Whoever came up with this week’s advertising move for the Calm app is probably going to get a raise.
As former president Donald Trump cruised to victory on election night to emerge as the president-elect, and dozens of breaking news alerts went live as swing states were called, the app cashed in.
Calm, a mental fitness company that creates meditation products on its subscription-based app, bought advertising space – more specifically 30 second blocks on CNN, ABC, and Comedy Central – from 5:30 p.m. to 1:15 a.m. ET on election night.
Their commercial featured a video with the message, “We bought this ad space to give you 30 seconds of silence. Yep, just silence.”
The meaningful message was followed up with “you’re welcome” and featured their Calm logo.
“We wanted to meet people where they were with a real-time moment of calm, delivered through an unexpected 15 to 30-second silent ad break between the updates and alerts,” a Calm spokesperson said to Business Insider.
It was a masterclass in seizing a moment that was filled with chaos, noise and sensory overload for fans of both Trump and Kamala Harris.
Marketing professors loved the move, so much so that they said the advertisements were well-timed and placed.
“In marketing, what brands, products, services, and organizations try to do is meet the consumer, at the right time, with the right message,” Americus Reed, a marketing professor at The Wharton School, told Business Insider. “This initiative from Calm checks all three boxes, nicely.”
“It’s a very good idea to step in at a moment where solving a problem with Calm’s value proposition will resonate with a large amount of the country,” Reed added.
Meanwhile, Pauline Brown, a marketing professor from Columbia Business School, said, “All in all, I give this campaign an A+ for its ability to break through the advertising clutter of the last few days with a fresh, relevant, and, dare I say, calming message.”
The move was so effective, that the app “Calm” saw a massive, more than 100-spot jump in the App Store after the 30-second ad break aired during CNN and ABC’s election coverage.
A Calm spokesperson told TMZ they knew offering those few moments of silence were much needed during election season, especially while in the heat of the moment.
And after the ad aired, tons of election viewers flocked to the app for ongoing support, which sparked a surge in Calm downloads in just one day. The massive influx of users seeking help from the app boosted their App Store ranking.
Now, the placement of the app at the right time within an ad is drawing praise from many and talking about it on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The most genius ad placement goes to the calm app on CNN,” Jake Paul wrote in a post.
“I mean that’s [expletive] hilarious,” he added.
In addition to the ad, the app also provided a calming corner on IG Live for users, which streamed soothing footage of wildlife much like penguins and meerkats at the San Diego Zoo. The live raked in 150K people.
Historically, research shows watching cute animals can lower anxiety.
This isn’t the first time Calm has done this.
Back in 2020, Calm sponsored the CNN Key Race Alerts during the June presidential debate between Trump and President Joe Biden, as it sent push notifications to users, reminding them to “Exhale. Sip some water. Maybe play some rain sounds,” during the 45-minute mark.
