To generate donations for the victims of last year's severe earthquakes in Syria and Turkey, we carried out an unprecedented media guerrilla stunt for the German relief coalition "Aktion Deutschland Hilft":

On the first anniversary of the disaster, we shook up all media channels across Germany in a perfectly synchronized way. At regular intervals, we caused the advertising on TV, radio, DOOH, the web and social media to unexpectedly shake at exactly the same time.

Regardless of which channel our target group consumed during these recurring time slots, they simultaneously witnessed a nationwide, virtual earthquake as a reminder to donate.

Germans are generally very helpful and willing to donate. However, this is only the case when there is a corresponding cause in the public eye. As soon as media interest in a disaster dies down, donations also fall.

This is a major problem for Germany's largest aid alliance "Aktion Deutschland Hilft" in particular – because long-term help for victims becomes impossible without donations.

This was also the case for the victims of the severe earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. One year after the disaster, the region is still a long way from normality – and donations are urgently needed. We should therefore re-ignite the Germans' desire to donate – even if the issue has long since disappeared from the public consciousness.

In other words, we needed to activate the Germans to make them willing to donate – by creating a renewed media omnipresence through smart and never done before linking of all media channels.

On February 6, 2023, several earthquakes shook the Turkish-Syrian border. Almost 60,000 people died, more than 125,000 were injured and millions lost their homes.

The world immediately rushed to help. With donations, relief supplies and medical care. But as media interest declined, so did the willingness to donate.

For "Aktion Deutschland Hilft" - Germany's largest relief coalition - we were asked to activate people in an unseen way that those affected still urgently need support.

The primary goal was to generate donations in Germany. In addition, "Aktion Deutschland Hilft" should be highlighted as the best partner for long-term commitment.

As media presence links directly to the willingness to donate, we decided to once again make the disaster omnipresent. This time, however, we did so by shaking the German media landscape – across all channels and in an unprecedented synchronized manner with the help of various advertising formats of our partners.

The analysis of donation data from the "Aktion Deutschland Hilft" relief coalition shows: Most donations are collected immediately after a humanitarian disaster. However, as soon as media interest fades, donations decline. Long-term commitment therefore becomes a real challenge. To generate new donations for the victims of the severe earthquakes in Syria and Turkey a year ago, we therefore need to generate renewed media omnipresence.

We achieved this with an unprecedented, synchronized media guerrilla campaign across all channels: on the first anniversary of the earthquakes, we literally shook up Germany's entire media landscape - by shaking the advertising on TV, radio, DOOH, the web and even social media at regular intervals at exactly the same time. Visually and acoustically.

Regardless of which channel our target group consumed during these recurring time slots, they witnessed a nationwide, virtual earthquake and were reminded to donate for the victims in Syria and Turkey.

Our target group is very broad: all Germans over the age of 18 who are willing to donate. In the event of a real disaster, this target group learns about it through a wide variety of channels. Be it on TV, on the radio, on the web on a news platform, via a ticker on a DOOH or in the social media via corresponding influencers.

In order to effectively reach the same broad target group with our media shakeup, we also had to use exactly the same media channels. And just as concentrated in a tight time frame as in the event of a real disaster. This is precisely why we chose February 6, 2024 - the first anniversary of the severe earthquakes in Syria and Turkey - to hijack the entire German media landscape.

The relief alliance "Aktion Deutschland Hilft" is an NGO. We therefore had no media budget available, which is why we deliberately entered into partnerships with various media service providers. We collaborated with multiple TV- and radio-stations, DOOH providers and influencers in order to obtain free media space throughout Germany for the anniversary of the severe earthquakes. At the same time, we got a large number of well-known brands on board to provide us with their current advertising assets for one day. We adapted these digitally so that they were completely unexpectedly shaken as if by an earthquake and then called for donations. All advertising material was synchronized throughout Germany for one day so that 8 TV stations, 20,000 DOOH screens and radio spots on various stations shook at the same time. We also made our partners' banners and websites shake – as well as our influencers' channels using video filters.

With "Das große Wachbeben" (The Big Shakeup), we were able to effectively draw the public's attention to the victims of the severe earthquakes in Turkey and Syria within one single day. With a media budget of $ 0, we reached a total of more than 4.5 million people across Germany with the donated advertising space on February 6, 2024.

2.4 million via TV, just under 1.6 million via radio, a good 340,000 people with 20,000 DOOH spaces and just under 170,000 with beamboards. Added to this is UGC through the followers of our influencers in the mid three-digit range.

Overall, we were able to increase donations for Turkey and Syria by at least 239%.

Thanks to the generous media donations and the consistently positive accompanying reporting, we were also able to sustainably anchor "Aktion Deutschland Hilft" in the public consciousness as a committed partner for long-term aid.