Santa Claus is a brilliant brand and icon in western culture. Having begun in the Netherlands through the Dutch legend of Sinter Klaas, the beta-model of Santa was brought by settlers to New York in the 17th century. There the Santa brand stewed in a small test market undergoing several variations and improvements. At times being a tall gaunt man, at others a dwarflike being, the image and marketing particulars were continually progressed forward by writers like Washington Irving and Clement Clarke Moore. Moore improved upon the brand with such details as the names of the reindeer; Santa Claus’s laughs (Ho ho ho) as well as winks, and nods and the method by which Saint Nicholas, referred to as an elf still at this point, returned up the chimney. So much of the early footwork in the marketing department was done by Moore. Finally, after this beta testing was finished in the small market, the Santa Claus brand was ready to lend itself to another better established brand in the Coca-Cola Company. This is where Santa really came into his own. 2006 marked the 75th anniversary of the famous Coca-Cola Santa Claus. In 1931 Coke went on the marketing offensive and used the iconic small market indie brand of Santa Claus to leverage their already strong identity. They could have easily rested on their laurels or the fact that they put Cocaine in their drink but no, Coca-Cola saw the potential in this small boutique start-up and incorporated it with all its street cred into their marketing plan. They created the red and white Santa we know and love today, using their signature red and white Coca-Cola colors. This really brought the Santa brand into the big leagues.

Now, onto Jesus and the Christian brand.

Jesus was born around 0 AD in Nazareth, in what is today, thanks to much bloodshed and international negotiating, the state of Israel. He lived a simple underdog kind of life. Coming from a blue collar meat and potatoes family he had to compete with several other self-proclaimed messiahs who were active in the same market at the time. Jesus took the high road though and was relatively quiet for the first 25 years or so of his life. Perhaps knowing that the messiah market was saturated at that time. Later in his life, after several miracles including a fantastic PR event in which fishes and loaves were created out of water and thin air and some beautifully orated sermons were attended (one on a Mount in particular) he came to be seen as a rebel and was crucified by the establishment, which was Roman at the time.  There are still some who doubt the existence of this iconic savior but it’s hard to deny the power of the Christian brand today. The real spread of this religious brand begins with Saul of Tarsus though, who was later renamed Paul. Paul suffered from at least one if not several diseases, most notably epilepsy (which was nick-named by the Romans as the Holy Disease as many who had it claimed divine visions). 30 years after Jesus’ death Paul spread the word all over the slowly crumbling Roman empire, his early PR work laid the foundation for Christianity becoming the official religious brand of the Roman empire.

In 325 AD the First Council of Nicea eventually came to some consensus over the final  brand identity and company culture of Roman Christianity. Though some final disagreements over what Christianity was and who Jesus was remained to be hammered out in the 2nd Council of Nicea nearly 500 years later. So once again we see a beta model gain its legs  in a test market and then a spread to a larger market through leveraging by an even larger brand (in the Case of Santa Claus Coca-Cola and in the case of Christianity it’s Rome and later the Roman Catholic Church) and in both cases these have become important parts of Christmas, some would argue the most important. Most kids today would probably argue that neither are as important as plastic presents made in China which remain popular for a few months until they grow out of them. Those things are awesome.  For the best Christmas and boxing day deals go here.

So whether or not you believe in Santa Claus, Jesus or Capitalism  I wish you a happy and healthy Christmas.

The opinions expressed in this Senses post are not the official historical position taken on Santa Claus or Jesus by Thirdi. They are the sole ideas of the Author and in no way reflect the company’s beliefs or positions on either. See what happens when bloggers have Crown Royal and chocolate for lunch.

Related posts:

1. How to Scare the Crap Out of Your Kids at Christmas
2. Chatter in the clouds: why brand monitoring is now a team effort
3. Merry Christmas One and All