Working with agency Unity, the company has been listening to people on social media networks over the past week and travelling to homes, schools and offices to deliver gifts with handwritten calling cards citing @TheTwoFairies and the hashtag #FollowTheFairies. Until Marks & Spencer unveiled its Christmas advert today (7 November), it was not clear who was behind the stunts.
The Two Fairies also created two larger activations in Newcastle and Cornwall. The latter saw snow magically fall on Landewedneck Primary in the town of Lizard – Britain’s most southerly school. "There were serious amounts of snow," Nik Govier, co-founder of Unity, told Event. "The only two people who knew it was going to happen were the headmistresses of the school and a teaching assistant, and even they weren’t told that Marks & Spencer was behind it."
She continued: "From an events perspective, the biggest compliment was when a BBC journalist speculated that a film company must have been behind it."
The Christmas activations continued over the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle, where Unity created an illusion of fairies flying through the night using drones. The agency collaborated with KGA on the experiential campaign’s production.
"It’s been a serious logistical challenge – we created a holding company under the name The Two Fairies and have street teams out on the ground," added Govier. "We search for certain key words on social media and use geotagging to locate recipients. It’s not about rewarding people who tweet us, it’s about listening, granting requests and delivering."
The Two Fairies’ work will continue around the UK until Christmas, while their Twitter account has already amassed 18,000 followers.
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