We created Alive Memory, the world’s largest online archive of wartime letters, to show the Russian people and government that Google—despite being a U.S. company—honored their history, culture, and sacrifices. And by creating an engaging and highly visual online memorial of those who fought in the Great Patriotic War, the past would be preserved for the benefit of future generations of Russians, ensuring the stories and experiences of their parents and grandparents would not be lost:

My darling, my treasure, begins one letter. I turn 32 years old today… Death advances, glaring horrifically. Another letter reads: The weapons explode endlessly. As I am writing to you I hide myself in a trench, and the sand is shedding from the ceiling because of the explosions.

PR was essential to locating the letters and generating widespread awareness, credibility, and support among Russians in order for this massive undertaking to succeed.

We issued a national media call across Russia to search for wartime letters. Google created a public website for uploading digitized photos. Letters were then tagged and displayed online so that anyone could search through and read them.

To keep the project in the headline news, we staged high traffic events where we brought on popular young Russian actors, musicians, TV hosts, bloggers and government officials to read the letters aloud. Then we videotaped the performances and placed all the live readings online to drive larger audiences.

We even commissioned seven Russian artists to create contemporary pieces based on the letters, giving us emotionally moving music, dance, photography, graphics, design, and poetry to perform live in high profile public venues to further engage young Russians in the project.

Combined, these Google-branded events generated tremendous media coverage and enthusiastic response to the project throughout Russia.

• We convinced three national media outlets to join on as unpaid promotional partners; all celebrities and government officials volunteered their time and read letters without compensation.

• 1,800+ wartime letters were archived. Russians logged on and read the letters 390,000 times. The project video has been viewed 1.8MM times, and 61% of visitors were our target millennials (aged 18-34).

• Social media has reached 6MM people, and we’ve generated more than 200 media stories producing 468MM earned media impressions.

• The campaign has helped Google develop important relationships. The Russian Minister of Culture, Alexander Kibovsky, attended the readings in his official capacity, and the Russian Press Secretary, Dmitry Peskov, was so impressed that he officially recommended the archive be hosted at the President’s Library—a major achievement for a global company in Russia.

• Since the campaign, Google's share of search in Russia has climbed to 35%, its highest ever. (Source: http://www.liveinternet.ru/stat/ru/searches.html?period=month).