Operation Santa
United States Postal Service
Every holiday season, USPS received thousands of letters addressed to Santa. Many came from children and families in need. We created a digital product from sign in to sunset page. In 2019, the letter adoption program went nationwide and broke records by 600%. Check out our latest live site!
In 2017, we digitized the Operation Santa program allowing people in New York City to adopt a child's letter and spread holiday cheer. By Christmas, 100% of nearly 5,000 letters in our pilot program were adopted.
In 2018, we opened the program to 6 more cities across America. We made it possible for friends and families to get together and deliver cheer to kids. More and more letters were getting adopted.
In 2019, we took the digital program fully nationwide. Within only about 3 weeks of the site live from Dec 3rd to Dec 22nd, the program saw an amazing number of 12,761 letters adopted!
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I was the art director and UI designer of the digital campaign, collaborating closely with Creative, UX and Dev teams to improve the digital experience over 3 years.
Digital Product
2019 - USPS Operation Santa Homepage
Team Hub
In 2019, we ideated and created the team hub, so that families, groups, and organizations can adopt together and see their progress.
Campaign
We designed posters to be hung at retail Post Offices nationwide
We designed lapel pins for letter adopters
Animations
I helped art direct a few animations for the redesign of our 2018 USPS Operation Santa site. Here are a few of the beautiful and lively animations created by Kathryn Kirschner of characters designed by Colin Hesterly.
Results
We created this case study for judges from around the world for various prestigious international creative communications award shows to learn more about our campaign.
We won a few awards along the way!
2018:
Cannes Lions - Creative Data, 2018 - Bronze Winner
Cannes Lions Titanium, 2018 - Shortlist
Cannes Lions - Brand Activation: PR, 2018 - Shortlist
The Webby Awards - Corporate Social Responsibility, 2018 - Award Winner
The One Show - Media Relations, 2018 - Gold Pencil
The One Show - Innovation in Public Relations, 2018 - Gold Pencil
The One Show - Innovation in Interactive , 2018 - Silver Pencil
Clios Awards - PR: Special Event, 2018 - Shortlist
Clios Awards - Direct: Digital/Mobile, 2018 - Shortlist
New York Festivals - Activation & Engagement, 2018 - Bronze Winner
New York Festivals - Avant-Garde Discipline, 2018 - Bronze Winner
The Webby Awards - Best Social Community Building, 2018 - Nominee 3X
El Sol - PR Innovation, PR CSR, 2018 - Shortlist 2X
ECHOS - Campaign For Social Good, Consumer Products & Services, 2018 - Gold Winner
ECHOS - Campaign For Social Good, Consumer Products & Services, 2018 - Silver Winner
Cresta - Promotions & Incentives, Interactive- Corporate Image, 2018 - Bronze
London International Awards - Digital: Public Service & Social Awareness, 2018 - Shortlist
Epica Awards - Public Image, 2018 - Bronze Winner
2019:
The One Show - Creative Effectiveness, 2019 - Merit Winner
Cannes Lions - PR, 2019 - Bronze Winner
D&AD - Impact: Community and Civic Engagement, 2019 - Shortlisted
Clio Awards - Corporate Image: Public Service, 2019 - Bronze Winner
Clio Awards - Cause Related: Public Service, 2019 - Bronze Winner
London International Awards - Print: Direct Marketing - Consumer, 2019 - Bronze Winner
Creative Team:
Art Directors: Nancy Zhu, Asyia Fisher
Copywriters: Sasha Galkin, Kate Rohrich
UI Designer: MinJu Yoon
UX: Kate Neely, David Grant
Designer: Colin Hesterly
Animator: Kathryn Kirschner
ACD: Jane Kim
CDs: Tony Jones, Daniel Carlsson