Capturing the spirit of the season—and the good-natured personalities of the deans—the Marriott School’s Christmas cards have delighted friends, colleagues, and school supporters for nearly fifteen years.
While the deans have donned lederhosen, snowman suits, and even blue paint in the name of comedy, the tradition has yielded serious dividends, garnering increased brand recognition and a profile in BizEd magazine. The fact that the deans are more recognizable—with or without toupees—is an added bonus.
Take a journey through Christmas past to enjoy the school’s greatest holiday hits. Signed, sealed, delivered—these cards are yours.
Early Years
We Three Deans (1998)
For many years the Marriott School sent mass-produced cards to donors and friends to celebrate the holiday season. In 1998, however, the deans wanted something different. They approached the school’s new external relations director about crafting something in-house. The catch? It needed to be completed under budget and in less than a week.
A scheme was hatched to utilize resources the school already had, including a stock photo of the deans. Using “We Three Kings” as a starting point, a student designer created artwork for the front of the card, carefully matching up the faces of the deans to the cutouts. To keep costs down, only part of the project was printed in full color. Five days later the completed cards were deemed a fiscal success—and a huge improvement on the impersonal greetings of yesteryear.
Dressed Up Like Eskimos (2002)
An early snow in October 2002 made this card possible. Tweaking lyrics from “The Christmas Song,” the external relations staff dressed the deans up like Eskimos. Matching fur-trimmed coats fit the bill, and Burlington Coat Factory generously lent three parkas for the photo shoot. This card was one of the few that took the deans off campus. The winter wonderland behind them is in Little Cottonwood Canyon, located about fifteen miles from Salt Lake City.
Hang a Shining Star (2004)
The idea for this card, based on Judy Garland’s classic song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” came from a student in the external relations office. Her original sketch was impressive, but turning it into reality took carefully executed photography, loads of measuring, and a dose of Photoshop.
The tree was shot at Modern Display in Salt Lake City while the deans were photographed holding one another’s shoes in front of a green screen on campus. The secret to getting everything to line up just right? Painstakingly sizing up the two photo shoots to within a quarter of an inch. The result was a card that reached new heights and won a district gold medal from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
Middle Ground
Wisecracks (2006)
Taking a note from Tchaikovsky’s ballet, the external relations team brought three nutcrackers to life. To match the deans to their tiny counterparts, hats left over from The Music Man were borrowed from BYU’s theatre department and bedecked to look even more festive.
Hours were spent on mock-ups to ensure the pull tab would line up exactly with each dean’s smile. To get those gigantic grins, the deans’ upper teeth were rotated in Photoshop and reused on the moving tab. This was the first card to feature an added joke on the back—a wisecracking warning label. The humor won over CASE judges, who honored the project with a national gold medal.
If We Could Only Whistle (2007)
In a reversal of the previous year’s toothy grins, the deans did without chompers for this card—courtesy of some computer magic. But don’t be fooled into thinking all the details were added in postproduction. The caroler costumes were sourced from a local theater’s production of A Christmas Carol, and the snow is real—almost. Potato flakes were tossed over a blowing exhaust vent to create the illusion of winter flurries.
The most challenging aspect, however, wasn’t the staging—it was the six tooth cutouts that accompanied each card. They were created with simple craft punches, but the man-hours quickly stacked up as staff and students from around the school lent their thumbs to the project. Twenty thousand molars later, the cards were in the mail, ready to shower recipients with dental confetti.
Piece-ful Greetings (2009)
For nearly ten years the external relations office tossed around the idea of a card inspired by “Once There Was a Snowman,” but a suitable storyline was never developed. After revisiting the children’s song in 2009, the team found a clever way to feature the pilgarlic deans: bald, bald, bald.
A homage to the era of Claymation Christmas classics, a forest of foam trees was constructed by set-design company Scenic Solutions in a local warehouse. Three snowman costumes were purchased online and altered to show off the deans’ suit sleeves. And that extra sparkle? It’s a layer of glitter applied at a specialty printer in Salt Lake City.
Recent History
Blue Light Special (2010)
Enlisting the help of a BYU stage-makeup class, the production team gave new meaning to “Blue Christmas.” At an early-morning makeup call, nine student artists spent nearly two hours transforming the deans into the ubiquitous Blue Man Group. To avoid prying eyes, the deans were whisked into a van hovering near the Harris Fine Arts Center’s back exit and driven to the photo studio.
A surprisingly difficult aspect of production was finding the right mix of sticky paint for the lettering on the front flap. For several days the external relations office transformed into a chemistry lab, with team members mixing Mod Podge, borax, and blue dye to achieve the right look. The final gloppy concoction was dripped onto large Styrofoam letters. To make the paint pop, gloss was added to the finished cards.
Go Tell It (2011)
Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo! An Alpine spin on “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” this was the first card to get the deans out of their suits—and into lederhosen. The festive garb and musical instruments were borrowed from local band Salzburger Echo, and Provo’s Rock Canyon Park stood in for the Alps.
But the folksy dress wasn’t the only first for this card. Upon opening the flap, readers were blasted with humorous polka music and a photo of the deans in a three-piece band. The music was digitally sequenced by local composer Mike Leavitt, and the sound chips were produced in China. The batteries turned out to be very durable—much to the chagrin of some weary parents.
There’s No Place Like Rome (2012)
When in Rome, get inspired. After a trip to Italy with the school’s National Advisory Council, the deans came home brimming with ideas. The final choice was a play on the popular song “Home for the Holidays.” Using Roman Holiday as a guide, the deans were envisioned on a joyride—gifts in hand—through the Eternal City.
To give the shoot a retro vibe, the deans dressed in their best Gregory Peck attire, complete with skinny ties, fedoras, and horn-rimmed glasses. Professor David Hart loaned his 1958 Vespa for the green-screen shoot. Since on-location photos were out of the question for the backdrop, the design team raided the Library of Congress’s archive for a vintage snap of the Spanish Steps. The effort paid off, resulting in another national CASE award for the school.
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Article written by Megan Bingham
Photography by Bradley Slade
