Chewy Claus Wish-A-Thon
How we transformed holiday giving into a social-powered movement for shelter pets
Chewy CanadaOBJECTIVE
Every holiday season, millions of pets enter shelters in need of support. Through Chewy Claus, Chewy’s annual holiday giving program, pets “write” letters sharing their wishes, with every wish helping provide resources for animals in need.
The challenge: while audiences care deeply about causes, charitable content often competes with endless digital noise. Passive likes and shares weren’t enough — people wanted to see how their actions could create real impact.
Chewy needed to evolve Chewy Claus beyond a traditional holiday initiative and create a new way for pet lovers to participate, engage, and give back in real time.
The mission: transform digital attention into meaningful action by building an interactive social experience where every wish could help make a difference.
STRATEGY
We reimagined charitable giving for the social era by bringing the emotional power of a traditional telethon into the platforms where communities already gather.
Our insight: people don’t just want to support causes — they want to be part of the impact.
We built the Chewy Claus Wish-A-Thon around four key principles:
→ Make giving participatory
Turn audiences from passive viewers into active contributors by making every wish, comment, and interaction part of the experience.
→ Show impact in real time
Create a transparent connection between participation and purpose, allowing viewers to see their collective impact unfold live.
→ Build a social-first moment
Meet pet lovers where they already engage — across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube — with an experience designed for conversation, sharing, and community.
→ Turn individual actions into collective impact
Transform thousands of small moments of participation into meaningful support for shelter pets.
EXECUTION
The Chewy Claus Wish-A-Thon reinvented the holiday telethon as a 45-minute live social experience built around community-powered giving.
A social-first holiday broadcast
The event streamed simultaneously across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, bringing pet lovers together for a shared moment of generosity.
Throughout the livestream, viewers submitted holiday wishes for pets, with each wish contributing toward Chewy’s shelter support commitment.
The Wish-O-Meter
At the center of the experience was the Wish-O-Meter — a live digital tracker that showed the power of collective participation in real time.
Every wish moved the community closer to donation milestones, creating an immediate feedback loop between engagement and impact.
Community-powered storytelling
Hosts and moderators kept viewers engaged throughout the broadcast by responding to comments, celebrating milestones, and making participants feel like part of the movement.
Creators and pet communities helped amplify the experience through platform-native tools including comments, shares, duets, and social content.
Content built beyond the livestream
The campaign extended beyond the live event through behind-the-scenes content, creator moments, and social cutdowns designed to keep the momentum going across platforms.
RESULTS
The Chewy Claus Wish-A-Thon transformed holiday giving into a record-breaking social movement.
9,183 wishes submitted
More than double the campaign goal – nearly four wishes every second.
141,000+ live engagements
Audiences didn’t just watch; they actively participated, averaging 13 interactions per viewer.
14.5% peak concurrent viewership rate
More than 7x the industry livestream benchmark.
1,326% engagement rate
614x higher than Chewy’s standard in-feed benchmarks.
$5 MILLION in shelter supplies unlocked
Community participation drove Chewy to double its original donation commitment in real time.
