santa. Once the conversation was over, they received a text message with the discount and completed the purchase at a nearby retailer.

Saving Christmas was implemented in December, with the arrival of Christmas and the outings to choose the perfect gift.

Taking advantage of the fact that millennials are always on their smartphones, we developed several DOOHs with a device which transmitted audio using ultrasound and which was composed of: a high-frequency oscillator of 40 kHz, an audio player, a power amplifier, an ultrasonic transducer array and its own power supply.

It worked based on the Dolphin Attack technique —more information is available online. We transmitted an ultrasonic message containing the phone number the virtual assistant was going to call to get in contact. With this technique, only the operating system’s native applications can be activated, which is why the call was made using FaceTime or Duo (Android). Given that we had the geolocation and phone number, we could redirect people to a nearby retailer.

The operation was carried out from December 16 to December 23, ending with the traditional shopping center night that takes place every year in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and that lasts until very late at night. The DOOHs had an impact on +7 million people during the 7 days they were active.

Saving Christmas went viral on social media and got a 93% of positive comments, increasing brand awareness.

Sales exceeded expectations and, in comparison to the same period in 2018, the use of Tarjeta Cencosud went up by 24%.