Giving Christmas a Personal Touch
Giving Machines
GiveThanks
Gratitude Goes Viral
The Challenge
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wanted to share a global message of hope during the 2020 pandemic. Church President Russell M. Nelson suggested a worldwide prayer for gratitude during the Thanksgiving season. Boncom only had a short time to build a campaign around that prayer, which included localizing content and preparing its launch across markets, nations, and channels.
The Insight
After a year of hardship, people didn't want to hear another official statement. Especially a religious one. We realized we needed to reframe gratitude as something universal, not tied to any one religion. If the message was an invitation for anyone to join, it could reach well beyond the audience of a single denomination.
The Solution
Boncom created #GiveThanks, a hashtag campaign that launched with the global video release of President Nelson's message and prayer. His video went live simultaneously across YouTube, social platforms, and Church-owned apps. A worldwide countdown unified the launch. We produced short-form videos, paid ads, interactive social content, and email assets localized into dozens of languages. Each piece encouraged viewers to share their gratitude on personal accounts for seven days. As people posted about their own experiences, their networks did too, spreading kindness on its own across every major platform.
The Outcome
The campaign reached far past the Church's membership, proving that a message of faith could move people well beyond one church's audience when paired with the right insight.
* 410M+ total impressions across all channels
* 66M video views across platforms
* #GiveThanks trended on Twitter's top 10 topics throughout the seven-day campaign
* 3.4M posts on Instagram alone
