Turning real stories into real-world impact

Helping London City Mission acquire new donors at Christmas by turning real stories into high-performing, social-first creative.

The Brief

Christmas is the most important moment in the calendar for London City Mission — and in 2025, the challenge was clear.

They needed to cut through an increasingly crowded festive feed and reach new audiences who had never given before, without losing the emotional weight that makes their work matter.

At the heart of the appeal was Sally’s story. Our role was to help bring that story to life on social — and crucially, to push beyond a single narrative by introducing new creative routes that could unlock stronger performance and scale.

The Approach

We built the campaign around a simple belief: when social feels like social, people respond.

Rather than fragmenting budget and messaging, we created a single, tightly structured acquisition campaign designed to give the platform clarity and momentum. From there, we focused on three key things:

  • Letting real stories lead, not polished ads

  • Giving the algorithm creative variety to learn from

  • Removing friction between inspiration and action

Alongside the core appeal assets, we introduced a range of social-first creative — including short-form video and UGC-style content — designed to feel native in-feed rather than like traditional charity advertising.

As the campaign ran, we actively leaned into what was working, scaling the strongest creative and evolving the mix in real time.

The Results

The impact was immediate.

The campaign didn’t just reach new people — it resonated. Engagement climbed, traffic quality improved, and most importantly, first-time donors were converting at a significantly stronger rate than previous appeals.

What We Learned

This campaign reinforced a few powerful truths:

  • Social-first creative makes all the difference

  • Real people and real stories outperform polished production

  • Creative is the biggest performance lever in paid social

  • Planning earlier unlocks far greater opportunity

Looking Ahead

Building on the success of the Christmas Appeal, the focus now shifts to testing a more always-on acquisition approach and planning even further ahead for Christmas 2026 — ensuring the strongest stories reach the right people, at the moments they’re most ready to act.