Title	SIREN TEST
Brand	AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Product/Service	RADIO COMMERCIAL (AUDIO ONLY)
Category	B04. Use of Broadcast
Entrant	AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Zurich, SWITZERLAND
Idea Creation	JUNG VON MATT/LIMMAT Zürich, SWITZERLAND
Media Placement	JUNG VON MATT/LIMMAT Zürich, SWITZERLAND
PR	JUNG VON MATT/LIMMAT Zürich, SWITZERLAND
Production	JUNG VON MATT/LIMMAT Zürich, SWITZERLAND
Additional Company	RADIO 24 Zurich, SWITZERLAND

Name	Company	Position
Dennis Lueck	Jung von Matt/Limmat	Chief Creative Officer
Lorenz Clormann	Jung von Matt/Limmat	Creative Director
Frederik Dreier	Jung von Matt/Limmat	Texter
Sabrina Izumi	Jung von Matt/Limmat	Project Manager / Consultant
Fernando Gort	Jung von Matt/Limmat	Consultant

Why is this work relevant for Direct?

Switzerland tests its alarm sirens annually despite peace while in Yemen, bombs fall without warning on schools, homes, and hospitals. In Switzerland, the public is requested to turn on the radio in case of alarm. While alarm sirens were being tested across Switzerland this year, non-profit organization Amnesty International partnered with Radio 24 and broadcast live sounds of war from Yemen. Dialogue teams transmitted the broadcast at promotional stands and gathered signatures using a call to action against arms shipments for the war in Yemen. The transmission ended with an appeal for donations and a special broadcast on the topic.

Background

Since March 25, 2015, homes, schools, and hospitals in Yemen are being destroyed without warning during air attacks. At the same time, despite 200 years of peace, alarm sirens in Switzerland are tested every year to see whether they still work. Is that not absurd?

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

To raise awareness among potential donors and to retain existing ones, we turned the siren test into an emergency. While alarm sirens were being tested across Switzerland, live sounds of war from Yemen were also being broadcast on Radio 24 and at promotional stands. The transmission ended with a special broadcast on the topic, including an appeal for donations to support the work of Amnesty International in protecting the civil population in Yemen.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

In Switzerland, the public is requested to turn on their radio in case of alarm to receive information on what to do next. Therefore, a creative strategy was developed. The Swiss siren test, an event with a high level of national attention, would be used to put abuses in Yemen on center stage. The aim was to destroy the gap between peaceful Switzerland and the brutal reality in Yemen. The population was to get a wake-up call via the audible experience of war. This gave rise to the idea of cooperating with Radio 24 and broadcasting the sounds of war simultaneously to the siren test.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

Each year, the siren test takes place on the first Wednesday in February. Amnesty International wanted to use precisely this topical, nationwide occurrence to call attention to the “forgotten war” in Yemen. The initiative took place on February 6, 2019 at exactly 1:30 p.m. and lasted 2 minutes and 15 seconds, like every year. The message reached a national audience, as people in Switzerland are always requested to turn on their radios during a siren test.

List the results (30% of vote)

The results of this radio-driven experience: The number of listeners rose by more than 400 percent that day, making it the largest Swiss radio audience ever. Donations for Amnesty International increased by over 200 percent during the two-week campaign period. In total, over 1.2 million Swiss Francs were raised to support the population in Yemen. In addition to that, dialogue teams collected over 100,000 signatures to stop arms exports. Over half of the Swiss population was reached with this radio-driven campaign. Thus, Amnesty International was able to turn the annual war siren test into an acoustic memorial that will resonate for a long time.