It has been a tough year for families as parents juggle working from home with home schooling and care taking. Baby & children’s retailer Carter’s is aiming to alleviate some of that stress by adding a little holiday fun to family life.
The brand has kicked off a new holiday campaign for 2020 that aims to create an experience that brings the same joy in an era of social distancing. Carter’s answer was to create “From Santa with Love,” a virtual visit with Santa without the risks of getting sick.
“We know that the holiday season will look different this year,” said Jeff Jenkins, EVP, Global Marketing at Carter’s. “Traditional in-person visits with Santa will be limited. Carter’s set out to help parents bring the magic of that moment to children virtually through the Cameo video platform. Our ‘From Santa with Love’ program kick[ed] off Oct. 16 so families can check one thing off their list early. This campaign is just one of many holiday experiences we have in store to make this season merry and bright for our families.”
Families can enter to win a chance to have a personal virtual visit from Santa Claus that can be booked via the celebrity video app Cameo. Consumers can enter at www.carterssantagram.com daily from October 16 to October 30. The retailer will choose 100 winners each day. Winners will receive a code to redeem on Cameo. Participants will be given the option to choose their specific Santa and share custom notes about their child to personalize the virtual visit.
“We are speaking to all families and caretakers with young children,” Jenkins said. “It’s been an unprecedented year, but the holidays are still a special time for families, and we want to help bring joy and spark some excitement early through personalized videos direct from the North Pole.”
Video chatting has become one of the most popular ways for people to stay in touch with friends and family during the pandemic, so a video chat with Santa seems apropos in the year of staying at home.
“Over the past several months, we’ve all gotten accustomed to regular video calls with family, friends and loved ones as a way to stay connected,” Jenkins said. “Traditional, in-person visits with Santa won’t be possible for many, we saw an opportunity to deliver the experience directly to our family’s doorstep in a uniquely personal way. By tapping Cameo’s existing video platform, we are also creating an easy way to book and redeem videos from Santa throughout the holidays.”
This has been a tough year for retailers and many brands are hoping that the typically busy Q4 will help them make up for the losses of closed stores and pandemic-related fulfillment issues. Many brands have beefed up their digital and e-commerce efforts to help and are running digital marketing campaigns to help bolster sales. Carter’s is promoting this holiday campaign through paid search, branded emails and social ads.
Carter’s has been adapting its digital experience to make it easier to interact this year and as the holiday season ramps up, the brand is feeling ready. “We’re enhancing the online shopping experience to make it easier for customers to discover and purchase items via carters.com, oshkosh.com and skiphop.com,” Jenkins said. “We’ve continued to ramp up e-commerce efforts and our focus on hero essentials- from classic bodysuits to sleep and playsets, these items continue to trend up with families spending more time at home.”
The new “From Santa with Love” effort debuts in late October to help get consumers into the holiday spirit and keep its brand front and center when shopping for baby and children’s apparel — a strategic effort on Jenkins’ part.
“We know the season is starting earlier, which gave us the spark for ‘From Santa with Love’ as a way to really help parents get a jump on all things holiday,” Jenkins said. “We’re also introducing special promotions earlier and more frequently now through December.”
