The northern Idaho town of Santa will on 9 December become Secretsanta.com after officials voted to take sponsorship from an "online gift exchange management service", Reuters reports.

The deal was approved by the town's only official body - the water board - amid legal wrangling as to whether it had the authority to greenlight the rebranding.

The bright spark behind Santa's transformation is marketing "guru" Mark Hughes - the man who in 2000 negotiated a one-year deal by which Halfway, Oregon became Half.com, earning itself $75k and 20 computers for its schools.

Last week, Reuters notes, Clark in Texas changed its name to Dish "to promote EchoStar Communications' Dish Network" - evidence that the fashion for ditching the name in return for the greenbacks is on the up-and-up.

Accordingly, we look forward to the inevitable transformation of Essex, Connecticut (self-proclaimed as "The Best Small Town in America") into Essexgirlssuckfatones.nu - in return for a juicy injection of hot bucks, naturally. ®

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