Newlink filled URW shopping centers with magic

Without a doubt, in 2020, when it comes to socializing and keeping in touch, video calls have been one of our new best friends. With this technology and a little bit of magic, Newlink turned Christmas around when it came to bringing children closer to Santa and the Three Wise Men.

The big shopping mall operator Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) was looking for a Christmas event to attract the public to its shopping centers by offering the traditional and endearing meeting of children with Santa and the Wise Men. Of course, adapted to the new health measures, with safety and social distancing. Without the typical photo on the Wise Men’s lap, nor even giving a letter to Santa, 10,000 families were able to live an in-person and virtually magical experience in the five shopping centers where the events were held.

The agency used creativity and Christmas decorations to transform one of the stores in the shopping centers into the Magic Kingdom of Christmas. Both the window shops and the inside of the properties were transformed into a Christmas house, where elves and pages guided families through different seasons and experiences. From a little corner where to write a letter to Santa and leave it in the mailbox, take a photo and remember the moment through a photogif sent to their cell phone, to a tree where you could pick up an ornament personalized with your name.

Personalized experience, in addition to security protocols

But without a doubt, the magical moment of the tour was stepping into the Christmas house’s living room and being able to talk in real time via video call with Santa or the Three Wise Men. They knew in advance the children’s names, what they had asked for and how they had behaved, so the little ones’surprise was grand. The parents, in turn, were emailed the recording of the video call as a souvenir.

This personalized conversation was possible thanks to previous registration, necessary to reserve the encounter. To ensure space and distance between participants, the premises could only be accessed after registering on the shopping center's website, where a time slot to speak with the Wise Men was chosen. During the registration, parents included the names of the children who were going to attend and the message they wanted told to them.

And so a very personalized experience was lived. The ticket reservation made it possible for each family to tour the house exclusively, without sharing the space with other groups, avoiding interaction with non-members of the family. Of course, the elves and royal pages were at hand to provide sanitizing gel and make sure everyone wore their mask.

Simultaneous five-point action including set change

Throughout Christmas, the Christmas Magic Kingdom took place simultaneously in five shopping centers in Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona. A coordination and management challenge for the 180 agency and production staff, who also had to change the premises’ set and decorations so that Santa could give way to the Three Wise Men after December 25.

Link to original article in Spanish: https://bit.ly/3c7MTcS

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