The Brief: Most people don’t know much about autism, but on November 1 we tried to understand it better.

The Solution: People with autism find social communication a challenge. So we prompted the first global shutdown of social networks to rouse empathy and raise funds.

We invented the CHAPP (charity app) which people made a donation to receive. It signalled shutdown on Facebook and Twitter and became a channel to build awareness.

Each partner was given the tools to localise PR for their own audience. In addition, each partner recruited celebrities to take part in the shutdown.High-profile celebs and twitterati such as Miranda Kerr, Buzz Aldrin, Steven Seagal and Deepak Chopra provided great coverage and spread the word through their online following.

The campaign ran for 1 month as was adapted when new celebrities joined the cause.The campaign also had to respond to division within the autism community. Being a spectrum disorder, it invites a spectrum of opinions and infighting about the best way to help is unfortunately very common. A group within the community preferred to speak up about their experience rather than go silent on November 1. So we embraced their involvement and shared their stories with our supporters. This turned them around and they appreciated our assistance in giving volume to their voices.

It started with a small, not-for-profit group and went global in its first year with partners in over 40 countries. A further 30 partners approached us to be involved next year.The campaign reached 164 countries and 7,706 cities. With the help of our charity app (CHAPP), we directly reached over 6 million people on Facebook and Twitter before it was further shared.We also created an ongoing property for the global autism community which everyone else could be a part of.