THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 23, 1995 TAG: 9512230374
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 131 lines
Dear Santa:
I would like one of your cool cyber-sleighs for Christmas. Where can I get one? My mommy doesn't want me to have one because I don't know how to drive yet.
Cybertations Rusty:
Thank you for your email. Sorry, but Santa's Cyber-Sleigh isn't available. Not even the government (who wants Santa's secrets) will get a copy. Now Rusty, where is your list for ole Santa? You know I've been waiting.
A cyberspace Santa sits behind a plain teak desk on the second floor of the World Trade Center, a red felt cap jammed on his gray hair, his fingers flying, as he answers the last of the more than 200,000 letters he's received via e-mail since early November.
Two months a year, this Santa is 811 years old. Three hundred and ninety-one pounds. A computer whiz who keeps his ``who's been naughty and who's been nice'' list on a database on his Pentium computer.
The rest of the year, he's Peter D. Cousin, marketing director at iTribe, a 6-month-old Norfolk company that puts businesses on the World Wide Web.
This year, iTribe designed a site for Santa.
And the people came.
Dear Santa:
I have been a very good girl this year. I have tried my best to obey
my Mom and Dad. I have tried not to fight with my brother. My Dad says that I deserve the world, but I think he is joking.
I am not asking for the world, just for . . . Jewelry maker, Baby all gone, Barbie van, Baby bathtub, Smud, Kitty Kitty Kittens, Stick Horse. Thank you for connecting to the Internet. I have enjoyed surfing and look forward to future electronic communication with you.
Your adoring fan . . . Michelle.
Dear Michelle:
Everyone here at the North Pole has been working day and night on those special newest and cool toys all the boys and girls have been asking for. . . Good!
Oh, I see you need a little improvement in picking up your room. I'm sure you can do better there . . . right?
. . . Remember, be nice to everyone and listen for my sleigh on Christmas night. Santa believes in you. You keep believing in me! Ho Ho Ho.
iTribe's Web site, http://www.christmas.com, has been receiving more than 1 million hits a week. Many of those cybersurfers click on the ``E-mail to Santa'' line and send a letter. Some days, 150 letters a minute pour into Cousin's e-mail box.
And he answers every one.
The secret?
``Elf magic,'' he said Friday afternoon, as he finished off the final few.
Together, the 215,333 letters this Santa has received - and Cousin's responses - fill more than a dozen black binders, each 3 inches thick.
Cousin could have rigged the computer to automatically send a form letter, but he didn't think that was fair to the kids. ``If a child takes that much effort and time to write a letter, they deserve a personal response,'' he said.
While he does have a one-page ``generic'' response, primarily for kids who send wish lists, many of his e-mail letters include personalized greetings and answers. It's taken 65 hours a week of his time for the past month, leaving him little or no time to complete his regular work.
iTribe vice president Keith Basil said he questioned the concept at first; especially when Cousin blithely promised he'd answer every letter.
Now he's a believer.
``We see Christmas.com as a stopping ground for people to get to our home page,'' he said. He also uses it to spotlight new technology.
And for those bah-humbuggers out there, Basil provided a Scrooge e-mail address, whose letters he faithfully answers.
The company has tried hard to avoid commercializing its Christmas site, even turning down an offer from Levi Strauss to sponsor the page, Cousin said.
``There's too much love invested in this to commercialize it.''
NOOOOO!! You can't take the reindeer out, that's like taking the ``Christ'' out of Christmas. My kids are furious, what, no delivery by Rudolph? It can't be. . .
Dear Bob:
Cool your heels. With the size of the world and all the boys and girls that I need to see, it is important for me to use the Cyber-Sleigh . . . but don't fret . . . Rudolph will be riding shotgun for the night.
The letters come from all over the world, in French, Spanish, Norwegian, Italian, Japanese. Even the foreign-language letters get answered - iTribe has a multilingual staff.
There have been two main themes to the e-mail, Cousin said, besides the basic ``here's what I want for Christmas'' list. Children have asked him to pass on their presents to the children in Bosnia; and parents have asked him to ensure the safety of their sons and daughters who will be serving there over the holidays.
There was the man who wrote that his wife believed in Santa but he didn't. Cousin's response: ``Your wife needs a new husband.''
Or the naysayers who said they wouldn't believe in Santa unless he brought them $1 million. Cousin wrote: ``I'm Santa, not Rockefeller.''
Or the students who asked for higher grades. ``I'm Santa Claus, not God,'' he typed back.
Earlier in the season he made one mistake - he forgot to rig things so his own name didn't appear on his responses. He got this letter:
Dear whoever,
I sent a letter from Santa and got a letter from you, Peter Cousin. What's the deal with that? Is Santa really fake? What kind of crap is this?
Dear Mark,
I am with Santa's public relations firm. Keep doubting our client and we will be forced to remove you from his list.
Generally, however, the letters have been positive, which reflects the Internet's culture, Cousin said.
He can think of no better venue than the 'Net for the bearded gentleman. For on the Internet there are no colors, no sexes, no preconceived judgments of people. ``It's the bonding of all cultures brought together as one.''
As his holiday project winds down, an exhausted Cousin is worried. He knows more letters will come in today and Sunday. And he doesn't want to disappoint those children. ``I may just sneak in here Sunday and clean up the last few,'' he confided.
Then he straightened his cap, swiveled around on his chair, and returned to the children of cyberspace. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by VICKI CRONIS, The Virginian-Pilot
Peter D. Cousin, marketing director of the Norfolk company iTribe,
says the firm has turned down an offer for a corporate sponsor for
the page: ``There's too much love invested in this to commercialize
it.''
Color photo of christmas.com page
by CNB