The three-minute advert takes viewers back to 1818, after the Napoleonic Wars, when the priest Joseph Mohr and the music teacher Franz Xaver Gruber created the song in Oberndorf near Salzburg to give people hope in a difficult time. With only a guitar as accompaniment, at a time when such songs were unimaginable in churches, "Silent Night" was born.
The video shows how the song conquered the world over the years, from its performance in front of Emperor Franz I to the unexpected message of peace during the First World War, when soldiers sang it together at the front. In 1973, the song even reached space when it was transmitted to the Skylab 4 space station.
Under the motto #believeinyourself, Sparkasse OÖ and Erste Group are using this advert to remind us how one impulse, one idea can have a big impact. The film, which canbe seen on YouTube and social media, is already the seventh successful Christmas advert from the bank, which has gained worldwide recognition for its emotional stories.
