Xmas Party Heroes

Raising awareness for £1.5m charity campaign

Xmas Party Heroes was launched in November 2020 to tackle the estimated £10bn funding gap experienced by charities after the Covid-19 pandemic caused a recession and prevented fundraising events from taking place.

As social distancing rules meant office Christmas parties had to be postponed or moved online, Xmas Party Heroes urged businesses to donate their unused party budgets to charities.

The campaign was the brainchild of businessman Mark Hawthorn, the CEO of Landmark Group.

Be The Best Communications worked with the Landmark team to launch Xmas Party Heroes and provide media relations support throughout the campaign, achieving more than 100 pieces of high-quality coverage.

Be The Best Communications secured coverage in a range of publications, receiving support from local and regional news, business, property, and law trade titles, as well as national media including The Telegraph, the Sun, The Sunday Times, and Mail Online. It was also featured on BBC radio.

The Xmas Party Heroes campaign has received a string of accolades including:

• Being named one of the “top campaigns of 2020” by CharityComms
• Listed as one of the “Best Digital Charity Christmas Campaigns of 2020” by Charity Digital
• Included in the “Top 20 Charity Campaigns of 2020” by Charity Times. Over 350 charities had joined the campaign by Christmas.

Household names included singer Olly Murs, actor and filmmaker Karen Gillan, The Vamps’ guitarist James McVey, footballer Jack Wilshere, dancer Danielle Peazer, comedian Joe Lycett, Olympic gymnast Beth Tweddle, and Dragon’s Den businessman Theo Paphitis shared news of the campaign to more than 17 million followers on Twitter

Xmas Party Heroes founder Mark Hawthorn was personally awarded the prestigious Points of Light Award by the Prime Minister in December 2020.

The total amount raised for charity as a result of the Xmas Party Heroes campaign was a remarkable £1,541,050.