The Lumistella Company’s Christa Pitts and Chanda A. Bell on the story behind The Elf on the Shelf – and what’s next for the Santaverse

Christa, Chanda, it’s great to catch up. To kick us off, can you tell us the origin story behind The Elf on the Shelf?
Chanda A. Bell, Co-CEO, Founder and Chief Creative, The Lumistella Company: The Elf on the Shelf is actually a tradition we grew up with. When we were young, our mom used to tell us that the Elf was watching for Santa Claus. The Elf would watch during the day and report to Santa at night. Before we woke up, the Elf would fly back from the North Pole and land in a different spot in the house.

Lovely!
Chanda: It really became the best part of Christmas for Christa and I, and for our younger brother. We would race out of bed to go find the Elf – it was just truly magical! Fast forward 31 years and I’d become a mom myself. I was sitting and talking with my mom one day and I looked up to see our Elf sitting on a shelf. That’s really where the impetus and idea for writing the story came from.

I then spent six months to a year crafting a story based on our own family tradition. Then it was like: What do we do with this? Will it just stay a nice idea or are we gonna make it into something? So we were very excited, wrote proposals and sent them out – but nobody wanted it.

Ah!
Chanda: Nobody knew what to do with it! We got some great letters about how it was destined for the damaged goods bin!

Oof!
Chanda: Honestly, we received all the rejection letters that you could possibly have.

But you persevered…
Chanda: We just truly believed in this magical tradition that we grew up with.

Christa Pitts, Co-CEO and Founder, The Lumistella Company: We had no money, no experience, no connections and no one that believed in us – yet we did it anyway.

Who needs all of that!
Chanda: Exactly! That would be boring!

Ha! And when was this?
Chanda: We launched in September of 2005, so we’re celebrating our 20th anniversary.

Amazing. Congratulations. And did that original tradition ever spread its wings back when you were kids? Did your friends’ parents say: “Oh no, look what Chanda and Christa’s mum is doing! We’ve got to up our game!”
Chanda: Ha! Well, the seventies was such a different time. There was no social media so spreading word of something like that just didn’t happen. It was only when I got to high school that Chris and I realised other people didn’t have an Elf! It was just part of what we did. Having said that, since we launched we’ve received letters from people all over the world who had similar Elf traditions or Elf experiences growing up.

Christa: In college, we’d talk about our Elf and people would be like: “What are you talking about?” We’d say: “You don’t understand. It’s the most magical thing in the world. You should try it!” But people just looked at us like we were crazy. Probably like a lot of the people that sent us rejection letters!

But we understood this tradition from the eyes of a child. As we get older, we tend to be a little bit more jaded and the world becomes a much tougher place. Part of our magic sauce is that mom understood it from a parent’s perspective and the joy it brings families, and we understood it as children. When you put those two things together, it’s a special thing.

And anyone who’s tried to come along and copy what we’re doing – they just don’t understand it in the same way. It’s not a product we’re trying to sell. It’s a tradition that brings joy to families at Christmas time. There’s a very big difference between the two.

Absolutely. And it’s such a rare thing to have invented what is now a tradition for so many people. When did you know The Elf on the Shelf had caught on with the public?
Christa: Well, I had been in the commercial retail and sales space for quite some time – I worked at QVC. So I was very aware that you have to build the brand as fast as you possibly can, and be as focused on it as you possibly can. But you can’t just go to a major retailer and get orders. We very deliberately started small – and plus, it’s all we could afford!

So in the beginning, Chanda, mom and I sold Elf on the Shelf by hand purely through word of mouth. We were going to small community Christmas shows. We were to junior leagues throughout the South-east and telling people about it. It was the only thing we sold and the only we did. Every single week we would go to a new location and talk about this tradition and what it meant to us. That allowed us to grow a little slower and to grow authentically. We knew that if families experienced this in their home, those kids would go to school and tell their friends about this magical Elf they had and how it all worked. That word of mouth carried us forward.

Then in 2007 into 2008, we started getting a little more exposure. The Today Show did a piece on us and Jennifer Garner was photographed by the paparazzi walking down the street with The Elf on the Shelf in her arms. Those two things put us in front of a bigger audience and gave us an opportunity to grow.

Chanda: And it’s an interesting question because in some ways I still feel like that person selling out of her car 20 years ago. We’re building out the Santaverse now but there’s still pockets where you’ll mention The Elf on the Shelf and people have no idea of what you’re talking about. That takes me right back to selling it one-by-one by hand.

So when you ask about when it became a tradition, I’m still of that mindset like: Are we even there yet? I don’t think we are. Not until we’re as ubiquitous and well-known as Santa Claus when it comes to Christmas.

In terms of the design, talk me through some of the key decisions involved in creating this Elf?
Chanda: Well, I definitely think there’s a nostalgic component of the design, but it’s fun when I hear you ask these questions because I read your interviews on Mojo Nation and Brands Untapped – but we didn’t have industrial designers and industrial engineers back then! What we did know was that we wanted it to have a very nostalgic feel – and feel reminiscent of the Elf that we had growing up.

When it comes to The Elf on the Shelf coming packaged together with a book, we knew we needed to explain to people how this tradition worked, in a way that kids and families would love and understand. What’s the best way to do that? A children’s book! We then had to figure out how to get a children’s book and doll packaged together to bring to life this tradition in a box, so we invented the packaging based on a stationary set.

