Santa from
SANTA'S VILLAGE

Specializing in the unique industry related to Christmas and the specialized tourism industry.

 Santa Claus Productions

Santa Claus Productions was established  in 1989 by Phillip L. Wenz after working four years as a promotional specialist for Instant Photo Corporation of America in Chicago.  (Wenz is mostly known for his portrayal of Santa Claus with Santa’s Village theme park in Dundee, Illinois. Note: Santa Claus Productions is a contracted company for Santa’s Village.) Part of the company’s broad base is in the tourism and special events field with its public relations skills and working knowledge of the unique Christmas industry.

Public Relations, Marketing and Advertising Overview

Project Event Management: Administration of labor, event costs and profit centers of special events and promotions. Very active in local media marketing effort as well as the national advertising campaign.  Generate daily reports, event cost summaries and timeline analysis.  Recruitment and development of corporate sponsorship involvement, scheduling of outside vendors and the implementation of community outreach programs. Clients have included: Houston Downtown District, Ward and Ames Entertainment of Houston, Santa’s Village Theme Park, Dundee, Illinois, Brach’s Candy of Chicago, and numerous civic and private organizations. 

Outside Contractor/Project Coordination:  Designed and application of policies, procedures and by-laws of special events.  Structure of the governing body/Board of Directors for future efforts.  Helped in planning, marketing and management of the event. 

Recruitment of the volunteer base to assist in event production.  Design the creative promotional material and planned event timeline.  Development and management sponsorship packages.  Clients have included:  The Chicago Christmas Parade Association, The Bank United Thanksgiving Day Parade in Houston, SMC Photo Promotions, Deerfield, Illinois and numerous Chambers of Commerce.

Public Relations/Community Affairs Management: Administration of media strategies based on clients target market.  Designed creative and copy for campaigns.  Work with radio, television and print media buys.   Consulting work with outside clients that included:  Brach’s Holiday Parade, The Chicago Mayor’s Office of Special Events, The City of Houston, The Bank United Thanksgiving Day Parade and WGN-TV.  Coordinated public relation efforts with the ADI’s.  Created status reports for clients, as well as tracking reports for cross promotions and bounce-back coupons.  Generated billing and monthly profit and loss reports. Create and market special event promotions to major shopping centers.  Provide traffic building programs and effective media relations to build event awareness and profitability.  Interacted on client's behalf with outside labor acting as a liaison.

Consultant: Santa’s Candy Castle - Research and prepared historical documentation for the historic restoration of the nation’s first themed attraction, Santa’s Candy Castle in Santa Claus, Indiana. Advised on attraction development, retail planning and potential sponsorships.

Consultant: Celebrate Santa Convention - Acted as Executive Producer of the recent gathering of Santa from around the world that was held in Gatlinburg, Tennessee in March 2009. Planned and produced the opening and closings scripts, power points and videos, blocked the Holly and Shamrock parade, appeared as on air host to the parade’s television broadcast.

Consultant: Grand Bear Lodge Resort- Working on the planning and development of the expanding projects of the 90 million dollar resort in Utica, Illinois.

Published Author: Arcadia Publishing’s Image of America series book, “Santa’s Village.” A researched timeline of the development, growth, and uniqueness of the Dundee, Illinois Park.