One Minute of Silence for Haiti: One minute of silence generates the equivalent in advertising of 331’000 Swiss Francs.

After the earthquake in Haiti, there was massive media coverage. Only two weeks later, there was silence.In order to set the focus on Caritas’ long-term rebuilding programme and to keep the flow of donations and amplitude of information about Haiti alive, we began an unusual campaign. We teamed up with Universal Music to launch a song.The Artist: The relief organisation Caritas.The Title: One Minute of Silence for Haiti.The Content: 60 seconds of silence. 60 seconds so as not to forget too soon.

“One Minute of Silence” could be downloaded on major music platforms. All revenue went to Caritas.Swiss pop stars and artists promoted it and the Swiss media reported it. It topped the Swiss online charts.All major Swiss radio stations played it. They were given a reason to cover the subject of the urgently needed long-term rebuilding of Haiti again. “One Minute of Silence for Haiti” did what it was meant to do: it kept Haiti top of mind.

We teamed up with Universal Music to launch a song.The Artist: The relief organisation Caritas.The Title: One Minute of Silence for Haiti.The Content: 60 seconds of silence. 60 seconds so as not to forget too soon.

“One Minute of Silence” could be downloaded on major music platforms. All revenue went to Caritas.Swiss pop stars and artists promoted it and the Swiss media reported it. It topped the Swiss online charts.All major Swiss radio stations played it. They filled the silence with editorial content and made Caritas and its long-term rebuilding programme the theme. “One Minute of Silence for Haiti” did what it was meant to do: it kept Haiti top of mind.

One Minute of Silence was done with no budget at all. The offline and online press reporting and the radio airplay amounted to the equivalent of a CHF 331,000 advertising spend.

All major Swiss radio stations aired one Minute of Silence. The Swiss media provided heavy coverage. Swiss pop stars and artists also helped to publicise the idea. One Minute of Silence for Haiti topped the Swiss online charts for weeks.