Did you know the image of Santa we know in Australia today was crafted by ad agencies - especially Coca Cola's team of creative thinkers?
He's not even the same the world over - the traditional British Santa wears green and has a wreath of holly on his head, and in Russia Santa is a demon accompanied by a snow maiden! In Sweden Santa is a dwarf, in Iceland he's thirteen naughty elves, and in Holland Sinterklass is a saintly character wearing a bishop's hat.
In Germany, Austria, and the Czech and Slovakian regions, Santa Claus isn't even male - children are visited by a female "Christ Child", who is a benevolent gift-bringer with long curly blonde hair! In Spain and other Hispanic countries, kids welcome Three Wise Men bearing gifts. And it doesn't even happen on Christmas Day, but on January 6th, the day the Three Wise Men supposedly arrived at the stable.
So what would Santa look like if his legend was being created by some groovy bunch of creatives today? No great big rotund guy with a white beard, that's for sure! This gave the creative team at Magnum Opus Partners a thought, so they had a go. Enjoy.