“2020 was a year of really grown-up stuff. A global pandemic. Schools closed. Jobs lost. And with COVID-19 case-rates surging with the onset of winter, there was a distinct possibility that the holiday reprieve kids were looking forward to would be cancelled along with everything else.

Our objective: 
T-Mobile wanted to help. As a customer-obsessed brand that knows a thing or two about creating meaningful connections, we wanted to be there for people, inspiring holiday connections and celebrations during a difficult season. Sure, we wanted to create an engaging brand experience for the holidays. But really, there was no more important objective than simply helping maintain connection and bringing merriment to the welcome end of 2020. 

In other words: our KPI was to be good for goodness’ sake.”
 
Santa Calling was a virtual North Pole experience inviting all of America’s kids to experience a video call from Santa. Whether your carrier was T-Mobile, Verizon or AT&T, you could sign-up for a call from Santa from the safety of your home—for free. And because we wanted everyone to be able to connect with Santa, we made sure that we had a diverse cast of St. Nicks who spoke different languages, including ASL.

In lieu of the usual photo with Santa, each session was turned into a video memory for families to share and treasure, especially during a year with less social gathering. Sharing compilations of these videos on T-Mobile social channels (with parents’ permission, of course) meant the joy spread far and wide on organic social.



13TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARD WINNER:
Gold Honor in Family & Parenting
Audience Honor in Kids & Lifestyle, Family & Parenting




As one of the primary designer’s on Decoded Advertising’s team for T-Mobile’s Santa Calling campaign, I worked in myriad ways to help bring Santa to families across the country. Over the course of the project, we took the elements that make Santa visits beloved every year, and reimagined them through the lens of connectivity that could span even COVID.

From the project’s onset, I created 15+ design concepts for the potential look of Santa Calling... before it was even called Santa Calling! I quickly jumped from creating moodboards, to sketching patterns and graphics for potential landing pages so the team could hone in on an overarching aesthetic.

After lots of iterating, we moved away from other names and landed on the cozy, T-Mobile pink-tinged and hand-illustrated style seen below (and echoded in early sketches).



© 2025 Claire Tomkiw