USPS
Operation Santa
It used to be that every letter mailed to Santa Claus was a wish that would go unread. We wanted to grant these wishes, so we partnered with the U.S Postal Service to create Operation Santa—a digital platform where these letters could finally be published, read, and answered by people from all over the country. Making the Holiday miracle of Santa real for many needy kids and families.
A digital platform full of handwritten letters—some happy, some heartbreaking.
And with one click on our digital platform, a reader could adopt a child’s letter and become their Santa.
The experiences people had with the handwritten letters from the kids, reading their stories, sparked a connection. The word spread quickly, during a season where people wanted to channel genuinely charitable holiday feelings into a good cause.
We designed an internal process to publish these letters and protect personal information while preserving the emotional impact of children’s handwriting. We also created a workflow, tutorials, and instruction manuals to prepare Post Office employees for gifts arriving by the truckload.
In 2020 we teamed up with filmmaker Dana Nachman, known for her documentary "Batkid Begins", to tell the story of Operation Santa. The Movie "Dear Santa" premiered December 4, 2020. I got a 89 % Rotten Tomatoes and was awarded best brand film at the Tribeca filmfestival in 2021.
