This year, for the umpteenth time in umpteen years, I have been re-enjoying the Santa Brand Book. It truly is the Christmas gift that keeps on giving, with new forms of sharing introducing it to new waves of people each year. One friend who forwarded it to me this year suggested that it had been enhanced/supplemented for 2013 – personally I didn’t notice any changes from last time I saw it, but that doesn’t matter: it’s still brilliant. The graph showing belief in Santa, mapped against belief in God and socialism is not just funny, it’s highly profound, bordering on philosophy.
Bearing in mind it was created by a marketing agency (www.quietroom.co.uk) with the aim of generating exposure and traffic and ultimately driving revenue from business customers, it counts as B2B. Sure, Santa isn’t a business topic (unless you’re an elf) but this book discusses ‘him’ as if he were a business/marketing entity.
Whether the Santa Brand Book is B2B or not, it’s still without doubt one of the most compelling and brilliant pieces bits of content marketing ever created. Surely it ends the debate once and for all about whether or not content is a key B2B marketing discipline.
Okay, so you don’t have to log-in to view this ebook, which limits the demand gen element here, but in terms of brand profile and thought leadership positioning it is clearly a winner.
If you’ve not seen it already, go take a look. Be amused and be inspired. If I had been responsible for anything even half as compelling and memorable as the Santa Brand Book, which was still wowing people several years after it had first emerged, I would break for the holidays very satisfied at job well done. Enjoy, and happy Christmas. Ho-ho-ho indeed.
