Client: Santa Shoebox Project
Period: January to December 2024
Approach: Issues-led PR, media relations, thought leadership, social media
The Challenge
The Santa Shoebox Project began in Cape Town in 2006 with 180 boxes. By 2024 it had put a personalised gift into the hands of more than 1.2 million children, each one chosen by name, age and size, and for many of those children it was the only gift they received all year. Two decades of goodwill counts for very little when the country has less to give.
Economic strain and donor fatigue had set in, and a warm seasonal appeal to please give was at real risk of being tuned out. The pledge drive needed more than 74,000 boxes committed in a year when the public had less to spare and more being asked of it.
The Hook
A country with less to give does not need a softer ask. It needs a better reason.
So HLS stopped asking for charity and started making a case. Rather than run a seasonal gift appeal, the campaign reframed giving as a national responsibility and positioned the organisation as an advocate on children’s rights and early childhood development, not simply a distributor of boxes. The theme moved from “Sharing the Love” to “Step Up”, turning a soft request into a call to act.
That reframe rested on research that gave the appeal an argument rather than only an emotion. Government’s basic education budget was facing a real terms cut while corporate social investment stayed flat, widening the funding gap for children, and most of that corporate money went to later stages of learning rather than the foundational early years. The counter argument was a business case: that every rand invested in quality early childhood development returns an estimated ten in long term economic and social value.
Layered onto that were the literacy figures the country was already discussing, with more than 40% of households having no books at home and 80% of children failing to meet basic maths and literacy benchmarks. That let the campaign present a book as a tool against a generational crisis rather than a nice to have.
The Line
With almost no budget to spend, the campaign substituted spend with voice, built on earned media and organic social.
Eighteen issues-led releases and articles carried deliberately provocative angles, from the return on investment case for early childhood development to the link between children’s futures and the national book shortage, and a piece connecting corporate giving to the country’s mental health crisis. The approach made the organisation a useful voice in conversations newsrooms were already running, securing 40 broadcast interviews and coverage on Heart FM, SAFM, SABC and 5FM.
On social, the team translated dense policy points into content people would actually share, producing 33 Reels alongside a TikTok build, supported by user generated content and active community management. Content ran across pillars covering the Legacy programme, stakeholder stories, impact numbers and volunteer and donor stories, so the narrative held consistent across channels.
During the final signup push, the team wrote daily scripts and voice notes for national and broadcast news desks, feeding real time updates that built urgency into the closing weeks.
The live risk throughout was the activist stance being read as too political. A children’s charity that starts talking about budget cuts can lose the people who supported it precisely because it was uncomplicated. Every release was anchored in verifiable facts and pivoted back to the children affected, keeping the campaign on the right side of that line, and the uptake suggested the public was ready for the harder conversation.
The work was delivered at fees discounted by 50%, and alongside the campaign the team put in 65 hours beyond the retainer helping to pack boxes, worth around R91,000.
The Sinker
Social reach grown from 663,094 to 2,025,851, a 205% increase, with Facebook reach alone up 440%.
- 74,751 children received a personalised shoebox, past a target of 74,000
- 251:1 return on investment, achieved on fees discounted by 50% for the non-profit
- 90 million people reached
- 105 pieces of coverage against a target of 100, at 99% key message pull-through and 98% brand awareness, with 83% in Tier 1 titles
- Follower growth from 6,219 to 14,029, a 126% increase
- Two TikTok posts drew a combined 1.8 million views
- The Legacy programme built and renovated five early childhood development centres
HLS gave the country a reason rather than a request. Santa Shoebox Project came into 2024 as a seasonal gift drive competing for attention against every other charity in December, and left it as a recognised voice on early childhood development — a position it now holds for twelve months of the year rather than six weeks. The box target was met and passed in a year when donors had less to give. The social base tripled and belongs to the organisation permanently, which means the next campaign opens with 14,029 followers instead of 6,219 and does not have to buy that audience back. Five early childhood development centres were built or renovated. The case that carried this campaign is an asset Santa Shoebox Project can build on every year from here.
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