Get in the Christmas spirit with WestJet’s Christmas Miracle Video
WestJet has gained a reputation for mixing philanthropy into their advertising strategy. It all started last Christmas with a video entitled WestJet Christmas Miracle: Real -Time Giving. In the video WestJet suprised unsuspecting travelers with a real-time holiday surprise that delivered personalized gifts to guests arriving in Calgary as part of a true “Christmas Miracle.” WestJet went on to win several advertising awards for the campaign and subsequently carried the idea on into other holidays.
In keeping with the tradition, WestJet decided to create another “Christmas Miracle” for 2014. This time they teamed up with Live Different and brought their Christmas cheer to a very small village called Nuevo Renacer, near Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. The video begins with Santa Clause asking families in the community what they want for Christmas. They ask for everything from dolls for the kids, to an engine for a motoconcho. Ultimatley, after creating a faux Christmas village of sorts, WestJet and friends present everything each person asked for while citing the old addage, “It’s better to give than receive.”
The video received a lot of praise and thanks from people in the Youtube comments. But Youtube will be Youtube and there were also plenty of naysayers skeptical of WestJet’s intentions. In the grand scheme of things, I don’t think it really matters WHY they did it. What matters is they did. They brought a lot of smiles to a lot of faces in the days they were on the island. Sure, they brought a lot of gifts, but they also gave a plenty of people things they NEED. If you watch the video below entitled, “Why We Did It.” You will also find out that they did a lot of things to boost the village years before this video ever came out — like build 23 houses, build playgrounds and basketball courts, and employ 40 residents from the community during the process of the “Christmas Miracle.”
Not to mention, WestJet also employed some of our well known Cabarete heros, Genesis Reyes and Benjamin Cole Brown to help concoct the video. Take some time to look both of these fellows up. They are doing their fair share to present Cabarete in a good light to the rest of the world through their own series of photos and videos…and thus, we would like to thank them, too.
At the end of the day we hope you enjoyed a tiny moment of Holiday Cheer when you watched this. We sure did.