It’s nearly Christmas!
Which means it’s that time of year a certain someone with the biggest personal brand going gets the festive cogs in motion to being it all to life.
Santa!
So, who better to explore Santa Incorporated than the CEO herself, Hollie Tinsel!
Hollie explores how Santa’s narrative has evolved over time and the moment she thought the brand was over, brought down by Miracle of 34th Street. She shares how to cope with these negative narratives in business and how to stay authentic.
We also get a sneaky peek behind the scenes into Santa’s operations and how to create a positive workplace culture.
Hollie was a festive delight to talk to and I’m sure you’ll learn a lot from how Old St. Nick runs his business.
“That negative storyline actually ended up strengthening Santa’s brand” – Hollie Tinsel
Key Takeaways
- Storytelling is essential for building customer relationships.
- Authenticity is key, even in challenging situations.
- Understanding your audience is crucial for success.
- A positive workplace culture enhances employee satisfaction.
- Coping with negative narratives can strengthen your brand.
You’ll hear about:
00:00 – The moment Hollie thought it was over for Santa
02:53 – The Importance of Santa’s Brand Story
05:47 – Santa’s Origin and Authentic Brand Story
08:08 – Coping with Negative Narratives About Santa
10:07 – Operations at Santa Incorporated
12:34 – Work Culture and Values at Santa Incorporated
13:54 – Storytelling Key Takeaways and Conclusion
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Today’s guest was Hollie Tinsel, COO of Santa Incorporated. You can reach Hollie by sending a letter care of Santa Claus, North Pole.
Thanks for watching and listening to this episode. Don’t forget to leave us a review and subscribe so you don’t miss the next Season.
Your host:
KATIE FLAMMAN (she/her) – Voiceover Artist, Presenter, Announcer, Podcaster, Founder of Storyteller Media.
Website: www.katieflamman.co.uk
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Transcript
“I was horrified. The film says that Santa is not real, and the man claiming to be him is mentally ill. He’s deranged, suffering from delusions.
Oh, you’re Santa. Are you prove it? I thought this is it.
We’re finished.
You. Hello. I’m Katie Flamman.
Welcome to storytelling for business, the podcast that helps you build better customer relationships by telling stories your clients want to hear. And here we are with our very special, festive episode. It’s so good to be back.
Since we last spoke, the podcast has had some amazing feedback, including three Award nominations, two at the voice Arts Awards in America and one at the UK’s prestigious independent Podcast Awards. It is such a lovely endorsement of the show. I’m really grateful for that, and to you for listening and now, of course, watching in this podcast, we’re on a mission together to explore the power of storytelling and figure out what it can do for your business.
How can telling stories possibly lead to well, leads, and how can talking about your fears, your failures, your mess ups, build client relationships that last you want to get your message across and be remembered. And that is not easy. This podcast investigates how to do it.
I talk to creatives who helps CEOs figure out what their story is and how to share it in scroll stopping unignorable ways, telling that’s a real word. Never mind. I also talk to regular business owners too about what they do and how they do it.
I’ve chatted to loads of lovely people. Please check out previous episodes, there’s a vet, a charity boss, a Bucha, a wide range of business owners, but they all have one thing in common. They’re all harnessing the power of authentic storytelling to build their brands and their bank balance.
And today, I’ve got a really special guest for you, who’s joining us at her busiest time of year. I’ve taught for quite long enough. So welcome to the show.
Please introduce yourself and tell everybody who you are and what you do. Hello, Katie, thanks for having me. I’m Holly tinsel.
I’m the Chief Operating Officer at Santa incorporated based at the North Pole. It’s such a treat to be here as your festive guest on storytelling for business. So excited.
Where do you want to start? Well, we would love “to know all about you, Holly. So let’s start at the beginning.
How did you come to work with Santa? Well, I worked my way up through the ranks. Basically I joined as an intern 20 something years ago, and I loved it, because I got to experience all aspects of Santa’s business.
I was particularly passionate about branding and marketing side of things, and I spent 10 years in that department. So I jumped at the chance to talk to you, Katie, because we obsessed about storytelling in that department, and rightly so, because the power of story, it’s so important to everybody’s business, but to ours. I think in particular, can you tell us a bit more about that?
What do you mean? Exactly sure. Sans brand his story, it’s so much more than red and white brand colors or a jolly guy with a beard, that version of the brand you might know it was created by Coca Cola advertising in 1931 but course, sand has been a legend for a lot longer than that.
