Macy's Santaland Still Enchants Believers After 163 Years

The holidays have long been the time when American retailers look for a bit of extra help in their stores. Most of the short-term gigs are of the shelf-stocking and checkout nature. And that makes one recent ad that Macy’s posted to ZipRecruiter a standout. Requirements? “Always maintain a cheerful, upbeat demeanor,” “assist with crowd control,” and “direct and expedite guest visits with Santa.” Ah yes, Macy’s is hiring elves for Santaland. In case you’ve never had the pleasure of a visit, Santaland is the 13,000-square-foot seasonal installation at Macy’s Herald Square flagship that welcomes some 200,000 people a year. Young, old and in between, with children or solo, they all line up to meet the man in red. Which you can do at most any mall, so what’s different here? Well, investment, for one. While lots of stores will set up velvet ropes and a plywood throne, Macy’s spread for Mr. Claus would give Disney a run for its money. Santaland boasts human-sized nutcrackers, a toy workshop, an illuminated rainbow bridge and a serious toy train layout—11 scenes in all, nestled inside of an enchanted forest of 165 trees with 100,000 lights. (Oh, and there’s a Santa.) While the store might refer to it as the "Magic of Macy’s," what we’re really talking about is marketing. Santaland is a tour de force of differentiation, a feature that not only spikes foot traffic into the store but turns it into a genuine holiday destination. You’ll never get that at an Amazon distribution center. “Retail theater is what gets our store traffic,” Macy’s CMO Sharon Otterman told ADWEEK. “Yes, we have great brands, we have great assortment, we'll give customers a great value—but we also have an experience that people want to have with us.” Fittingly, it was an advertisement that led to the creation of Santaland. In 1861, the store ran a newspaper ad stating that Santa himself was filling the store shelves. The ad led New Yorkers to infer that Saint Nicholas could be found in the store—leaving management scrambling to hire one and build a pad for him. Starting in 1977, Santaland became a permanent installation on the eighth floor. Macy’s stores in Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco now offer Santa encounters as well. Though it’s open only between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, Santaland is still a branding tool the rest of the year. “A permanent home gives us [a chance to] continually improve on the experience,” Otterman said. “The other part is people just seeing the exterior and knowing that it’s a place.” This year, that place is fresh from a “full transformation” including new decorations and lights on all the trees. Santaland appointments book up days in advance and the lines are invariably long. Good thing the store hires part-time elves to handle all those visitors. Marketing 'Miracle' It’s hard to imagine a better piece of publicity than having your brand at the center of a Hollywood film. Now imagine the exposure if that movie has been replayed faithfully every holiday season for the last 77 years. This is the comfy spot Macy’s enjoys as the setting for the 1947 classic Miracle on 34th Street. The plot entails Macy’s firing a drunken Santa and then hastily signing an unknown man (Edward Gwenn) who looks just like him. Without giving away the ending, Santa’s genuineness and honesty with customers proves a windfall for the store. And in real life, that store is still happy to be associated with the movie. “It’s a big piece of our history,” Otterman said, “just [like] the holiday itself is part of our brand.” The many faces of Mr. Claus While the red suit and reindeer may be icons of Santa, the man himself rarely looks the same in the eyes of the kids who imagine him. Macy’s was ahead of the diversity curve on this one: The store has employed Black and Spanish-speaking Santas for decades. (Guests can specify which Santa they want to meet.) “We talk about it as there’s only one Santa—but there’s only one Santa for you,” Otterman said. “Whomever Santa is to you, that is what we want to reflect.” Peace, love and shopping A progenitor of “retail-tainment,” Macy’s has used its store windows (1) to lure customers into the store (2) since the late 1800s. In addition to drawing a TV audience of over 31 million people, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (3) promulgates Santaland (4), which the big man officially opens right after his sleigh arrives in front of the store.

Perspective

Macy's Santaland Still Enchants Believers After 163 Years

The man in red is just one part of a 13,000-square-foot wonderland inside Macy's flagship store in Herald Square

Robert Klara

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