Amnesty International partnered with MEO, Portugal largest media operator and one of the major advertisers, to launch Breaking Sirens – a campaign that interrupted Portuguese’s routine with an air raid siren. For the first time, MEO shifted the way they program media buying, redirecting the existing media budget for TV, radio and cinema ads that were no longer on air, airing them back to interrupt them with an air raid siren. A disruptive partnership between a small organization with limited resources (Amnesty International) and a giant media operator with coverage all over the country (MEO).

As the Russian invasion interrupted the lives in Ukraine, creating millions of refugees, tax donation campaigns were starting in Portugal where every year, people can choose an NGO to donate 0,5% of their tax returns. With several NGOs competing for attention, Amnesty International needed the Portuguese to choose helping the victims of this war.

While we were watching the war 24/7 on our screens, in between videos, shows and ads, it became just another common topic. We wanted to interrupt this daily routine, by putting the Portuguese into the shoes of the Ukrainians, even if just for a few seconds.

Amnesty International partnered with MEO, Portugal’s largest media operator, to interrupt their ads with an air raid siren. The siren interrupted TV, radio and cinema ads and all over the country. Every time a siren broke in a Ukrainian city the same happened in a MEO store. And even on the World Cup Qualifiers, Portugal vs North Macedonia.

In the early days of the military invasion, all the attention was in Ukraine. The war was the main topic on TV, radio, newspapers, social media, everywhere. But as the conflict evolves over time, it's human nature to switch off and forget that thousands of miles away millions of people need urgent help. Amnesty International needed to put the Portuguese into the shoes of the Ukrainians. How? In newscasts, seen by millions of Portuguese, the heartbreaking sound of the air raid sirens were constantly playing while we listened the war live coverage. So, if this sound interrupts the routine in Ukraine, why not interrupt people’s routine with the same sound while they were relaxed doing their stuff, like watching tv, listening to the radio, shopping, going to a football match or the movies? To reach as many people as possible, Amnesty International partnered with MEO, Portugal’s largest media operator.

For two weeks and for the first time in its history, MEO shifted the way they program media buying, redirecting the existing media budget for TV, radio and cinema ads that were no longer on air, airing them back to interrupt them with an air raid siren. Every time a siren broke in a Ukrainian city the same happened in a MEO store. And as the National Football Team main sponsor, MEO interrupted its own ads on the World Cup Qualifiers Final Match between Portugal and North Macedonia.

Only in the first week, Breaking Sirens interrupted more than 400 ads, reached 2.300.000 million people and generated already more than 60.000 visits to the Amnesty website, a 790% increase compared to the last year’s Amnesty campaign during the same period. IRS submissions are still running until June 30th.