He just didn’t have his brand story, saw it. Can you explain what you mean by that? Well before the 30s, there were many different depictions of Santa Claus around the world.
There was a tall, gaunt man and an elf. There was even a scary claws. But Santa’s purpose, the purpose of Santa incorporate it too has always shone through.
Santa’s purpose is to represent the spirit of Christmas and the values that go with that goodwill, sharing, love, forgiveness and equality. It’s a trusted brand. Santa’s probably the one of the most famous people on the planet, right?
And we use story to get the Santa purpose and brand message in front of our audience. And course, our audience is kids, children all over the world, and those kids need to know that they’re seeing. Mean they are special and they’re loved.
Holly, you said Santa’s been a legend for a long time, and we all know that. Can you tell us a bit about his origin story? Of course.
So Santa’s story originates in Europe, long before the symbol of Father Christmas emerged in England. The separate Legend of sinter class was gaining ground in Europe. The origins of sinter class can be found in the stories of St Nicholas, who was a fourth century Greek Bishop from Myra which is now in modern day, Turkey.
And St Nicholas was credited with performing a wide variety of miracles. And of course, we all know that hundreds of years later, that magic is still going strong today. So Holly, we’ve covered Santa’s origin story and authentic brand story, which is obviously really important to the business.
But then I’m interested to talk a bit about the other stories around Santa, because there are books and songs and goodness knows how many films with Santa in them. And in those cases, story isn’t under your control. Is it?
Santa Incorporated, has no power over that story, and sometimes those stories don’t show Santa in a very favorable light. I’m thinking of an Ella Fitzgerald song, and I think it’s also a kid’s song that a fat shaming Santa when he gets stuck in the chimney, and a classic movie Miracle on 34th Street springs to mind as well, where he’s accused of suffering from delusions and he has to go to court to prove that He is real. So how does Santa Inc cope with those kinds of negative stories?
Well, we do have a busy PR department, but actually, those examples are interesting because they show vulnerability. Like, yeah, Santa is not a slim gentleman, but there are plenty of svelte young superheroes out there for kids to admire. That’s what comic books and Marvel movies are for, right?
But not so many overweight grandparent type figures, but Santa is a great role model. Because of that, you don’t have to be skinny to be one of the good guys, and you don’t have to get it right all the time either. Sometimes Santa gets a bit stuck, but don’t we all those things make him very human and very relatable, as for Miracle on 34th Street.
The first version of that movie was released in, I think, 1947 so a little bit before my time. But I’ll never forget, when I saw the trailer for the remake in 1994 I was horrified. The film says that Santa is not real, and the man claiming to be him is mentally ill.
He’s deranged, suffering from delusions. Oh, you’re Santa. Are you prove it?
I thought, This is it. We’re finished. But I was wrong.
That negative storyline actually ended up turning into a positive and strengthening Santa’s brand in the end. Do you think there’s a lesson in there for other businesses? Absolutely, things go wrong in business all the time, like the chimney thing, and as a business owner, you just have to pick yourself up and be honest if you make a mistake, apologize if necessary, and do all you can to make amends.
Like for us, the most important thing is not disappointing children. We are their festive service provider, and they are our trusting audience. So if we make a mistake, we say sorry, and we make it better.
And we have to accept that often we can’t control the narrative, so we just have to stay calm, face the fear and move through it. I think fundamentally, any business wants their story to be re, shared and retold, and as long as your core brand is solid underneath, it’s probably all good publicity in the end, brilliant advice. Okay, so you are second in command at Santa, incorporated at the top of the organization.
So what does being coo there involve? Well, as the COO, I’m responsible for overseeing the day to day operations of everything we do at the North Pole. Part of my job is reporting directly to Nick Santa himself.
Ha. And managing and motivating the staff. They work across a lot of different areas of the business, and it’s my role to implement strategies to make sure everything’s working well together.
So for example, there’s the data collection and analysis that making sure every child that writes to Santa gets their letter read and naughty and correctly actioned. And from that comes the naughty list and the nice list, which are updated 24/7, there’s another team working on those all year round. Oh, so it’s not just a seasonal operation, then, not at all.
Our manufacturing arm is extremely busy all the time, but everyone takes the whole of August off. That’s a nod to our European roots. So we shut down the toy workshops, the factories and the staff all take a break.
