I will never forget the day that the illusion of Santa was destroyed for my children. We were at a local tourist attraction in the UK during school holidays, a visit to Santa was included in the ticket.

We joined the queue just after 1pm to discover that Santa had gone to lunch and would be back in thirty minutes. The boys waited patiently, the older ones wondering how Santa made it through a whole night of delivering presents around the world on Christmas Eve without stopping for dinner. Minutes before he was due back on duty a door to the side of Santa’s grotto opened and one of the elves slipped out leaving it ajar and Santa in full view. There sat the very slim, thirty year old man himself, complete with jet black hair and two dimensional cotton wool beard pulled down around his neck slurping from a pot of two minute noodles. The magic shattered on the spot like a delicate bauble.

6 Brand Storytelling Lessons From Santa Claus

1. Be consistent.
2. Listen to your customers.
3. Keep your promises.
4. Change how people feel, before trying to change what they think and do.
5. Don’t aim to matter to everyone.
6. Give the right people something to believe in.

Happy holidays!

Image by John Niedermeyer.