For decades, the jolly (read: fat) giver of gifts has delighted uncynical children on Christmas morning by dropping by to deposit some stuff and eat a cookie. Then, he received a mysterious gift: The latest handheld doohickie from Palm. And everything changed forever, starting with his name. Don't call him Santa; call him Claüs.
It is no great innovation to piggyback on the North Pole/Santa Clause-Mrs. Claus/Reindeer/Sled/etc. narrative for holiday commercials. But Palm goes a few steps farther in creating a new character, complete with Facebook page and original music. Claüs isn't just a reimagined Santa for the 21st, he's also a DJ. Listen to his X-mas remixes at his FB page, y'all.
There's just one problem. In the post-advertising age, everything you do is marketing. Everything a brand does speaks to its audience in some way. And, of course, using the Internet, that audience will talk to itself and quickly metabolize the new marketing. If you have a FB fan page, too, then your audience will discuss you in front of your face like your embarrassing parents at a holiday meal. For instance, "Alfredo" writes on Claüs's "wall": "nice commercial, but cannot we get a centro with a bigger touchscreen?"
The rest of what is written on the wall is very healthy brand engagement that I'm sure Palm will love. But Alfredo's post highlight's a problem that this campaign is going to have: Compared with the holiday's other devices (Blackberry Storm, G-phone), the Palm Centro looks weak. It looks like last year's...or even the year before's.
But the marketing team and agency—Seattle-based Creature—can't be blamed for this. They're just doing their job, making conversions one Facebook fan at a time.
Check the video spot wherein Santa becomes Claüs: