These are the television ads that Calm bought for election night

Four years ago, as CNN anchors John King and Wolf Blitzer analyzed the results in several state districts. They extended the debate for hours trying to predict who would win the 2020 US presidential election when suddenly the broadcast was interrupted by a 30-second ad featuring the sound of rain falling on leaves from the Calm meditation app.

These ads during the election were strategically placed by Calm, which also sponsored CNN’s “key race alerts” throughout the night. These actions helped Calm become in the winning brand of the nightincreasing their Twitter mentions by 248% and achieving a successful advertising moment when most big brands decided to remain silent. The eight hour version This ad currently has 58 million views.

Now, Calm returns for the election night 2024ready to once again offer an ad with 30 seconds of serenity in the midst of political madness. For Calm, tonight has become his own Super Bowl. “It’s as important as we can get in terms of being present for people in a meaningful way,” says Blake Beers, vice president of brand marketing at Calm.

Calm has been present sporadically during the electoral campaign process. On June 27, after the Notoriously weak debate performance of President Joe Biden, the brand tweeted: “Now, let’s turn off all our televisions and go to sleep.”

But on Election Day, the brand will elevate its presence.

Viewers following the election will be able to enjoy serene commercial breaks. This election, Calm will feature a completely silent ad to offer a moment of quiet amidst the noise. The 30 second ads will air throughout the day on CNN and ABC. The goal is to create a strong contrast between the constant presence of commentators and the inherent tension of the moment, and complete silence.

“That silence is really what will draw people in,” Beers says. “We are all in this chaos, and we are just telling you to take a deep breath and take a moment for yourself. “We are excited to see how this resonates.”

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[Cortesía Calm]

Additionally, starting November 5, Calm and the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance will broadcast live from the zoo on the brand’s Instagram account, featuring the calming image of wild animals such as capybaras, meerkats, penguins and others in their routines. daily. The stream will begin at noon Pacific Time and continue until polls close across the United States, and viewers will also have the opportunity to get a free one-year subscription to Calm.

“Imagine your Instagram feed that day, it will be full of noise and chaos and it will be really complicated,” Beers says. “So how cool is it to have this interruption of a penguin or a panda on your feed.”

Calm will also offer a full section of free content to give people a break—and a taste of the product. This includes a bedtime story called “The American Dream,” which celebrates some of the country’s most notable moments, places and figures, as well as a new mindfulness series developed with Jay Shetty called Navigating world events.

Election night is an anomaly in that it is one of the few live television events that attracts large audiences—the Super Bowl and the Oscars are other examples; However, advertisers usually keep their distance. Despite the hype around purpose and “woke companies,” for the most part, brands seek to avoid controversy and polarized anger. According to the research firm Forrester82% of marketers are worried about how to properly promote their brand during a heated presidential election.

For Beers, the key to Calm’s success both in 2020 and today is that it seeks to calm emotions and relieve people’s stress, while consciously avoiding any partisan stance.

“No matter what happens, half the country will be very upset the day after they get the results,” Beers says. “So we can be neutral. Our goal is to be the calming corner of the internet during these times and really create meaningful resources that are a reliable place of rest.”

That credibility is key and can be a delicate balance for any advertiser in such a fractured and volatile time, even more so for a brand operating in the mental health space. Beers says the goal of his job on election night is to balance sensitivity without appearing opportunistic.

“We are very conscious of not being too irreverent or disrespectful,” he says. “But the learning from 2020 was that it had a lot of resonance. “We’ve developed it, and now what we’ve seen from a consumer perspective is that people expect this from us.”

Now, let’s all breathe deeply.