WestJet 'Christmas Miracle' video brings holiday wishes to impoverished Dominicans

WestJet's Blue Santa brought a snowy Canadian Christmas to a beach in the Dominican Republic in this year's"Christmas Miracle" video.

• Watch the 2014WestJet"Christmas Miracle" video

The Calgary-based airline says ithas built a special bond with thePuerto Plata community of Nuevo Renacer one of thefour destinations it services in the Dominican Republic.

Airline staff have been visiting that community for several years tobuild housesin partnership with Hamilton's non-profit organization Live Different. They have completed23 homes for families living in poverty.

This is the third year the airline has put a Christmas videotogether, followingpast videosthat have made quite a splash online.

"Having shared the holiday spirit last year with our guests in Toronto, Hamilton and Calgary that resulted in the more than 36 million views of the video in every country around the world, we decided to celebrate Christmas this year with a community that is near and dear to our hearts," saidBob Cummings, WestJet's executive vice-president ofsales marketing and guest experience, in a release.

"This was our chance to give the people of Nuevo Renacer a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

WestJet's Richard Bartrem said building on last year's 36 million YouTube hits wasn't the point of releasing another video.

"The goal was not for this year to try and simply surpass last year's numbers," he said. "At that point that becomes the wrong target."

Instead, he saidthe target was to tell a story about a community the airline feels connected to.

"These are communities and people who are asking for stuff that they need," he said.

Beach party held for locals

This yeara sleigh was plunked down in the sandy streets, and kids and adults alike are given a chance to talk to Santa in Spanish, of course.

WestJet used secret cameras to capture their response.

One woman requested a blender so she can make local fruit into drinks she can sell to help support her family. Another woman asked Santa for a washing machine to cut down her manual labour and free her up for more family time. One man even asked for a horse to draw his carriage.

"I'm a motorbike taxi driver, but the engine is broken," said one resident on the video in Spanish. "And to support my children, I wish I would be granted a new engine."

WestJet staff wentout the next day to pick up the gifts before inviting the town to a Christmas celebration on a nearby beach. Fake snow was broughtin for a snowball fight before the lighting of a Christmas tree and fireworks.

Playgroundpart of holiday gifts

The airline also built a playground in the community, as the closest one was previously a 20-minute drive away.

WestJet worked with Toronto-based Studio M on conceiving the story and turning it into the video.

Studio M's Mike Mills acknowledged the terrain was a bit different than the previous videos, which werefilmed in airports and baggage claims. The studio wanted to focus on the airline's real ties in the community, its "entrenched relationships," Mills said, rather than on some of the "traditional images of developing countries."

Both the airline and Studio M acknowledged the video may raise some questions for viewers, so they released abehind-the-scenes "Why we did it" video.

"We believe we'rebringing awareness to some of those issues,rather than being exploitative,"Bartremsaid.

Theflash-mob ways of the 2012 videocouldn't be exactly followed this time, Mills said.

"We didn't want to just show up in the community unannounced. We werecareful to plan this very carefully with the leaders of the community," he said.

The kids were a different story, as they didn't know what was up.

"When they hit that button on the sleigh" to talk to Santa, Mills said,"that was still a moment of pure magic for the kids themselves."

Bartrem said he recognizes people can be skeptical of a big company trying to engender those feelings of magic.

"For all of these, it was important to us thatthat these are not ending with the message 'Book now,'" he said.