Marketing lessons from Santa

Christmas is almost here, and while many children across the world are already shaking in anticipation of what the jolly old man will bring them ("Could be that video game you asked for...or it could be a biiiig box o' meat."), others have reached that painful time in a child's life when you realize you only have your parents to blame for never getting that pony. My innocence was shattered the other day when I saw "Santa" sitting in a blow-dryer chair in a rinky-dink hair salon in New Bern, North Carolina. I asked the girl who was cutting my hair if it was indeed Santa. She replied, "Yep, that's him. We have two that come in every year to get their beards and hair whitened and fluffed up." It was just all wrong, and quite devastating.

I'm kidding of course, I stopped believing in Santa Claus years ago (but there really was a "Santa" in that salon). It's interesting though, how the Santa myth persists year after year in our society and around the world. Only a very small portion of the population believes that he's real, but it doesn't matter. And all those heartbroken kids eventually get over it and play along - for younger siblings, their own kids, etc.

Santa as a brand (if I may be so bold as to apply a commercial perspective to Christmas....oh, wait...) has held up well over the years. So what can marketers learn from Old St. Nick?

Just for fun, a few marketing lessons from Santa:

• Inspire people to aspire (make them put your product or service on their wish list)
  
• Listen to your customers (give everyone a chance to sit on your proverbial knee)
  
• Make people confident that you'll deliver what they want (even when it seems logistically impossible)
  
• Strive for positive word of mouth (so that even if someone outgrows your services, they will refer you to someone else)
• Spread joy (make people feel good and they'll stick with you year after year)
• Give (be charitable to the community, it feels good and it's great PR)

Happy holidays to all!