Ungifting Secret Santa: NO.THING

Wunderman Thompson UK is shaking up the way the industry does Christmas this year, with a radical, fun campaign that turns a seasonal workplace tradition completely on its head. The agency's total departure from festive conventions sees it reimagining how we should all do that office staple, Secret Santa so that it becomes more sustainable, thoughtful and joyous. More often than not, Secret Santa involves a stressful last-minute scramble to buy presents for people we might not even know very well. There can be little thought involved and many of these gifts end up in the bin or may not make it past the day of the Christmas party. A survey commissioned by Wunderman Thompson found that over half (55%) of UK workers never use their Secret Santa gifts – equating to over £165m in unnecessary spending each year. In its newly launched NO.THING campaign this Christmas, Wunderman Thompson is attempting to solve the inherently wasteful nature of Secret Santa by encouraging its employees, clients and the industry to do NO.THING and engage in a different kind of giving that is much more in tune with the times we live in. NO.THING wants us to exchange fun, meaningful good deeds rather than buying things; in other words to exchange time for tat and to put sustainability at the heart of how we celebrate Christmas. That might be doing something as simple but thoughtful as making a colleague’s tea or coffee for the day or watering their plants for a month.