Creatives don’t care about stock photography. But every creative cares about art. “Lost Masterpieces” challenged five of the world’s greatest digital artists to take art by Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Schinkel, Kahlo and Vermeer that have been completely lost to time and re-create them using only Adobe Stock images. The results were re-creations of lost masterpieces—made from thousands of stock photos—that without a second glance could pass for the originals. When creatives saw these re-creations of masterpieces back in the frames they once filled, they could also explore the stock photography that was used to make them. They saw that with Adobe Stock added to the creative process, you can create anything, even art that has been missing for hundreds of years.

Each re-created masterpiece was displayed in pop-up art galleries and online, and viewers were showed the re-created masterpiece right beside the original, along with the story behind how it went missing and the stock photos used to re-create it. Users could explore the re-creations layer by layer to see the individual stock images used. Behind-the-scenes footage and time-lapse videos showing how each masterpiece was made served as online video and interactive-banner ads on websites that creatives visit for inspiration. Interactive take-overs showing side-by-side comparisons ran on websites where creatives were waiting for files to upload. Print ads showed flip-book-style time-lapse videos of the re-creations that led into views of the final artwork. The “Lost Masterpieces” campaign ran from June 2016 through January 2017.

Awareness of Adobe Stock among creative professionals tripled during the “Lost Masterpieces” campaign.

“Lost Masterpieces” helped Adobe Stock photo sales increase by 33 percent.

Adobe reported 460,000 new visitors to the Adobe Stock website during the “Lost Masterpieces” campaign.

There were 40 million online video completions during the “Lost Masterpieces” campaign.