Value City

Value City, a discount retailer, wanted to get the attention of busy holiday shoppers during the Christmas rush, so the company asked my agency for help.

As usual, ads were created for every medium to publicize the store’s best deals, but they needed something more that could cut through the cacophony of holiday promotions.

As a solution, my team created a fun little publicity stunt to grab the attention of shoppers outside of malls and shopping centers. The idea: outfit a team of Santas with crutches and leg casts to hobble around and hand people flyers. On the flyer, a note from Santa explained that he got hurt during chimney practice, so he wouldn’t be able to help you with gifts this year, but in his absence, use the Value City coupon on the back of the flyer.

As a copywriter on the project, I conceived of the idea, wrote the Santa note, then worked with my art director partner and the rest of the team to produce the stunt.

The stunt received generally positive responses from shoppers, and it even got picked up by the New York Times.

See below for the flyer and the New York Times article.