Amazing. And at what point did this go from being a product to a brand?
Christa: Well, I went to Licensing Expo in Vegas because I wanted to learn about licensing – this magical place where all these characters exist and people start talking about making deals with them… I remember walking around and thinking: ‘We have to be here.’

But before we get to that point, we knew we needed people to see our IP as having value. We needed them to see The Elf on the Shelf as a character you needed to create Christmas magic in your own home. That’s actually one of the reasons we began moving towards entertainment-based content. We formed Big Canoe Entertainment and wrote, produced, directed and sold in our very first animated special – An Elf Story.

Out of that, we were able to bring in the Macy’s partnership and have the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon. That was probably the most impactful and huge partnership moment we had in our trajectory.

What were some of your dream partnerships at that stage?
Christa: We had a meeting early on and I said to my mom and Chanda: “When would feel like we’d reached some pinnacle moment in the trajectory of The Elf on the Shelf?” I felt like if we ever had a cereal, that would be the moment. I loved this idea of a seasonal The Elf on the Shelf cereal that would only be available for a very limited time – ‘Santa’s official cereal’! I fought for it for years because back in 2008, nobody was doing branded cereal.

And you have cereal today?
Christa: Yes! Kellogg’s came along to be our partner. It’s been awesome.

And your pick Chanda?
Chanda: I’m actually really excited about some of the things we’re doing this year. We’ve partnered with HarperPop on a novel: The Rise of Nicholas the Noble. It’s our first foray into sort of that teen/tween audience.

Yes, what sparked that idea?
Chanda: Kids that grew up with The Elf on the Shelf are ageing up to experience Christmas in a different way, and we needed content for them. We needed experts in the publishing space that could help us tell our stories in bigger, different ways, so we partnered with HarperPop. The novel is in that fantasy vein of Chronicles of Narnia or Harry Potter – it really builds out the world of our IP in a way that’s so different from anything we’ve ever done. It explores the backstory of Santa Claus and how he meets the elves, it’s huge for us.

But there’s been so many highlights… Teaming with Outright Games for the Christmas Heroes video game, or with Basic Fun for Lite-Brite, or Hershey’s for Hershey’s Kisses… We’re also releasing a new picture book this year: How Old is Santa Claus? Telling stories through products, experiences and entertainment is what we’re passionate about.

And we should say, The Rise of Nicholas the Noble is written by you. How was that experience?
Chanda: Oh my gosh. I still can’t believe it’s done. It was a total labour of love – a four or five year process. I had this skeleton of a backstory for our world with the North Pole, and where all our characters fit in – the Santaverse. I loved every second of it. It was a blast.

Speaking of the Santaverse, that’s made up of several brands now: The Elf on the Shelf, Noorah, Elf Pets, SnoBiggie… What goes into deciding how and who you add to this world?
Chanda: There are two key elements. The storytelling world, which is what I do, and the partnerships side, which is Christa’s area. So what do these add to our storytelling offering, and what can we do with them in the world of consumer products and experiences. This year we’re launching Razzle the Celebration Snowman. Sticking to our purpose of joyful family moments, he helps explain some bigger piece of our lore and builds upon it. Getting a chance to invent these characters on behalf of Santa Claus is the coolest job in the world.

Christa: And from my side, it’s a multi-pronged approach. There’s traditional product licensing, which we fully appreciate and understand. Things like pyjamas or the food sector that make sense for us – cake pops, cookies, treats. This year we have an exclusive at Target with Hershey’s. We’ve done bedding with Pottery Barn. We have decor and ornaments and character driven stockings.

And then there are less-traditional licensing opportunities that come to us. For example, McDonald’s approached us in the UK two years ago and that Happy Meal programme was very successful. It actually moved into Spain and Italy. We want to make sure we’re partnering with amazing brands that create joyful family moments. We want every family who wants to celebrate the season – and sometimes families that don’t even celebrate Christmas – to feel like we are a brand they can trust to do that.

Looking ahead, what areas remain untapped for your brands?
Christa: I think we still have a lot of opportunity in the food space to continue the love that people have for their favourite Christmas character at Christmas time. We have a lot of space in the tween and college market. That kidult area is exploding and there’s opportunities for us there. We’re getting a lot of interest from the pet scene, so we’re figuring out what does that look like for our brands and how does it create a joyful family moment. We have a lot of green space there.

Last question! What does your mum make of all this? It must be incredible to see her tradition explode in this way?
Christa: I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but there’s probably a sense of awe that something you did as a mom for your kids has been able to take on such a life of its own. We’re in 29 countries and six continents, we have over 120 employees… To see, 20 years later, that kids know what The Elf on the Shelf is… I would imagine she’s very proud and continues to be excited about it because it’s her legacy.

We’ll have to interview her soon!
Chanda: She would love that. And Christa’s right, it’s all about legacy. The world views her as Mrs Claus! When people find out what she does, they share their The Elf on the Shelf stories, and she just beams. That legacy is something she’s excited about – and not just the legacy of the product. I think the legacy continuing through her children and what we’re carrying on in this business. She sees how hard we work and what we’re building and I think she’s really proud of that.

Absolutely. Guys, this has been a pleasure. Huge thanks for making time. Let’s catch up again soon!

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