A Wonderful Trip

Shoppers get the chance to take a trip with Santa to his old hood

If you're looking for an exciting Christmas extravaganza, look no further than Bonnie Doon Shopping Centre in Edmonton, Alberta. Last Christmas the centre created a contest designed to increase donations to the Edmonton Christmas Bureau, to target families with children up to 12 years of age and to create a partnership to enhance and subsidise its Christmas marketing initiatives.
To that end, Bonnie Doon Shopping Centre developed a contest to send one lucky family on a North Pole adventure, accompanied by the centre's Santa. To win the three-day adventure, families were invited to enter the contest every week for four weeks. Contestants had to listen to the radio to enter or search the daily papers to find two elves and paste them on the entry form. The draw drum, located next to Santa's Castle, was emptied every Wednesday after a draw was made for a semi-finalist family.
The contest was promoted with on-site signage, print, radio and television advertising designed to drive traffic to the mall's Santa as the way to enter and win. Once there, families were enticed to take the most seasonal of all pictures, a portrait with Santa. The proceeds went to the mall's charity of choice and donations were increased by a whopping 67 percent over the previous holiday season.
As word about the programme began to reach the marketplace, interest grew. Two local radio stations donated nearly 100 free spots and a print sponsor donated nearly 10,000 lines of copy over the course of the event. The mall received a total of over £35,357 in donated and contra expenses, which included airfare and hotel rooms.
Finally, the draw was made and a family of three—a single dad and his two kids—were whisked away the next day to Cambridge Bay, Nunavut for their special visit. Nearly all of the town’s 1,200 residents came out to meet Santa and his excited winners. Santa and his helpers took part in the town's annual Christmas Concert and more than 300 pictures were taken with local children. The once-in-a-lifetime event wound down with a local meal of musk ox goulash, caribou and arctic char, after which village Elders performed traditional Inuit songs and dances.