Santa Flies Coach
Expedia
Issue 34 | March 2015
Agency
180LA
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer: William Gelner Creative Directors: Dave Horton, Matthew Woodhams-Roberts Art Director: Chelsea Cumings Copywriter: Trey Tyler Head of Production: Natasha Wellesley Executive Producer: Erin Goodsell Producer: Amber Schaefer Head of Account Management: Chad Bettor Account Director: Brooke Stites Account Manager: Mackenzie Walen Account Coordinator: Chase Pritchett
Production Team
Production ? Production Company: Ghost Robot Directors: Dave Horton, Nick Bentgen Director of Photography: Nick Bentgen Executive Producers: Mark DePace, Zach Mortensen Editorial Editorial Company: Melvin Editor: Dave Groseclose Producer: Brian Scharwath Finishing Company: Therapy Studios Executive Producer: Joe DiSanto, John Ramsay Senior Producer: Allegra Bartlett Flame Artist: Wren Waters Flame Assist: Geoff Stephenson Sound Recording Studio: Eleven Sound Mixer: Ben Freer Music Original Music by human
Other Credits
Client: Expedia Senior Director, Brand Marketing: Vic Walia Brand Marketing Manager: Jessica Eichner Media Director: Elizabeth Dorrance
Date
December 2014
Background
Expedia.com®, one of the world's largest full-service online travel sites, released the holiday video, "Santa Flies Coach" — showing how the Expedia+ reward points travellers earned this year could be donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital® to help kids fight cancer and other life-threatening diseases.
To bring this unique use of Expedia+ travel rewards points to life, ad agency 180LA enlisted the most frequent holiday traveler of them all — Santa.
Idea
Over the course of a week, Santa travelled 19,602 miles in 49.7 hours. He went from the North Pole (via Anchorage) and flew through Honolulu, Tokyo, Dubai, Paris, Dublin, New York City, and finally Memphis to visit the kids at St. Jude. Once there, Santa handed out gifts in addition to all the points he accumulated on flights and came so far to give.
"Santa flies around the world every year for children, so we loved the connection of giving him travel points to donate to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital," says Vic Walia, Senior Director of Brand Marketing at Expedia. "More people travel during the holidays than any other time of year. We hope this campaign will encourage people to donate their Expedia+ rewards points to St. Jude, considering how quickly they can add up during this busy travel season."
"It was incredible to see everyone's reactions across the globe when they saw Santa traveling. Adults turn into kids again," says Dave Horton, creative director at 180LA. "It turns out everyone in the world really does love Santa."
People could donate their Expedia+ rewards points at Expedia.com/Santa. Share with #SantaFliesCoach.
Expedia+ reward members earned points on hotels, flights, activities and packages, and most major cruise lines. Members also had the unique opportunity to donate them in support of the lifesaving work of St. Jude Children's Hospital, which was leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer.
Results
The results are still being calculated but the work was picked up by over 200 media outlets. The video had nearly a half a million views.