Today's Notable Quote: "You happen to the set...and the set happens to you". - Doug Johnson, Experience marketer extraordinare, and creator of GGP's Santastic Experience.
You can find a traditional "Mall Santa" at hundreds...perhaps thousands of locations across the US. To experience the sights and sounds of Santastic, however, you must travel down to Cajun country into Baton Rouge - to Baltimore - or, as I did into the desert climes of Tuscon AZ.
So, what exactly is Santastic, and how did it originate?
A few years ago, Doug began thinking about the experience that his children had when paying a visit to the Mall Santa. It became obvious with each passing year that Santa didn’t know Hannah or Liam’s names—or what they hoped to receive for Christmas. This truly bothered him, believing as he does that Santa is a source for goodness and happiness—and is capable of eliciting such responses in children of all ages. What could be done to ensure that Santa knows each and every child by name?
This thinking led Mr. Johnson to the idea for Santastic—an interactive land in which family togetherness is fostered and where you “happen to the set” as the set “happens to you”. There is a true co-creation of value driven by the staging of a North Pole Experience as seen through the eyes of a six-year-old. Gone are the schlocky pillow stuffing and plastic trees—as well as the animatronic reindeer and snowmen. You have entered a different world—one in which Santa believes in you, and you in him.
Doug Johnson "mugging" for the camera prior to the morning opening of Tuscon's Santastic at Park Place Mall.
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