In 2016, the 8th year of Macy’s Holiday ‘Believe’ campaign that promotes the holiday tradition of generosity, Macy’s turned to digital, when encouraging children to write letters to Santa. Macy’s Wish Writer is an interactive stylus and app that enables kids to send letters to Santa filled with magical inks, vibrant colors, and their own creativity. The Wish Writer app is decked with mini-games and numerous activities.
Inspired by the famous Christmas editorial, ‘Yes, Virginia’ (see below on this page), the app’s main character, Virginia, accompanies users throughout the story. She teaches users how to play each game and also explains that acts of kindness and generosity are what the holiday season is all about.
My role, within this large-scale Macy’s / Media Monks Amsterdam / J. Walter Thompson New York production, was to write both the scripts for Virginia’s narration throughout, and to provide basic structure and foundation for the eight different mini-games.
An excerpt from my work-in-progress script for Virginia's introduction to the Wish Writer stylus and app
‘Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus’ is a phrase from an 1897 editorial in The (New York) Sun entitled, ‘Is there a Santa Claus?’. The editorial, which has since become part of popular Christmas folklore in the U.S., is the editor’s attempt to answer a question sent in by an eight-year-old girl, Virginia O’Hanlon. More than 100 years after publication, this is still reportedly the most reprinted newspaper editorial in the English language.
Through their ‘Believe’ campaign, which has incorporated the character of Virginia since 2008, Macy’s encourages children to write letters to Santa. Each letter contributes to donations for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, which grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions. Through the Wish Writer campaign, Macy’s was contributing $1 to the Make-a-Wish Foundation, for every letter written to Santa.
The Macy’s Wish Writer and app was a smash success. Approximately 100,000 units were sold through 800 stores. Users spent an average of 17 minutes playing the games, which contributed to the sending of a massive 2.7 million letters to Santa.
Virginia is a featured character in each year's gigantic Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City
An excerpt from my work-in-progress scripts for the 'Snowman Stacker' and 'Sled Errands' game sections
