Branding Santa – A Hilarious Marketing Lesson from UK Agency Quietroom

Santa Claus has been a household name for centuries, featuring on greeting cards and product packaging, and appearing in ads, movies and TV shows. So what if Santa decided to brand himself like any other enterprise?

The creative minds at Quietroom, a UK branding agency, made a presentation that explains in detail what the new *Santa* brand is all about. But apart from being a wonderful spoof, it also teaches us all the elements of today’s branding policy.

It’s especially useful for anyone working in the field of marketing & PR, graphic design, and even law (just read the legal disclaimers at the bottom of the pages!).

Mission Statement

The first page starts with the mission statement that is as meaningless as many others that are floating around.

"*Santa* is a Concept, not an idea. It's an Emotion, not a feeling. It's both Yesterday and Today. And it's Tomorrow as well.”

The Brand Explained

In the Age of Acronyms, Santa just has to be an acronym!

*Santa* stands for:

* The introductory asterisk reminds customers of a snowflake alighting on the eyelash of a fawn.

SAN The first three letters represent South And North. We are headquartered in the North, but our reach is global.

N The N symbolizes nitrogen, the most abundant atmospheric element, calling to mind the abundance of gifts we distribute.

TA The final two letters are the (abbreviated) thanks of the world’s children.

* The terminating asterisk points to the polar star, and hence the birth of dreams.

Brand Promise

A brand must represent certain values and evoke emotions. That’s why the “brand promise” is explained as follows:

What does *Santa* represent? E(x)cellence, (m)easurability, (a)ccountability and (s)now -(X-mas)

To further explain the brand values, (re)branding presentations contain a bunch of Venn diagrams trying to explain target audience, USP, public image, etc.

In this case, it shows the brand value of Santa, Ho Ho Ho, and Rudolph.

Brand Journey

In this section, the agency or designer tries to explain (justify) the new brand. It is normally an analysis of the history of the brand, competitors and market trends. But what if you don’t have a lot to say? Well, you can go for metaphors…

In this case, they compare Santa to a bird (stork), a river (Danube), a biscuit (Hobnob), and a holiday (Eastern).

Brand Concept

The branding agency or designer normally has a vision about the new brand and how it will work for the entity. Most of the time, they opt for a complicated diagram or illustration that tries to explain the whole (re) brand concept/process in one shot.

In this case, they came up with the Brand House “a brand is a sack on the sleigh of belief”.

Brand Justification

This section “justifies” the (re)designed brand. It tries to explain the added value that the brand will bring to the company/entity.

Logo, Color and Font Use

A logo is part of the corporate or personal brand. Apart from being a differentiator, it is also a major asset. To prevent subsidiaries, subcontractors, resellers and employees to get “creative” and “improve” the logo, a company normally has guidelines (style guide) for using the logo, fonts, colors etc. in place.

Corporate colors and the typeface are also part of a corporate identity. In many cases, designers opt for mixing two pantone colors to create a unique color for the company. The same applies for fonts. Once a company has its own font, it becomes its IP.

In this case, the *Santa* logo cannot be "altered, adjusted, changed, adapted, modified, varied, reformed, revamped, refined, reorientated, transmuted, metamorphosized, customized or tailored in any way."

Tagline, Slogan and Writing Guidelines

Many companies have a tagline to explain its mission. Famous taglines are “Just do it” (Nike), “sense and simplicity” (Philips), and “Got Milk?” (California Milk Processor Board).

*Santa* has its own tagline: “Snap it, Clap it, Wrap it”. It replaces the previous “Meet it, Greet it, Eat it”.

A slogan is designed for branding a specific ad campaign or event. For 2013, Santa’s slogan is “Never Knowingly Undersnowed”.

The writing guidelines instruct marketing and copywriters which phrases to use or avoid, whether writing should be formal or informal, how to use abbreviations, etc.

In this case: *Santa* is: fond of children, generous, round and jolly, and rosy cheeked. *Santa* is not: a bit creepy, a mug, morbidly obese, and half-cut.

Magic Quadrant

The Magic Quadrant (first designed by the Boston Consulting Group) shows how competitors rank by comparing two characteristics. It visualized who the main threats for a company or entity are.

