WestJet, a Canadian-based airline, delivered Christmas early to some recent travelers. On what should be a typical flight from Toronto to Calgary, WestJet set up a virtual Santa by the gate asking all of the flyers what they wanted for Christmas. In good Christmas spirit, the flyers played along and told Santa what was at the top of their lists this Christmas season. What the flyers didn’t know was that Santa was also watching the flyers on camera, live at an undisclosed location (perhaps the North Pole?) and that WestJet employees were furiously scribbling down every present that these flyers asked for. The true magic was about to begin.
While the travelers boarded and flew to Calgary, a team of WestJet employees were going to fulfill every wish these travelers just gave to Santa. They hit the local malls, Best Buy and any other retail outlet to track down all the gifts on their list, and obviously checking it twice along the way. They hustled back to the WestJet headquarters, where a team was waiting to wrap the presents and deliver them to the Calgary airport, ahead of the flight’s landing. The final piece of the puzzle was delivering the gifts. When the travelers arrived at the baggage claim, expecting for the luggage to start to come out, instead they were surprised by row after row of presents, with personal notes to each and every travel and the gifts that they had asked for just four hours earlier.
WestJet filmed the entire experience and the reactions are priceless. No doubt there are some new believers in Santa for this coming holiday season and likely some WestJet customers for life!
~ Matt Mauriello, Account Director, The S3 Agency
