Happiness is a warm puppy.
This bit of wisdom from Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz was embraced Tuesday night by an increasingly frazzled American electorate seeking a refuge from potentially catastrophic news. One by one as the polls closed and states were called, anxiety began to rise. Would my candidate win? Were the polls misleading? Will I have to live in an America where I feel unsafe?
Unfortunately, Steve Kornacki and his many manila folders were not immediately forthcoming with answers, and so we turned to friends, family and online communities for reassurance. Eventually, we heard whispers of a respite from all the stats, an oasis of peace:
"The Calm app IG page is [livestreaming] puppies playing if you need a moment away from election anxiety," posted TV host Nina Parker on X.
The Calm app IG page is live streaming puppies playing if you need a moment away from election anxiety 😅
— Nina Parker (@theninaparker) November 6, 2024
Sure enough, puppies rompin' and chompin', cruisin' and snoozin' filled the screen. "Paws and take a look!" read the Calm caption. "We're live with some fur-ever friends looking for homes."
Puppies were living their best puppy lives, blissfully unaware of any political upheaval. It was a welcome break from the growing unease of watching election results come in. Apparently, Calm isn't just meditations and Sleep Stories. It's also puppies.
Salon spoke with a Calm spokesperson about the puppy livestream, along with their "30 seconds of silence" ad that played Tuesday night and other initiatives to combat politically induced anxiety:
Could you walk me through the origin of the livestreamed puppies concept? Who are the puppies? Someone's pets? Rescues?
Our goal was to create a calming corner of the internet through our Instagram Live. We streamed soothing sights of wildlife such as penguins and meerkats at the San Diego Zoo while the polls were still open. And as the polls closed, we followed that up with a stream of cuddly adoptable puppies from Hit Living Dog Rescue. This plan was grounded in research which shows that watching cute animals may reduce anxiety.
What were the discussions like about how long the livestream should last?
It was important for us to provide support for people as polls closed and as results started to roll in across the country. This is why we followed the livestream at the San Diego Zoo with the adoptable puppy livestream. As the sun set for the zoo animals and they headed to bed for the night, we could still provide calming sights of animals for people to tune into.
What's the feedback to the livestream been?
We had more than 145,000 people tune into these livestreams looking for a place of respite, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive with people sharing their appreciation across social channels. Across social, Calm mentions were up by more than 600% compared to the daily average in 2024.
What is the lesson here – for those people who don't think that looking at puppies on an app will do anything?
The response showed there was a collective need for a moment of respite and break from the 24/7 news and alerts. It was also important for us to meet people where we knew they already were going to be – scrolling on their phones – with a real-time moment of calm.
This wasn't the only content surrounding the election. There have been blog posts addressing worrying about politics and election anxiety, not to mention the breathing posts on Instagram. I even saw an ad that offered 30 seconds of silence.
In addition to the livestreams, Calm created supportive resources to help people find rest and relief during the election season including a free "Election Season Support" content collection (calm.com/election), "Navigating Through World Events" mindfulness series and bespoke, spirit-lifting Sleep Stories like the "The Nightlight." We’ve also been running calming ad breaks throughout election season to break up the news cycles with a moment of calm, including our first ever "silent ad," which ran throughout election night.
How early were discussions had to have a variety of content for the election?
It was important for us to have supportive resources available for people throughout the election cycle spanning from debate nights through election week and beyond. This included creating a free resource page with a range of meditations, Sleep Stories and breathing exercises so anyone who needed support could access it.
The meditation app @calm bought 30 seconds of primetime election day adspace and did this.
— Heer Shingala ✍️👩🍳🤹♀️ (@noheeriye) November 6, 2024
Such a standout ad! Bound to build excellent recall.
Shows enormous faith in their own branding to do something like this.
Source: @deanbphillips pic.twitter.com/fphl4hViDK
Can you walk us through that "30 seconds of silence" ad — from concept to execution?
Building on the meaningful impact of our 2020 CNN Key Race Alert sponsorship and in the heightened political climate, we knew providing moments of calm would be essential again this election season. Election Day (and week) comes with a lot of noise – from breaking news alerts to election results and political ads. As people look to stay informed and engaged, it can be hard to step away, resulting in heightened stress. We wanted to meet people where they were with a real-time moment of calm, delivered through a simple and unexpected 15- to 30-second silent ad break in between the updates and alerts.
Do you have a calendar in place for high-stress events that you want to target? What's next?
Calm has always been committed to supporting people through life’s most stressful moments, and we will continue to be there as a resource whether it’s collective moments of stress or for individuals going through a specific challenging time.
Calm is also known for partnering with celebrities who invest in and create content, most notably the Sleep Stories. Who's the most listened-to celebrity of all time?
Our Top 5 most popular Sleep Stories are "Blue Gold" (read by Stephen Fry), "Wonder" (Matthew McConaughey), "The Waterfall" (Tamara Levitt), "The Nordland Night Train" (Erik Braa) and "Dream With Me" (Harry Styles).
We partnered with Sony on this Sleep Story to provide Marvel and Hardy fans a way to wind down after seeing “Venom: The Last Dance.” This Sleep Story gives fans a unique way to experience the characters while getting a good night’s sleep. Our expert content team has a way of sprinkling soothing magic on all of our Sleep Stories through the narrator's cadence to the background music to get people to lull to sleep.
I often seek nap stories, but many of them on Calm are for kids, which is what I default to (Sienna the sleepy sloth FTW). Will more be made for adults?
We are always creating new sleep content for our members including nap stories for adults as sleep is one of the top reasons people turn to Calm.
How do you think Calm has evolved? Where does it want to go?
Calm started as a meditation app, but we have since evolved into a mental health company committed to supporting people along their mental health journey. With our resources, we’re helping people get better sleep, ease stress, build a daily mindfulness practice and navigate through the many experiences of being a human whether it’s becoming a parent, coming out, fostering healthy relationships, facing health challenges, changing jobs,and so much more.
We are also focused on expanding access to Calm and our newest evidence-based mental health app Calm Health, through partnerships with health plans and employers.
Do you have one tip or takeaway going forward about dealing with political anxiety?
Focus on what you can control. Worrying about things you can’t change can only increase anxiety. Focus on positive actions you can take, like volunteering or connecting with your community, to help you feel empowered.
