The new animated promo campaign for ITV’s major new charity initiative Text Santa kicks off on 26th November 2011. ITV Creative worked alongside industry experts Lambie-Nairn and Aardman Animations to bring the campaign to life.
The aim of Text Santa is to raise awareness and money for those most vulnerable during the festive period and will appeal to the public to raise money mainly via text donation. The promo uses the concept of using joy as currency to send happiness to those who need it most at Christmas. The first phase of the campaign launches on 26th November 2011, with a call to action featuring celebrities launching on 3rd December 2011. The loveable Text Santa animated characters will also take over the ITV idents from 10th December 2011.
Text Santa begins on ITV1 on 11th December with a one-hour live launch show presented by Phillip Schofield and Christine Bleakley. The exciting finale will take place on Christmas Eve and will be presented by a number of high profile hosts including Ant and Dec . Other much loved names from television, music and show business will join the presenters for the three hour entertainment event. The confirmed UK wide charities are Carers UK, Crisis, Help the Hospices, Samaritans and WRVS plus Great Ormond Street Children’s Charity, Helping Hand, Noah’s Ark Appeal and Yorkhill Children’s Foundation. Text Santa is supported by partnerships with Asda, Vodafone and Bird’s Eye.
Lambie-Nairn developed the brand identity for the campaign, both on and off air. This included the creation of a family of loveable characters named ‘Santa’s little helpers’, each with their own personalities and character traits which was then bought to life by Aardman, spreading the spirit of Christmas.
Text Santa is an ITV Studios production for ITV1.
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