In this case, “Fatiness” and “Beardiness” were used to chart the strengths of potential competitors. Miley Cyrus is the least threat (being slim and beardless) while Harry Potter's Hagrid is the main competitor based on body mass and beard. King Henry VIII and actor Brian Blessed also pose a threat.

Customer Profile

This section identifies the target audience. The wants and needs of the potential customer drive the brand.

In this case, the target audience consists of “people that believe”. A graph relates the age of a person to his/her believing in (1) Santa, (2) communism, and (3) God. The target audience consists of children up to 10-15 years. After 25, people don’t believe in Santa anymore…sorry *Santa*!

To read the *Santa* Brand Book of Quietroom, click here.

The rebranding of President Bling-Bling aka N. Sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy was elected based on the conception that he was different from his predecessors. During his campaign, he built his brand as the simple guy (an immigrant’s son without a patrician elite education) who would change things around (an overhaul of the welfare state which he sees as financially unsustainable, unfair and discourages work).

But on Sunday, March 16, the French voters sent a clear message that they were not impressed with M. le President. Sarkozy’s UMP party lost local-government elections in several major cities, trailing behind the Socialist party.
The main reason is the increasingly pessimistic attitude towards Sarkozy’s government policies aimed at boosting purchasing power as the global economy grinds slower.
At the same time, his lifestyle came under attack as well - indiscrete and bordering on ostentatious. Apart from his recent (and very public) divorce from wife Cécilia Ciganer-Albéniz, followed by marrying former Italian model-turned-singer Carla Bruni within 4 months, Sarkozy vacationed on a billionaire friend's yacht, jogs wearing Ralph Lauren and a $14,000 Rolex.
His obvious enjoyment of the Good Life got him the nickname "President Bling-Bling".

His current image is in sharp contrast to his election brand as the man-of-the-people.
According to Denis Muzet, founder of the Paris-based politics-and-media institute Médiascopie, the French find it hard to accept Mr. Sarkozy's flashy lifestyle as they are feeling economically pinched. In January, inflation in France reached a 16-year high of 2.8%. A CSA poll last month showed that 56% of French people thought that Mr. Sarkozy "badly represents the role of the president," an 11-percentage-point increase from January 2008.

Sarkozy decided to "re-presidentialise" himself by toning down public displays of his lifestyle. During state visits, he tries to present an image of “elegance and decorum” – sans Rolex watch and Ray-Ban sunglasses.
He learned from past mistakes when he was giving interviews while jogging and using his Blackberry during an audience with the Pope.
For his rebranding he reshuffled his communications team. He started by firing his official spokesman David Martinon (a protégé of his former wife Cecilia).
Martinon will be replaced by a trio made up of Sarkozy's chief of staff Claude Gueant (secretary general of the Elysee); Jean-David Levitte (advisor for international issues) and longtime aide Franck Louvrier (who is in favor of daily communications with the press, instead of weekly press briefings).
Sarkozy also recruited Nicolas Princen, a 24-year old "cyber spin doctor" to detect and counter Internet attacks and rumors against the French President. Princen will keep a keen eye on websites, chat groups, blogs and film clips -with good reason. A handful of clips released on video sites like YouTube or Dailymotion badly tarnished Sarkozy’s image in recent months.
The first one of Sarkozy being seemingly drunk at a press conference at a G8 summit in 2007 was watched over 10 million times on YouTube. His famous remark to a man who refused to shake his hand at the Agricultural Fair in Paris in February 2008 was caught on amateur tape and watched over 3 million times in less than one month.

Will Sarkozy be able to rebrand himself? Will he be the patrician, discrete president the French want, implementing amazing new ideas?
If so, he could be one of the best presidents France ever had.
He made a great start with the appointment of this communication team and the toning down of his image.
But may be Riss, a cartoonist for Charlie Hebdo and co-author of "La Face Karchee de Sarkozy" by Philippe Cohen, Richard Malka and Riss, is on the mark with his observation “he will never change. Whether it rains or it storms he can’t change. It’s beyond him.”