Google: New life of letters

Credits & Description:

Agency: Friends
Brand: Google Russia
Country: Russia
Advertising Agency: Friends , Moscow
Entrant Company: Friends , Moscow
Media Agency: Friends , Moscow
Pr Agency: Friends , Moscow
Production Company: Friends , Moscow
Additional Company: Friends , Moscow
Design Agency: Friends , Moscow
Art Directors: Alexander Zavatskiy (Friends Moscow)
Creative Director: Arina Avdeeva (Friends Moscow)
Digital Art Director: David A Ljungberg (Friends Moscow)
Sound Engineer: Pavel Zarenov (Stereotactic)
Digital Producer: Yuri S Zalvovsky (Friends Moscow)
B2c-marketing Manager Google Russia: Ivan Girba (Google Russia)
Agency Producer: Peter Fomichev (Friends Moscow)
Director: Victor Gorbachev (Stereotactic)
Illustrator: Willem Rabe  (Bakehouse Production)
Copywriter: Andrey Popov (Friends Moscow)
Producer: Natalia Urchenko (Stereotactic)
Agency Producer: Alya Lugovaya (Friends Moscow)
Account Director: Daria Davydova (Friends Moscow)
Photographer: Konstantin Sorokin (Bakehouse Production)
Pr-manager Google Russia: Ekaterina Kondratieva (Google Russia)
Film Editor: Aleksey Orlov (Stereotactic)
Operator: Egor Protsko (Stereotactic)
Dop: Kostya Duffus (Bakehouse Production)
Creative Director Google Russia: Marco Cremona (Google Russia)
Head Of B2c-marketing Google Russia: Natalya Nesmachnaya (Google Russia)
Campaign Description:
Google decided to use technology to rescue these letters before they were lost forever. Thus, we set out to collect the largest online archive of wartime letters in Russia - the "Alive Memory”.
Synopsis:
World War II has affected nearly every family in Russia. And in the span of it, nearly 6 billion letters were sent home from the frontlines. Still, there exists no common, public database that would collect and catalogue them. And time constantly erases memory. The ink fades, the paper decays… Exposed to light, humidity and extreme temperatures, letters may become totally unreadable in just 5 years
Outcome:
Close to 2000 collected letters / 3 mln project views on YouTube / 227 PR mentions / 6 mln social media reach / 211 000 unique users /
6 mln web page views / 468 mln media impressions
Strategy:
On the first stage of our project we asked people to donate their family wartime letters and on the second stage we revealed our archive.
Execution:
All the letters on site were presented in the form of the monument made of words from letters. Anyone could add their family’s letter to this archive, and each new letter, word by word, created this interactive monument in real time. Every word clicked through to a specific letter. We analyzed these letters, linking them with their recipients and senders, and traced their delivery routes. The letters could also be read in chronological order. Some of the letters found a new voice through 40 video recordings by famous Russians. Also young talents re-appropriated 7 of the letters to different genres of modern art. This inspired music, art, poetry, and performances based on the themes of the letters.