“September Christmas” was intended to inspire a simple, powerful reaction: “I can turn tears into laughter”. And inspire it did. Tamanna relies on donations to grant wishes of critically ill children in Lebanon. In order to help as many children as possible, Tamanna needed to raise awareness. And funds. 'September Christmas' was the very public fulfillment of 8-year-old cancer patient Carmen’s wish for an iPad at Christmas. PR was effective in garnering widespread coverage of the event and of Tamanna's cause. The positive impact of granting a wish became the 'It' topic in Lebanon. The event seeded the conversation; PR amplified its voice and reach. In less than 5 weeks, donations to Tamanna increased by 74% and volunteer requests by 112%.

On September 8, Carmen’s parents took her out for ice-cream in Downtown Beirut. Suddenly, Christmas carols began to play and Beirut Souks transformed into a semi-Winter Wonderland. While Santa Clause typically flies his reindeer, on this night he was lowered from a helicopter right in front of Carmen. With an iPad in his sack. The event was heartwarming, hopeful and created a powerful and touching story of a brave little girl whose wish came true. Video of the event was produced and published; Carmen and Tamanna were available for interviews; content was supplied to all the media outlets and show ideas were co-created for the 2 most popular Lebanese talk shows. The story touched hearts and people generously and spontaneously shared it on multiple media platforms; through good old-fashioned real life conversations; and in different languages creating a tremendous ripple effect that carried Carmen and Tamanna far beyond Beirut.

Tamanna and Carmen became the talk of the town from Downtown Beirut all the way to Chicago. 200+ blogs shared the story; the video was featured on Facebook profiles and twitter pages of individuals, celebrities and companies. Coordination with prominent talk shows such as "Kalam El Neis" created lengthy features and interviews. The ripple effect included prime-time news coverage on MTV and Future TV, 3 different language newspapers - L'Orient Le Jour, An Nahar and The Daily Star - and Lebanon's #1 radio, Radio One. The event and coverage cost $0. The free PR and media value is estimated at $3.6 million. But more importantly, people were moved to give. In less than 5 weeks, donations to Tamanna increased by 74% and volunteer requests by 112%. These aren’t just numbers. These are wishes. Tamanna's average of fulfilling 12 wishes in a month became 26 wishes. That’s almost 1 wish a day.