Spark’s Santaline has been connecting New Zealand children to Santa since 1993. Last year, more than 950,000 Kiwi kids called to make Santa knew what they really wanted for Christmas.

This year, Colenso BBDO has helped Spark to come up with a heart-warming way to remind people about the line and give them a bit of fun along the way.

The agency used Facebook Live to launch Rudolph Cam, a GoPro-inspired film of the red-nosed reindeer’s test flight over New Zealand.

The social campaign allowed users to “be part of” Rudolph’s incredible journey in real time via Facebook Live – watching as he made his way from the wild west coast of Muriwai to the heart of Auckland city at sunset.

The 30 minute film was shot from Rudolph’s perspective and was followed by two 15 second videos to show some of the stunning highlights of the flight. It accumulated more than 280,000 views in less than two weeks on Facebook.

Spark’s head of brand, communications & experience, Sarah Williams, commented, “The Spark Santaline is a really special part of the Kiwi Christmas. Many who remember calling the Santaline as kids now have their own children who are putting in calls to Santa. This year we wanted to use technology to make that experience even more magical, and what could be more perfect than being up there with Rudolph on a pre-Christmas flight.”

The Rudolph Cam video is available to watch on Spark’s Facebook page and the Santaline is ready to take calls. Calls are free from New Zealand. The Santaline will be live until Christmas.

Credits:

Client: Spark NZ

Head of brand, communications and experience: Sarah Williams

Communications manager: Frith Wilson-Hughes

Communications executive: Daniel Burnside

Agency: Colenso BBDO

Sound: Franklin Road