Together for Short Lives were previously called Children's Hospices UK, who merged with ACT at the beginning of October 2011 to create a new organisation with even greater reach and impact. Simon Cowell is their Patron and last year he made them the recipient of the X Factor charity single (previous recipients include Help for Heroes and Great Ormond Street). This is the single biggest awareness-raising opportunity they have ever had.

TFSL brought us on board to create a digital and social media campaign to capture all the buzz from the single and create an online experience with the ultimate prize being 4 tickets to the X Factor final. The campaign had a range of challenges spread across the social web, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and a dedicated campaign site that we built. 

Entrants had to complete a series of eight challenges. The more challenges completed, the better your chances of winning the prize. Each challenge exposed the user to compelling content about the work TFSL do and included video content we created of the X Factor contestants visit to one of the children's hospices.

We worked directly with the X Factor digital and social media team – a variety of different agencies – to create a coordinated approach that ensured maximum campaign traction and exposure.

The campaign was a definite success; the single was No. 1 for two weeks, we created a brand new supporter database of over 3000 contacts, and TFSL’s Twitter and Facebook following grew by over 400%. For a charity who had only implemented their new brand days previously, this was a huge acceleration in awareness and reputation-building. We are now working with TFSL to build on this social traction and create deeper, longer-term relationships with their new and expanding audience.