In 2023, Ben Southall from Best Life Adventures sought an opportunity to promote his contemporary reimagining of corporate fundraising that takes it out of the office environment and into the realms of Himalayan adventure.

With a view to challenging people’s spirit, mettle and determination, Ben’s unique offering involves participants trekking to Everest Base Camp in Nepal, an incredible journey of more than 140km that takes them to an altitude of 5348m above sea level.

He had already led one such fundraiser – raising more than $100,000 for a mental health charity in Toowoomba – and his challenge to Bespoken was to use that trip to create awareness of, and bookings for, future expeditions.

Ben had an incredible news hook in place, given the fact his five-year-old son Atlas had been part of the expedition. However, the critical challenge was that he wanted to secure coverage in front of his target audience of C-suiters and corporate decisions makers  – the people who could realistically commit themselves and their teams to this kind of high-level activity – rather than only a mainstream audience which would enjoy Atlas’s epic story but not have an impetus to follow in their footsteps.

This necessitated careful planning and execution as news of the family’s feat began to spread.