Product partnerships and merchandise push influencer fundraiser to $10 million plus

The History

Thankmas is an annual fundraising campaign held each December by Sean 'Jacksepticeye' McLoughlin, who has amassed over 28 million YouTube followers and millions more on additional social media platforms. Thankmas started in 2017 as a livestream event where Sean would livestream from his YouTube channel for a charity of his choosing.

During the COVID pandemic in 2020 Sean wanted to make Thankmas even bigger and more impactful. Working closely with Tiltify he turned Thankmas from a singular event to a Peer-to-Peer Event allowing his friends and fans to join in and fundraise alongside him for a total of $4,700,000 in donations. In 2021 he continued this and the event grew even more, to $7.7 Million.

The Challenge

Coming off record-breaking Thankmas 2021, the question for 2022 was: how to make Thankmas EVEN BIGGER?

The answer: Thankmas merchandise, brand partnerships, and celebrity guests!

Amassing over 10 million views on Jack SepticEye’s Youtube between Thankmas 2020 and 21, the P2P fundraising event has become increasingly well-known. In 2022 major brands such as Coca Cola and Teremana Tequila (owned by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) as well as celebrities including celebrity chefs Nyesha Arrington, and Antonia Lofaso actor/musician Jack Black and musician Bella Poarch were eager to be a part of the event. Of course, Sean’s close friends and previous guests, Markiplier and Valkyrae - well known Youtubers - were on the guest list as well.

Supporting World Central Kitchen, a cause that has had a meaningful impact from Ukraine to the floods of Eastern Kentucky in 2022 and “classic segments” such as writing donor names on gingerbread man sticky notes and placing on “wall of fame” in the studio were also critical aspects of Thankmas 2022’s overwhelming success!

Merchandise

Tiltify partnered with Bonfire for the first-ever Thankmas merchandise, apparel (t-shirt, longsleeve shirt, hoodie, sweatshirt). The after-cost contribution to Thankmas 2022 was $83,423 with 3,720 items purchased.

Check out our blog post on our Bonfire and Thankmas collaboration

Brand Partnerships

Thankmas 2022 included a live segment featuring Coca Cola branded products while Coca Cola made donation of $500,000.

Teremana Tequila, owned by Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson donated $500,000 and a bottle of its tequila for an on air tasting of the product.

Learn more about livestreaming and product partnerships

Celebrity guests

Chef Nyesha Arrington, of Next Level Chef and Chopped Next Gen fame served as 'sandwich consultant' as well as judge in a contest segment wherein Sean, Markiplier, and guest Arin Hanson competed to make the most sandwiches in 5 minutes. Making high quality sandwiches at speed is a core activity for World Central Kitchen teams when on site helping those in need and served as a meaningful representation of WCK’s impact.

Antonia Lofaso

After the speed competition, another competition took place in which Sean, Markiplier and Arin made 'deluxe' sandwiches in the style of reality cooking shows and were sampled and judged by Chef Antonia Lofaso, known for Top Chef and various Guy Fieri projects, and Nyesha Arrington.

Jack Black

Jack Black has been a household name for years with his leading the band Tenacious D and starring in comedies such as Nacho Libre. He dropped by the livestream and played a game of giant Jenga with Sean. Many viewers were very excited for his appearance.