Operation Santa Claus: giant claw game at festive fair helps HKT ‘Unlock the Wonder of Christmas’ and support Hong Kong charities

Visitors at White Christmas Street Fair donate HK$20 to Operation Santa Claus to play for prizes worth over HK$700,000 at telecoms company’s carnival-style booth

Firm’s support marks first time it has joined annual Hong Kong fundraising initiative, organised jointly by South China Morning Post and RTHK

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Everyone making a HK$20 donation to OSC to play at HKT’s giant claw booth was able to win a prize. Photo: SCMP

Published: 9:00am, 22 Dec 2023

Hong Kong Telecom (HKT) teamed up with another of the city’s leading companies, Swire Properties, at this year’s White Christmas Street Fair to help “Unlock the Wonder of Christmas” and support local community charities.

The CHOCOLATE!-themed event – run by Swire Properties over two weekends from November 30 to December 3, and December 8 to 10 – saw Tong Chong Street at Taikoo Place, in Quarry Bay, transformed into a huge vintage chocolate shop filled with stalls offering tasty Christmas food and drinks, carnival-style game booths and other attractions.

HKT reached out to Swire Properties to form a partnership at this year’s White Christmas Street Fair. Photo: SCMP

HKT’s three-metre-wide “Unlock the Wonder of Christmas”-themed game booth saw players control two giant claws suspended above about 600 multicoloured plastic balls offering more than 5,000 prizes worth over HK$700,000 (US$90,000) while helping to raise money for the Operation Santa Claus (OSC) campaign.

This year marks the first time that HKT has supported OSC.

“This year’s collaboration with Swire Properties to support Operation Santa Claus has received much positive feedback, and we are already looking forward to supporting the campaign again next year,” said Susanna Hui Hon-hing, HKT’s executive director and group managing director.

Everyone making a HK$20 donation to OSC to play at HKT’s giant claw booth was able to win a prize. The game continued until they had successfully claimed one of the balls containing a voucher that revealed details about the prize. Additional balls were regularly added during both weekends as the balls were claimed.

Susanna Hui, HKT’s executive director and group managing director, at the company’s giant claw game booth at the White Christmas Street Fair. Photo: Handout

Prizes offered by HKT and its various business brands, such as 1010, CSL, Netvigator, Now TV, Tap & Go and The Club, included 12 months of free access to local mobile data, home broadband, and entertainment services, a skiing holiday for two, with two nights’ accommodation, in the South Korean capital, Seoul, as well as numerous gift tokens.