For Giving Tuesday 2025, our driving idea was to turn a donation ask into a piece of entertainment people would choose to watch and share by building a social-first “mystery celebrity” puppet show that delivered St. Jude’s mission through humor, surprise, and storytelling. We paired original hand-crafted puppets with a secret, allstar voice cast (Keke Palmer, Anthony Anderson, Ashley Park, Kyle MacLachlan, Noah Beck, Alyson Hannigan, and Tan France), inviting audiences to guess who was behind each character while absorbing the real stakes of St. Jude’s lifesaving work.
Grounded in the creativity and imaginations of St. Jude patients (whose artwork helped shape the puppet world) the spot also underscored the role of play and creativity in holistic care, making the message resonant for families and younger audiences.
First, we developed the story and script as a tight, family-friendly narrative with a clear Giving Tuesday call-to-action, ensuring St. Jude’s core message (advancing cures and treating pediatric diseases at no cost to families) was woven into the plot. Second, we designed and fabricated a troupe of hand-crafted puppet characters and a whimsical puppet world inspired by St. Jude patients’ artwork and imaginations, making creativity and play part of the message itself. Third, we cast and recorded an all-star voice ensemble: Keke Palmer, Anthony Anderson, Ashley Park, Kyle MacLachlan, Noah Beck, Alyson Hannigan, and Tan France capturing distinct performances that felt true to each personality while keeping the talent “secret” to preserve the guessing-game payoff.
Key features that made the campaign work were the surprise of recognizable voices behind unexpected puppet characters; the interactive prompt to “guess the mystery celebrities,” which fueled comments and shares; and a tone that balanced comedy with genuine emotional stakes, making the spot approachable for broad audiences while staying deeply aligned with St. Jude’s mission.
The results directly reflected the objectives we set. On social, the campaign delivered 30M+ impressions, indicating the concept successfully broke through crowded Giving Tuesday feeds and reached a mass audience at scale. Just as importantly, the “mystery celebrity” guessing hook prompted active participation, turning passive viewers into commenters and sharers, while the family-friendly puppet format kept audiences watching long enough to absorb St. Jude’s core message.
Beyond owned performance, the campaign achieved substantial amplification through press, generating an estimated 108M earned impressions with coverage from outlets including Variety, PR Newswire, and Yahoo. That level of pickup validated the creative as a standout cultural activation.
We consider the work a success because it proved that mission-driven content can be both joyful and effective. It transformed a donation request into an entertaining, story-driven moment people wanted to engage with, while keeping patients’ creativity and St. Jude’s impact at the center.
