The Calm app bought ad blocks on CNN and ABC on election night to give viewers '30 seconds of silence'

The Calm logo.

Calm

• The Calm app bought some prime advertising space on election night.
• It bought ad blocks on CNN, ABC, and Comedy Central to give viewers "30 seconds of silence."
• "I give this campaign an A+," said Pauline Brown, a marketing professor at Columbia Business School.

President-elect Donald Trump cruised to victory on election night, and dozens of breaking news alerts went live as swing states were called.

Calm, a mental fitness company that creates meditation products on its subscription-based app, decided to buy some advertising space — and give viewers some respite from the news.

The company purchased 30-second blocks on CNN, ABC, and Comedy Central from 5:30 p.m. to 1:15 a.m. ET on election night.

The advertisement involved a video with the message: "We bought this ad space to give you 30 seconds of silence. Yep, just silence."

That was followed by a "you're welcome" and the Calm logo.

The best political ad ever.
(sound on) pic.twitter.com/UVCEWlOqpB

— Dean Phillips (@deanbphillips) November 5, 2024

"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 told Business Insider.

Marketing experts give Calm's advertisements an A+

Marketing professors 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 BI. "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.

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."

This isn't Calm's first go at election-related ad content.

Calm sponsored the CNN Key Race Alerts in 2020. It also moved push notifications to its users during the June presidential debate between Trump and President Joe Biden.

Halfway through the debate, the app sent a notification that read: "The 45-minute mark. Exhale. Sip some water. Maybe play some rain sounds."

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