Class Action Santa

This has been in our head for a while...

...ah, the fall season is here, football, the kids are back in school and the march towards all those great holidays is in full swing. Speaking of that, we realize this challenging economy is a dog eat dog world of getting to what little money consumers are spending first, but why aren’t the typical fall holidays filing some sort of law suit against ol’ Saint Nick and his giant corporation?

We ask because while ringing up our purchases on a recent shopping trip to the nearest Home Depot, we noticed the clashing of bright red and orange out of the corner of our eye. Who else could it be, but a 12 foot Santa Clause waiting to be checked off some poor sap’s Honey Do List. Last time we looked the baseball playoffs haven’t even gotten through the first round and the residents of Minneapolis aren’t plugging their cars in yet.

Wouldn’t you think that a group of plastic Jack O’ Lanterns, the assistant regional manager of costume sales from Party City, some very distant relatives of Christopher Columbus, a lobbyist from a large mall ownership group and a couple of former Navy Seals could get with Jackie Childs from Seinfeld or maybe Matlock to partner up on a class action suit against the Jolly One? His complete disregard for the other holiday’s selling cycles is pretty ridiculous, don’t you think?

What a site that trial would be, the plaintiff side of the courtroom over crowded with this motley crew of holiday celebrations, Matlock ringing his hands to ease the nervous tension in his already scattered mind. Then on the other side, knowing his high dollar team of corporate litigators have cooked the perfect jury to give him a victory, sits the bearded one. The only nervousness he has is how many units of the 12 foot Santa have moved so far today...he gave them a heck of a volume discount in exchange for putting them up before October 15^th. Santa is VERY aware that volume is the key to profitability this season and also because Mrs. Clause has been eyeing that new AWD Lexus that parks on its own and that ain’t cheap. In the end, Santa’s legal team not only wins the case, but also recruits Matlock to give them that more grandfatherly image for future claims made against him by other holiday groups.

What can we learn from this in regards to marketing?

Holiday seasons are about getting together with family, no matter what your beliefs; we’re not looking for a debate on religion here. We do want to ask if you have any control over promotions at your company that you hold of on the Christmas push until the day after Halloween...you’ll have 54.5 days left, plenty of time.

Get creative, talk with your customers, talk with your sales and marketing staffs...heck, give us a call...there are MUCH better ideas to increase revenue in early October.

Like we said...this has been in our head for a while...did it get in yours?

PS-Happy Holidays, www.onthebraincreative.com