We gathered quotes that had led to incarceration or murder of the authors and re-published them on billboards in the countries they originated from. But since the quotes would never be allowed in the real streets of the countries, we found a backdoor. By downloading 360 spheres from Google street view, altering them in photoshop and them uploading them again, we put the messages (along with the author and their punishment) on the streets of corrupt countries. Freedom messages for anyone to see, impossible for corrupt governments to delete. Anyone could visit the hotspots in Google Street View. We spread the campaign with a promotional video, and a website where we informed about the declining press freedom around the world.

After gathering quotes from people who had been punished for speaking up against corruption, politics and lack of human rights we researched Google Street View to find the best billboard locations in the respective countries of the quotes. We then downloaded the 360 spheres, altered the billboards in photoshop and re-uploaded them to Google Street View. The billboards were uploaded at the same time in New York, Istanbul, Bangkok and other repressive countries. A total of seven different cities were covered in our freedom messages. The billboards were spread organically through Reporters Without Borders's social account and through PR.

The campaign rapidly made a positive media footprint in local markets, including big news outlets in Malta, the US and Russia. But it really took off when it reached massive Russian influencer/author Rustem Adagamov on Twitter and the political movement opposing Donald Trump.

And then what we were anticipating happened - Google took down the campaign for violating Google Maps policy, helping us create a second wave of PR. American CNBC made a big feature covering the takedown and the irony of Google removing a censorship campaign, promoting the continued importance of fighting for freedom of speech everywhere.

All in all, Billboards Beyond Borders achieved an earned media reach of 45 000 000 people globally. At the cost of a few hours work in Photoshop, and using nothing more than the right message in the right place, we had put the fight for freedom of speech on the map.