Santa Claus has been spotted dropping into media agencies in Australia early this year.
The off-season visits caused a stir, with agency staff lining up to get their photo taken with the red-suited guardian of presents.
BrandSpace at Scentre Group kicked off Christmas in July with the launch of Season for Westfield, in-agency activations with the same Santa who is the Christmas face of Westfield.
The activiations have the same setup seen at Christmas, with photos instantly printed and framed.
At CHEP, Santa told AdNews he wasn't worried about the extra work mid year ... it was his role to bring joy no matter the season.
At Havas, CEO Virginia Hyland said: "Chocolate and Santa! What a fun day for all Havassians when the real Santa visited us thanks to Brandspace. As a Christmas Day baby myself celebrating with Santa at the half way point is joyous and needs to be experienced."
The events are rolling out across 15 agencies in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.
The agencies:
NSW: GroupM (MindShare, Wavemaker & Mediacom), Omnicom (OMD, PHD, Foundation + H&S), CHEP, UM, Initiative, Dentsu (Carat & IProspect) and Havas.
VIC: MediaBrands (Initiative & UM), Omnicom (OMD & PHD), GroupM (MindShare, Wavemarker & Mediacom), Spark and Zenith
QLD: Carat, OMD, GroupM (Essence, Mediacom, Wavemaker)
Santa at CHEP iN Sydney (Photo by Paul Carroll):
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