Startups play Santa to underprivileged

Call it the spirit of Christmas. A bunch ofstartups are using their marketing brains to help spread Christmas cheer among those who need it the most. Startups like UrbanClap.com, Timesaverz.com, Lookup and KleverKid are offering to play Santa to needy students, kids in orphanages or flood-victims in shelter homes as part of what can only be called goodwill-marketing. On offer are surprise magic shows, performance by carol singers, free tuition and even small gifts. Take Timesaverz.com, an on-demand home services marketplace, which kicked off its 'BeTheSanta' campaign on December 15. Backed by a number of celebrities like Mandira Bedi, Soha Ali Khan and Ragini Khanna, it urged customers to gift stuff that they no longer need or use. Through a tie-up with NGO Diwya -- which works with kids in Dharavi, Mumbai's biggest slum -- Timesaverz is distributing anything its customers want to give away to these needy children. After their celeb patrons tweeted about it, the programme has become quite a hit. "We are getting lots of old toys and clothes," said co-founder Debadutta Upadhyaya. "There has been quite an outpouring of requests where people have gleefully said they want to donate stuff and all of it will be distributed on Christmas day." Others like mobile services marketplace UrbanClap.com are planning surprise parties for flood victims in Chennai. Said spokesperson Saher Shodhan: "A lot of houses were damaged in the Chennai floods. We are tying up with shelters where there are still a lot of people who haven't managed to go back to their homes. We will take a group of musicians and magicians to do a small performance, particularly for children. We will also target informal shelters like tents in parks and public places." The surprise party is not only for shelter homes though. UrbanClap and Uber will also conduct similar surprise performances for customers who request a ride on Uber. "We will take musicians and photographers to people's houses for some surprise carol singing and fun. This service is free and will be available in cities like Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad as part of an option called Uber Cheer," said Shodhan. Most of these feel-good campaigns have tie-ups with NGOs. In the case of Lookup, a request from Bangalore-based orphanage Ashanilaya resulted in the 'Secret Santa' campaign. Around 17 girls from the orphanage, aged 5-18 years, were asked what they wanted for Christmas from Santa. "They wanted small things - a box of chocolates, a Christmas hat, a book on journalism," said Deepak Ravindran, founder & CEO, Lookup. "We thought, why not ask our customers if they'd like to become a secret Santa?"