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Milan, 15 December 2021 – With Christmas just a few days away, it's time for a "Santa makeover". The new Christmas campaign by Milano&Partners kicks off today with a 90-second video launched by the YesMilano digital channels: "Milan: the city that changes your Christmas".

What better destination to refresh the "classic" Santa Claus look than Milan? For him shopping but not only, a true collection of events that tell the unique experiences that the city offers and which will leave their mark on a refurbished and refreshed Santa Claus for the night of gifts.

With this campaign, Milano&partners presents some of the distinctive elements of Milan's positioning: a city that presents itself, especially towards younger tourists, as a destination that offers unique access to the world of style and taste. Fashion and design accompany the visitor not only in shopping, but also in the culture, gastronomy and "nightlife" of a city capable of continually reinventing itself. Santa Claus has the opportunity to visit the oldest "department store" in the world, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II; to discover one of the most fascinating museums such as the Pinacoteca di Brera and taste a slice of panettone in a typical Milanese trattoria; to have fun in a club and then dress up in a tuxedo to watch Macbeth at La Scala in Milan. In the finale, Santa Claus takes a Milanese tram to the North Pole, just in time to deliver gifts to the children of the world.

The video, created by Wunderman Thompson and produced by Movie magic international, thus confirming their commitment to the relaunch of the city after having already signed the "Milan is always the same, because it is never the same" campaign in July 2020, will be promoted from today until the end of January, in the main European countries at a digital level for a large-scale online campaign, which completes the billboard campaign with photos taken by FM and visibility on the main audiovisual communication circuits at city level.

"We want to tell our Christmas with a fresh and innovative video, which we hope will literally go around the world and make our beautiful city known everywhere – declares Martina Riva, councilor for Sport, Tourism and Youth –. Milan always knows how to reinvent itself, even now that we are trying to start again: he knows how to provide continuous stimuli, in any area and sector, and at Christmas, in particular, he knows how to show the best of himself. So Merry Christmas to all the Milanese, but also to tourists, visitors, to those has never come to Milan and to those who perhaps came there for work and now intend to return to fully enjoy our city".

"Christmas offers the opportunity to rediscover the excellence of our city - fashion, design, food, culture - founding elements of a unique, distinctive and recognizable tourist offer – declares Elena Vasco, General Secretary of the Milan Monza Brianza Lodi Chamber of Commerce – The campaign we are launching today fits, with creativity and inspiration, into the framework of the strategy of valorisation and promotion of the Milan brand on international circuits, an objective that the Chamber of Commerce and the Municipality share with targeted planning and actions, in a broader path of relaunch and growth of attractiveness for businesses and the territory".

"We are extremely proud to support the entire tourism sector which has had and will still have to face a complex situation – declares Luca Martinazzoli, General Director of Milano&partners –. This video completes a series of important initiatives for the promotion of the city, such as Fly to Milano , capable of making our territory particularly attractive in this Christmas period".

The commercial, shot by Alessandro De Leo and accompanied by the rhythm of the track composed for the occasion by Matteo De Marini and sung by the rapper Dunkan, wants to break the stereotype according to which Milan is mainly a shopping destination and shows how the city has much more to offer. In fact, the film ends with the claim: "Milan. It changes more than just your look", a message to invite people to come to Milan and bring home with them all the experiences that the city offers, especially at Christmas.

"Design, fashion, advertising... Milan has always given great space to creativity. It is nice that today the creativity of Wunderman Thompson returns the favor, supporting it in the recovery of tourism with a Christmas story designed especially for it, for its beauty , for its magic – declares Lorenzo Crespi, Chief creative officer of Wunderman Thompson Italy.

Milano&partners, in collaboration with SEA Milano airports, Assolombarda, Confcommercio - Federalberghi Milano, Confesercenti - ATR and NEXI, has also launched the Fly to Milano campaign, which gives an extra night in a hotel to visitors arriving in Milan by plane. The promotion, which started on 1 December and will last until 31 March 2022, will allow holders of airline tickets to Malpensa or Linate airports, who book at least two nights in one of the participating hotels, to extend their stay for one free night . Although Europe is currently grappling with a resurgence of the pandemic, Milan and Lombardy are holding up, thanks to an efficient vaccination campaign and rigorous health protocols that have kept shops, theaters and museums open.

Materials and contents of the "Milan: the city that changes your Christmas" campaign