What Would Happen If Santa Hired a Brand Strategy Agency?

Tis the season to be branding. UK agency Quietroom makes much hay out of the entire practice of brand playbooks with its hilarious and scathing tongue-in-cheek online guide to a Santa Claus “brand refresh.”

“*Santa* is a Concept, not an idea. It’s an Emotion, not a feeling,” reads the front cover, “It’s both Yesterday and Today. And it’s Tomorrow as well.” This, of course, both evokes and skewers the bland and empty corporate language found in so many real-life brand strategy documents. The book is is riddled with it. Check out these “approved'” versions of the *Santa* logo:

Screen Shot 2013-12-11 at 9.56.11 AM

Or this ‘brand language’ guide:

Screen Shot 2013-12-11 at 10.36.41 AM

And, of course, concentric circles make an appearance.

Screen Shot 2013-12-11 at 12.44.11 PM

The playbook has apparently struck a chord: it’s already received more than 7,000 shares on Twitter, and 2,000 shares on Linkedin. No word on whether it’s made it to the North Pole yet, though-ho-ho.

More in Marketing

In Graphic Detail: Why YouTube is a genuine threat to Netflix

Digiday has charted exactly how YouTube is a real threat to Netflix, due to its dominance of watch time, user base and its ability to totally reshape viewing behaviors.

At Ebiquity, a new role signals marketing’s shift from metrics to meaning

Marketing has no shortage of data. Ebiquity is betting on judgement.

Lowe’s wants to do more with AI shopping in 2026

Mylow, a shopping assistant powered by ChatGPT that launched in March, is already driving double the conversion rate for online shoppers.