So you can get Santa Claus to appear in your Zoom 0:46
(CNN Business)
- "We're about to meet a very important customer," said Christian Braun, CEO of collectible e-commerce company hobbyDB, during a recent Zoom meeting with his marketing team.
"Now it's your turn, Nick."
That's St. Nick, actually.
A cheerful Santa Claus entered the virtual room ringing a bell and raising the energy level of the meeting by at least 100 points.
"I need to speak to the customer service department!" He cheered.
"I have a major complaint!"
This Santa Claus is one of the few actors employed by a new service called SantaZoomBomb.com who have found their way into family gatherings and calls this holiday season.
For $ 59, a Santa will jump in on a call, taunting colleagues with awkward inside jokes and references to relevant projects or work assignments.
People fill out a questionnaire before the meeting, providing Santa with details and talking points.
Customers can also specify if they want Santa to be naughty or nice.
The reception can sometimes be mixed.
The HobbyDB team laughed and generally played along.
In contrast, when Santa made a surprise appearance with an Oculus headset during a CNN Business team meeting, making jokes about current events and some people on the call, Slack participants' reactions ranged from shrugging to "What? WHAT'S GOING ON?".
Santa Bombing builds on the huge success of Santa's virtual tours last year.
Like the explosion in popularity of sidewalk dining options and Zoom himself, the sudden rise of Zoom's Santas filled a pandemic need.
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It offered families a safer alternative to the annual tradition of visiting Santa at a mall amid a spike in covid cases, and it offered actors a chance to win a paycheck for Santa's work. Claus during the holidays.
But there are signs that demand for the virtual North Pole is heading south as we approach the second Christmas season of the pandemic.
Mitch Allen, founder of HireSanta.com, a leading U.S. Santas staffing company, said interest in virtual tours of Santa persists this year, but has dropped significantly since 2020.
"Last year, we did tens of thousands of virtual visits, but this year it has dropped substantially between 60% and 70%," he said.
"People are eager to get back out there to see Santa in person and reconnect with friends and family. They are trying to make up for time away."
Even when some families seem ready to move on, some Zoom Santas hope to hold onto virtual Christmas magic for another season, if not longer.
And some services are pushing new options to achieve that goal.
Keeping the magic of virtual parties
Each year Don White, 80, and Mary Rogers, 74, dress up as Mr. and Mrs. Claus in Kansas City, Missouri, frequenting restaurants, museums, fundraisers and events, including the Christmas festival. of the Kansas City Royals baseball team.
But last year, the couple offered Zoom calls through their VisitFromtheClauses.com website and saw their annual income quadruple from the previous year.
The couple, who met on Match.com 14 years ago, logged four to six video calls an hour in 2020 for children and their families across the country, up to nine hours a day, as parents were desperate for entertainment and something for your children to do indoors.
"We were so busy that people were bringing us food because we couldn't even leave the house," Rogers said.
Now, they stick to the virtual option for the foreseeable future in part because of health concerns.
(White was diagnosed with leukemia earlier this year.)
They've hired a handful of actors to fill virtual tour bookings while the couple operates at 60% capacity for personal reasons.
Meanwhile, Rogers' son Josh launched SantaZoomBomb.com this year as a companion service in an attempt to build on its success.
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"We can make more money and visit more this way as well," White said of her work at Zoom Santa.
The price for a private chat ranges from US $ 49 for 10 minutes with Mr. or Mrs. Claus to US $ 89 for the couple together.
Even with the apparent decline in demand this year, Allen hopes virtual Santa Claus tours will become a permanent addition for some families who prefer to avoid long lines or want more personalized interactions.
Virtual Santas are often given talking points prior to Zoom calls to make the calls more intimate.
At the same time, demand for Santa's appearances at parties, parades, and other events soared this holiday season, but the number of trained and available Santas declined.
Some Santas are still not comfortable visiting in person.
About 350 Santas who worked with HireSanta.com have died in the past 18 months due to COVID-19 or other health problems, according to Allen, and others have hung up the red coat to retire.
Enrollment in Santa's training schools in the US also declined this year.
Zoom Santas 2.0
Some companies like HireSanta.com have been offering virtual Santa Claus tours for almost 8 years, but after the huge success of last year, many are now looking to revamp the concept and maintain demand for another year.
As with Santa Zoom Bombing, some companies are adding more interactive elements.
T-Mobile offers a free Stream-a-long option, which puts participants on a virtual sleigh ride with a live Santa to tour the North Pole and receive a photo afterward.
Other companies, like The Santa's Club, mail letters and gifts to children after virtual tours.
"It's a trend that we will probably see a lot in the future," Allen said.
"Some retailers, like Bass Pro and Cabela's, offer crafts and other activities while you wait in line. Virtual Santa businesses are going in the same direction."
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The Santas themselves have also gotten creative with their setups to align with local mask wearing and social distancing orders. Santa Claus at Macy's Santaland in Herald Square wears a face mask and sits behind a desk in his workshop, and some mall operators have installed benches, snow globes and other scenes to keep kids off laps.
But since children under the age of 5 are not yet vaccinated in the United States, virtual tours may still be the preferred way to see Santa this year for some families.
"Many families cannot, in good conscience, see Santa in person again," Rogers said.
"They say, 'I don't know who this person is. I can't take my newborn baby and put him on Santa's lap and hope no one gets sick.
Santa claus
