Greenhouse Studios' Santa's Home Page A Huge Holiday Success On America Online

Business Wire, Dec 26, 1996

DULLES, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 26, 1996--Greenhouse Studios today announced the success of its Santa's Home Page area on America Online, Keyword: Santa or SHP. Launched on December 4th, Santa's Home Page allowed children and adults to e-mail Santa Claus and receive a personal reply, take a virtual tour of the best new Christmas toys, and get the inside scoop on what's happening at the North Pole from the site's original personality, Ernie the Elf.

Greenhouse Studios reported that through December 25th, Santa's Home Page had received over 1 million page views with an estimated 75,000 page views per day. The Santa's Home Page form for writing to Santa Claus at SantaClaus@aol.com received over 85,000 entries alone. An AOL tradition, SantaClaus@aol.com has received tens of thousands of letters from children and adults this year.

Feedback to Santa's Home Page has been overwhelmingly positive. One America Online member writes, "Hi, I am 13 years-old and think your home page is really good for little kids. I like to see it too. I help my younger siblings (I have 5 sisters and brothers) write letters to Santa, talk to Ernie the Elf, do crafts, and find his daily secret. I really think this is a good idea. I hope it's here next Christmas."

AOL members knew that Ernie the Elf had created Santa's Home Page as a secret surprise for Santa and they were happy to play along with the surprise. One young member wrote to Santa, "There's something I can't tell you about your home page! Well I just want to say you should give Ernie a raise!!! He's the bestest elf I'd ever heard of!!"

"Santa's Home Page reinforces our commitment to programming outstanding and innovative online areas for America Online and the World Wide Web," said Danny Krifcher, President, Greenhouse Studios. "We're delighted by the tremendously positive feedback that Santa's Home Page has received and cannot wait to bring the area back again next Christmas."

Charlie Fink, Vice President of Creative Affairs, Greenhouse Studios, adds, "We wanted Santa's Home Page to capture the imagination of all of the children and adults who love the Christmas season and Santa Claus. Our original character, Ernie the Elf, and his secret home page for Santa Claus, provided a magical opportunity for parents to introduce their children to America Online."

The "Tour of Toys" feature, which was sponsored by JC Penney, received more than 200,000 page views during the season. Here, children watched a slide show of the season's best Christmas toys. The area also featured the option to create a "Wish List of Toys" that could be sent directly to Santa Claus. A new, AOL-exclusive feature automatically sent a copy of the child's e-mail to the master AOL account, allowing parents to see what their children were asking for this Christmas.

AOL members also posted messages on the Santa's Home Page message boards, which received thousands of posts during the month of December. Children posted messages on a variety of topics from their Christmas Tree to World Peace to help for the homeless this holiday season. Santa's Home Page also received a number of original poems and stories from children who participated in the "Christmas Games" area.

Greenhouse Studios, a unit of AOL Studios, is the leader in creating and distributing original interactive titles, properties and new channels in the new media industry. Since 1994, Greenhouse has launched more than 50 original programming titles on the Internet and the World Wide Web and leads the industry in establishing major new media brand partnerships including: Thrive with Time-Warner, The Hub with New Line/Turner and The Style Channel with Disney ABC and Fairchild Publications.

CONTACT: Greenhouse Studios/America Online

Anne Bentley, 703/918-2825, AnneBent@aol.com