After 90 years, research showed that the UK’s largest armed forces charity, The Royal British Legion, needed to do more to be seen as modern and relevant by younger audiences of potential supporters.

Our brief was to create a campaign which gave the charity permission to engage the “digital generation” with its goals and objectives.

Each year The Legion coordinates a national two-minute silence on Remembrance Sunday to commemorate fallen British soldiers. Our campaign sought to make this most potent of symbolic assets relevant to our target audience.How?

By creating “2 Minute Silence” - a completely SILENT single and celebrity-packed “music” video, released into the UK charts for Remembrance Sunday.UK chart history was made when the single entered the Top 20 on Remembrance Sunday. The sheer uniqueness of the campaign, together with the volume of celebrity in the music video, provided the perfect platform for an integrated, youth-engagement campaign.

We secured over 20 celebrity participants and created our silent track and music video.We registered as a record label and secured distribution via iTunes and other digital channels (including a bespoke pre-sales microsite and Facebook tab).We seeded a 10 second trailer of the video across the web.We managed a proactive and reactive press office which was so productive that on numerous occasions agency execs were fronted on live television as Legion spokespeople.

We wrote a by-lined double-page article for Andy Murray in The Sun, featuring quotes from 15 celebrities, including the Prime Minister.We created an email which was sent to The Legion’s supporter database.The day before the chart show, we secured video play-out at major sporting events, including numerous football matches and an England vs. Australia rugby international.Finally, we secured social media support from numerous celebrities, including David Beckham, Radiohead, Coldplay and Stephen Fry.

We secured over 20 leading celebrities to appear in our music video pro bono, including Thom Yorke, Andy Murray, Mark Ronson, Plan B, Mary Portas, Martin Johnson, David Cameron and many more.- Over 260 pieces of media coverage.- Over 35,000 Facebook likes.- Over 200,000 views of video trailer on YouTube.- Over 16million reached through celebrity social media messages of support.- Over 23,000 singles sold, returning over £20,000 to The Legion.- A top 20 chart position.- Total circulation: 122,445,581 (source: Durrants).- Budget: £70,000.- Return from single sales: £20,000.- Advertising value equivalent of media: £949,831 (source: Durrants).For every £1 invested in the campaign the equivalent of £19 of media value was returned, with a particular focus on youth media – ideally suited to help The Legion shift the needle in terms of its perception as the modern and relevant forces charity for the digital generation.