Macy's: Santa Girl by BBDO New York

Macy’s is going deep into Christmas lore but with a modern twist in its new holiday campaign, ‘Santa Girl’.

The two-minute spot stars The Florida Project’s Brooklynn Prince as Virginia – taken from the oft-repeated 1897 editorial from the New York Sun that spawned the phrase ‘Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus’ – who sees Santa during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and decides she wants to be Santa.

She stuffs her sweaters to build out her Santa body, but she is ridiculed at school. Finally, her parents figure out how to lift her spirits – make their pickup truck into a lighted sleigh and go around town and deliver toys, even to the ones who made fun of her.

The spot, directed by the Oscar-nominated Garth Davis, is made to remind both young and old that anything is possible if you believe.

Produced by Macy’s in collaboration with BBDO New York, Macy’s creative agency partner, the 30-second anthemic spot will air across television, online video and social, along with robust supportive content, including an extended two-minute version, available on youtube.com/macys, that feels more like watching a film than a traditional ad. Also contributing to the story is the Emmy-winning cinematographer Adam Arkapaw (True Detective) and Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning composer Dustin O’Halloran (Lion).