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How Blue Santa inspired international kindness movement

CALGARY, Dec. 16, 2015 /CNW/ - WestJet today celebrates the release of the airline's fourth annual holiday video, WestJet Christmas Miracle: 12,000 Mini Miracles, showing how WestJetters and Blue Santa inspired nearly 32,000 random acts of kindness across Canada and from as far away as Europe and Australia. To view the 2015 WestJet Christmas Miracle: 12,000 Mini Miracles video, please click here.

Set to the tune of the Carol of the Blue Hats, the video tells the story of a magical 24 hours where WestJetters, and those moved by their actions, went out of their way to do something special for someone else. The video's narrative demonstrates the power a simple act of thoughtfulness can have on someone's day. The video launches on WestJet's social media channels on Wednesday, December 16.

"We are humbled and amazed at the outpouring of response to the mini miracles initiative. Our expectations were absolutely shattered," said Richard Bartrem, WestJet Vice-President, Marketing Communications. "The video illustrates how the day played out. It brings to life the human connection and joy that WestJetters spread from coast to coast and around the world."

This year's initiative garnered 10,000 mentions on Facebook and Twitter, 200 million Twitter impressions and more than 300,000 visits to the mini-miracle website hub.

Since the launch of the very first WestJet Christmas Miracle video in 2012, videos have nearly 50 million views.

"There is no better way to celebrate the spirit of the season than with a WestJet Christmas video," said Bartrem. "We love to package our friendly, caring and fun loving personality, attributes that are core to our brand, in one awesome, emotion-filled video."

About 12,000 mini miracles

As part of WestJet's 12,000 mini-miracles day, December 9, thousands of WestJet employees hit the streets and airports around the WestJet world with the goal of performing 12,000 random acts of kindness in a 24-hour period. In addition, Blue Santa, hopped into a WestJet Boeing 737 where he made stops in Halifax, Toronto, Calgary, Yellowknife and Vancouver to join his WestJet elves on the streets to spontaneously deliver gifts and good deeds across the country. Street teams were active in 13 cities and 38 airports around the WestJet world. The entire mission was managed from the command centre at WestJet's headquarters in Calgary. In the end, nearly 32,000 mini miracles were recorded.

About WestJet

We are proud to be Canada's highest-rated airline for customer service, powered by an award-winning culture of care and recognized as one of the country's top employers. We offer scheduled service to 100 destinations in North America, Central America, the Caribbean and Europe. Through our regional airline, WestJet Encore, and with partnerships with airlines representing every major region of the world, we offer our guests more than 150 destinations in more than 20 countries. Leveraging WestJet's extensive network, flight schedule and remarkable guest experience, WestJet Vacations delivers affordable, flexible travel experiences with a variety of accommodation options for every guest. Members of our WestJet Rewards program earn WestJet dollars on flights, vacation packages and more. Our members use WestJet dollars towards the purchase of WestJet flights and vacations packages on any day, at any time, to any WestJet destination with no blackout periods  ̶  even on seat sales. For more information about everything WestJet, please visit westjet.com.

Recent recognition includes:
2015/2011/2008-2005 Canada's 10 Most-Admired Corporate Cultures (Waterstone Human Capital)
2015/2014/2013/2012 Canada's Most Attractive Employer (Randstad)
2015/2014/2013/2012 Top three brands in Canada (Canadian Business magazine)
2015 Best Employers in Canada (Aon Hewitt)
2015/2014/2013 WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard ranked #1 in Canada (MoneySense magazine)
2015/2014/2013 WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard ranked #1 in the Canada's Choice ranking (RewardsCanada.ca)
2014 Interbrand Canada's Best Canadian Brands (rank #20)
2014 Brands of the Year (Strategy magazine)
2014 Canada's Most Preferred Airline (Ipsos)
2014 Value Airline of the Year (Air Transport World magazine)
2014/2013/2012/2011 Highest equity score: airline, vacation package supplier brands (Harris/Decima EquiTrend Study)

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SOURCE WestJet