Thursday, December 18, 2008

What Will They Think of Next?: Santa Sends a Personal Video Message to Your Child




Every year, kids from all over the world pen letters to Santa, assuring that they've been nice, and requesting their favourite toys, along with things like peace on earth and happiness for all. They might receive a letter back confirming that Santa has received the note, but in the digital age, why not take things one step further? Sympatico/MSN has done just that with a dedicated Website, www.portablenorthpole.sympatico.msn.ca/home that allows you to create a personalized message from Santa to a child of your choice.

Visit the site, and answer questions like how old the child is, whether it's a boy or girl, and what his/her name is. Select (from an existing list of options) what the child has requested for Christmas (a doll, electronic toy, or movie, perhaps?) To make the message even more personal, you can even upload a photo of the child, which will appear on the "nice" list that Santa has on his lap.

Once completed, show the child the video message that Santa e-mailed to you for him/her; you've got connections! The fact that he calls the child by name, knows his/her age, and even what the child has asked for, will light up the child's face. The only drawback is that if the child's name isn't in the pre-made list, while you can manually type it in for consideration to be added to the growing list, Santa won't say it. The same goes for an unusual gift requests.

The video can be accessed at any time afterwards via an e-mail address and password; or by clicking on the direct link.
From a technology perspective, the site is actually part of a beta platform set up by Ugroupmedia. The company hopes to utilize the patent-pending technology for other concepts in the future, ranging from online advertising to video blogging.

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