Having spent much of the past year or two banging on relentlessly about the need to explore new business models in order to stay relevant in the digital age, I figured it was about time I turned my attention to someone who most desperately needs to re-evaluate his current offering. Santa has pretty much had it all his own way around Christmas time for about as long as anyone can remember. But times are changing and we live in different times now. So here's a few things that the big guy might want to think about ...
IP Protection
It seems that dodgy copies of Santa are two-a-penny. Look on every high street, in every department store and marketplace and you'll see some half-arsed Santa rip-off in a fake cotton-wool beard, giving some poor kid a wholly unsatisfactory Santa experience and ho-ho-ho-ing all the way to the bank. These pirate Santas are seriously tarnishing the Claus brand. He needs to protect his IP and come down hard on these guys. Anyone found guilty of passing off a dodgy Santa on - say - three separate occasions should have their chimneys, letterboxes and doorbells bricked up so they can't receive any more Christmas deliveries. OK, it means they won't be able to receive any other vital post either, but that's a small price to pay for protecting Santa's IP, right?
Naughty & Nice Lists
The world's population is growing at an alarming rate and - somehow - Santa still has to stay on top of exactly who is naughty and nice. How does he do this for 6.8 billion people? We have to assume he has some sort of sophisticated spyware that allows him to listen in on conversations, online chats, emails, letters etc. If he's not doing so already, I'd recommend he employs some sentiment analysis algorithms that wil automatically filter people into the relevant list. Sure there's going to be a margin of error on this. So if you find yourself getting a lump of coal for Christmas when - in fact - you've been a saint all year, this is probably why.
Open Data Standards
OK ... so Santa has a list that includes everyone in the world and specifies whether they are naughty or nice? That's pretty valuable data right there. I think we should start a campaign to get him to make this data publicly available and in a usable format. There could be some pretty cool stuff coming out of this. I'm thinking a Santa's Naughty List / They Work For You mash-up. FOI anyone?
Distribution
While Santa is shipping toys by the sackful via his quaint, but somewhat outdated, Sleigh and Reindeer system from his sole outlet in the geographically-challenged North Pole, Amazon is kinda stealing a march. Seriously, Santa. Check out their distribution network. And maybe partner up with some local specialist merchants across the globe too. And how about digital distribution? There are more houses, flats and apartments with broadband these days than there are with chimneys. Fact!
Monetisation
What exactly is Santa's business model? From what I can make out, he gives away whatever you want and doesn't get anything back in return - except for the occasional glass of milk, cookies and the odd mince pie. Granted, this has allowed him to build up one hell of a user-base, but sooner or later he's going to have to start converting those users into paying customers. I suspect Twitter and Facebook will be watching his next step very closely.
Any more tips for Christmas 2.0? Post them in comments here and we'll make sure Santa gets them. In the meantime, may I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2010.