Bank of America is in a unique position to use the power of its global platform to help people and communities address a wide range of societal challenges. The Bank knew it could make a critical difference in the fight against HIV/AIDS by partnering with (RED) and U2 and making a two-year, $10 million pledge. And rallying people around the world to join the fight.

The partnership was announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The campaign launched with a Super Bowl ad featuring U2 performing their new song, “Invisible”. The Bank made the song free to download on iTunes for 24 hours and donated $1 to (RED) for every download.

The ad reached over 100 million viewers and, surrounded by an innovative social media strategy, kicked off an integrated campaign that built awareness and encouraged people to take action and help begin the end of AIDS.

The announcement at Davos alone resulted in matching contributions of an additional $12,000,000 to (RED) from the Gates Foundation, SAP and others.

Internally, there was a huge groundswell of pride and excitement among Bank employees worldwide.

Externally, there was an unprecedented level of awareness, participation, and buzz. The song was downloaded over 1,000,000 times in the first hour. In just 24 hours, 3,144,477 downloads of “Invisible” triggered a $3,144,477 donation from Bank of America — translating into over 7,800,000 days of life-saving AIDS medication for pregnant mothers. There were 7,000,000 YouTube views of the ad, 112,000 campaign mentions and 107,000 tweets — most of which originated from celebrities and influencers such as musicians, talk-show hosts, and politicians.

There were several consecutive days of positive brand sentiment, two of which generated the highest score ever for the Bank.

But most important: the end of AIDS has begun.

The announcement drew significant coverage, including a CNBC interview with Bank CEO Brian Moynihan and Bono. The bankofamerica.com/red site went live. Social networks buzzed with the news.

Bank employees saw the ad first, becoming ambassadors. We then gave customers a preview.

A teaser was posted on YouTube. A Vine was tweeted. Paid social promotion backed both. On the Bank’s two digital billboards in Times Square, a clock counted down to the song download. The countdown was mirrored on (RED) and iTunes sites. To amplify this, 500 radio personalities did live reads on local stations nationwide.

Super Bowl Sunday, a video with new content posted to U2’s Facebook page, allowing fans to download the song before the official launch. Immediately after the ad ran, the Times Square clocks began counting down the 24 hours. The ad continued to run in high-profile units the next day, as well as in Bank branches.