We believed that the remedy for the rude world starts with reminding people to say two simple words: thank you. Multiplied by millions, this small act can manifest big change. We introduced the ThankList; like a bucket list, but one that recognizes all of the people who have shaped your life. We launched with a 5-part documentary series, directed by two-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker, Barbara Kopple, that followed five individuals on their quest to thank someone on their personal ThankLists. We seeded the series to top-tier national press and the videos were housed on ThankList.com, where consumers could watch and engage with the stories, see the evolving real-time social conversation and create their own ThankLists. Human. Relatable. Inspiring. The ThankList demonstrated how easy it is to start practicing gratitude.

Implementation

Enlisted Elizabeth Banks to serve as spokesperson and host launch event featuring a panel on gratitude with The Huffington Post. Moderated by Arianna Huffington, the panel included Deepak Chopra, Gabrielle Bernstein, Barbara Kopple and Dr. Randy Kamen for 100 press and influencers.

Partnered with United Way Worldwide and every #ThankList created drove a donation toward hunger prevention.

Timeline

March–November 2015

Placement

Post-premiere event, we secured a segment on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon with Elizabeth Banks that catapulted our initial earned storytelling into the mainstream marketplace.

Total PR impressions: 439,426,665 (AdWeek, Creativity, Fast Company, Forbes, GQ, InStyle, PopSugar, People, ELLE, Self, Elite Daily, Hollywood Life, Us Weekly)

Scale

Amplified storytelling with a Harris Poll survey, activated Clever Girls influencers to extend conversation and created a new editorial section: HuffPost Gratitude.

Disrupted the status quo of hateful newsfeeds and shifted the cultural conversation, making gratitude a trending topic.

Tier 1: ThankList drove a change in behavior

• A post-campaign study showed that ThankList drove intent to be more gracious:

- 77% of individuals exposed to the content say they will display an act of gratitude after viewing. (HuffPost survey);

- Brand affinity increased from 41% to 50%

Tier 2: The ThankList campaign secured a significant amount of earned coverage and fueled purchase intent:

• Total PR impressions: 439,426,665 (top hits: AdWeek, Creativity, Fast Company, Forbes, GQ, Instyle, Popsugar, People, ELLE, Self)

• Total social impressions as a result of earned PR: 45,915,967

• 6.4 million video views

• 450,000 website visitors; 11.5K ThankLists created

• #ThankList campaign mentions: 51,135

• 13,000 influencer tweets, reaching 24M people

• $30,000 donated to United Way Worldwide

• American Greetings purchase consideration increased nine points, from 39% of the control group “very likely” to consider it to 48% among the test group (HuffPost survey)