Myer Takes Children on The 'Santaland Express' in New Campaign via Ideaworks by Y&R and Sixty40

Dialling up Christmas joy for Myer this year, Sixty40 director Kyra Bartley has collaborated with Ideaworks by Y&R to create an experiential campaign that takes children on a magical train ride to visit 'Santaland', the department store's regular in-store Christmas instalment.

Titled 'Santaland Express', Sixty40 was briefed to create a two-minute CGI and live-action combined film that transports viewers through a journey to Santaland.

Housed inside purpose-built train carriage installations located across major department stores around the country, the film is viewed through actual windows built into the carriage walls to create the illusion of watching a fantastical world whizzing past outside.

Working closely with Heckler CG lead artist Luke Carvell, Bartley says one of the main project challenges, for her as a director and for the team, was adapting to the scale of screens they delivered across.

Says Bartley: "There are four screens on each side of the train so it was essentially a hyper-wide screen aspect showing a constantly travelling world outside.

"It meant there was a lot of ground to cover and much content to create for the experience to come to life. Luke devised a balanced and seamless combination of live action footage, 3D and high res stills to give us plenty of room to play in a world that felt engaging and fun."

To achieve a fantasy look and feel, Bartley approached the project by incorporating a dual sense of time. Foreground elements move at real-time speed, whilst background elements and skies move in time-lapse, taking the viewer from day to night and back to day again.

Says Charu Menon, senior producer, Sixty40: "After the success of last year's collaboration with Myer on its Wonderland Lift, we were pumped to take on another experiential campaign designed to get families and children into the Christmas spirit."

Says Danny Lattouf, regional head of retail, Y&R ANZ: "Myer has such a strong Christmas legacy and we were humbly charged with delivering a truly special experience for tens of thousands of kids in Australia. 

"We were inspired by the opportunity to bring the things we loved about the traditions of celebrating Christmas as children and pair that with the incredible innovations we experience through technology today. Our aim was to create the ultimate Christmas adventure. A place where childhood Christmas never ends."