I’m guessing Logistics is probably a big part of your job. Everything’s a logistical puzzle. We’re a global toy manufacturing and toy distribution operation and distribution is a massive part of it all for us, we only get one chance to get that right one night.
And even with magic, it is a huge undertaking to get every gift to every child, the correct home correctly in just one night. It’s not long. What’s it like to work there?
Holly, I love it. Honestly. I’m proud of what we do.
I can’t imagine ever working anywhere else. We have a beautiful, diverse workforce. There are magical folk, humans, reindeer, and everyone is treated with respect.
Every voice matters, and I learn something new every day from my colleagues. It’s very important to us to have a positive workplace culture. We work hard at that.
Everyone knows the elf. Business values efficiency, loyalty and fairness. You probably heard of Santa’s elfs.
Well, that’s what that’s all about. And we seek anonymous staff feedback, and it is overwhelmingly positive, and if there are concerns, we act. I really believe in our business values, and I’m just so happy and proud to work at Santa incorporated and make a positive difference to people’s lives and give them memories to treasure.
I don’t know how many other businesses offer that, and I’m really, really grateful to work where I do. What a wonderful endorsement. Holly.
Thank you so much for sharing all of that amazing information. And there’s so much in there that’s relevant to regular business owners too well, I better let you go. I know this is a really busy time of year for you, and I really, really appreciate you joining me on the podcast.
So Holly tinsel. Thank you so much for joining us. You’re so welcome.
Thank you so much for having me. Katie and Merry Christmas. Wow, what a woman.
She reminded me of somebody I’m not quite sure who, but something very familiar about her. There was so much to take from that conversation that you can use in your business, as I just said to Holly. So let us recap today’s key takeaways.
And you know me, you’ve got to have an acronym, right? Today’s, of course, is S A N T A Santa, so, let’s start.
S is for storytelling.
Not only should you be telling your own stories, you want stories to be told about you and your business. Holly reminded us that all the stories that about Santa in films, books, songs, the whole bit, they become one multi layered narrative. Even when you can’t control the story you’re in or it feels negative, you can still own it “and move through it, even if it’s difficult.
Ultimately, all those Santa stories work together to reinforce Santa’s reputation and build the Santa brand.
Okay, A is for authenticity, even when things don’t go smoothly. Holly reminded us that Santa is always authentically himself.
Poor guy’s had his fair share of challenges, from chimneys to courtrooms, but when times get tough, he stays true to his purpose of spreading joy and never letting his customers down. Everyone knows that Santa is one of the good guys.
N It’s for North Pole.
Wasn’t it inspiring to hear about Santa’s HQ at the North Pole, how Holly and Santa manage that diverse workforce, how they promote the positive workplace culture through their elf elf business values, efficiency, loyalty and fairness. Is your office like that?
If it is, why not share stories about it? And if there isn’t, is there anything you could do to improve conditions for your staff? Maybe let your staff tell their stories.
Okay, T is for toys. Santa’s toy distribution operation is a masterpiece of global logistics. Maybe you’ve got a story about how you managed to deliver for your customers, against the odds, why not share it?
And that last A is for audience. Santa and his team know their audience inside out. You know exactly what kids want, not only from the individual letters they receive, but from ongoing market research, which informs the nice list and the dreaded naughty list.
Santa gives gifts that make everyone feel seen and special. Do your customers feel like that about your business? If they do get those five star reviews and share those stories?
Well, now I’ve got to go. My presents won’t wrap themselves, and honestly, I think it’s about time for a cup of tea and a mince pie. Oh, I almost forgot, though, I’ve got a gift for you, season three of storytelling for business.
Woo. It’s not gonna be ready by Christmas Eve, unfortunately, but you will be able to enjoy it soon. It’s another bumper bonanza of business boosting content from the biggest, brightest and best storytelling experts.
Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss it when it drops. And if you’ve enjoyed this episode, and if you don’t mind, please take a minute to leave me a holiday gift. I’d love a podcast review.
Thank you. Thanks so much for your company. It’s been so much fun recording this episode.
I’m Katie flammon and sometimes some other people too, and this is storytelling for business until next time. Goodbye.”
From Storytelling For Business: Seasonal Stories: Behind the Scenes at Santa Inc, 10 Dec 2024
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