Problem
Big-Hearted Battles, a grassroots social movement, aimed to raise funds for nonprofits by leveraging the spirit of friendly competition. The concept was simple yet powerful: participants challenge friends to games, with the loser donating to the winner’s charity of choice. To gain traction and generate widespread participation, Big-Hearted Battles needed to establish a strong brand presence and effectively communicate its mission to a broad audience.
Action
Teak Media developed a comprehensive PR and influencer engagement strategy focused on:
- Brand Development: Creating a complete brand kit, including a logo, font, colors, and refined messaging, to establish a compelling and consistent identity. We simplified the core message to: “Compete with friends, donate to the winner’s charity of choice.”
- Content Creation: Producing engaging content to illustrate the concept and encourage participation. This included photo and video tutorials on how to play, and photographing people in Big-Hearted Battles.
- Social Media Kickstart: Establishing a social media presence to build community and amplify the message.
- Influencer Outreach: Identifying key influencers and crafting personalized pitches to motivate them to participate and promote Big-Hearted Battles to their followers.
Our outreach efforts targeted influencers across various platforms, emphasizing the opportunity to support charitable causes while engaging their audiences in a fun and meaningful way. Pitches highlighted the simplicity of the concept and the potential for significant social impact.
The agency also worked to get everyday people involved in the Big-Hearted Battles movement, engaging national and local organizations, from the Professional Pickleball Association to darts clubs, and chess to softball teams – documenting the battles as they went.
Results
The campaign achieved a major breakthrough when influencer Jimmy Donaldson (“MrBeast”) embraced the Big-Hearted Battle concept at the Black Adam movie premiere. His rock, paper, scissors challenge with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson generated substantial attention, resulting in a $200,000 donation to Make-A-Wish America.
- The video garnered over 70 million views across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube a month out from posting.
- As of 2025, the video has 651 million views on YouTube, 14.5 million views on TikTok, and 2.9 million views on Instagram.
The MrBeast and The Rock collaboration served as a powerful catalyst, significantly raising awareness for Big-Hearted Battles and validating the effectiveness of influencer engagement in driving philanthropic initiatives. The subsequent coverage on NBC Nightly News further amplified the message and expanded the reach of the movement, showcasing its appeal across diverse groups from social media influencers to local sports leagues. The campaign demonstrated the potential of social media to mobilize communities around charitable giving and established Big-Hearted Battles as a noteworthy fundraising tool for nonprofits.
Through strategic branding, targeted content creation, and effective influencer outreach, our agency successfully launched Big-Hearted Battles and generated significant momentum for this innovative philanthropic movement. The campaign’s success highlights the power of influencer collaborations to amplify charitable causes and inspire widespread participation in giving back.
