We have achieved a great historical result using a direct communication to Chief Editors and journalists of top 30 Russian and international media. 30 small packages of a perfume have changed Russian social and cultural agenda.

Nowadays the Russian government is restoring the cult of Stalin.

According to a pan-national survey, 46% of Russians aged 18-24 have never heard about mass repressions in the USSR. And 70% of the responders rate Stalin's role in the history "rather positively".

The government was going to reconstruct the main symbol of Stalin's terror - “The House of Executions” at Nikolskaya, 23 at the center of Moscow (in which 31,456 people were shot dead) - into a luxury perfume boutique. Most Russians didn't know anything about that because the government tried to do everything quietly.

When “Novaya Gazeta” - the leading oppositional newspaper - learned about the fact, it decided to declare this terrible intention as loudly as possible. Our main goal was to change the future of the house, to create public awareness, to call for boycotting any commercial use of the building and to open a museum there!

Our idea was to create a provocative symbol of today's blasphemous reality, when a luxury perfume boutique is to be opened in a building where 31,456 people were shot and more people sentenced to death. The project reveals this terrifying contrast: perfume N23 with the smell of gunpowder.

On the one hand a premium packaging on the other - a bed of soil from the Kommunarka execution yard inside.

And on this soil there is a vial: a real vintage Soviet shell case filled with N23 perfume. A fragrance based on real events. With the smell of gunpowder.

Our strategy was to create a symbol of this insane act of vandalism to mobilize both public opinion and influential people who can change the fate of the building.

We defined our target audience:

1) the Moscow government and the owner of the building who was close to the government.

2) Top media (as a tool to reach the first audience)

3) Mass audience who are not indifferent to the historical memory of Russia. (They are the energy that fills this project).

First of all, we created a bright symbol attracting attention. Than we have sent it to a few domestic and international media and opinion leaders. We did it in a special date – The Remembrance Day for victims of political repressions. And a huge wave was raised. The public outrage was so intense that the mayor's office and the owner of the building were forced to give up.

When "Novaya Gazeta" came with the brief it was only 10 days left before the 30th of October - The Remembrance Day for victims of political repressions. So it was 10 days to create everything.

The project budget was 53,000 RUB (about 900 USD). This money was to produce 30 samples of N23, which were sent to top media.

We did a premium perfume packaging: a snow-white box with a soft-touch surface. So you expect the content to match the packaging. But unfolding the paper, you see a handful of soil from the Kommunarka execution yard.

The Kommunarka execution yard is a mass grave site located not far from Moscow. It was used for the burial of people shot in the house at Nikolskaya 23. A bed of soil holds a vial made from a vintage Soviet shell case.

The vial contains perfume with the smell of gunpowder.

The opening of the elite perfumery boutique VUM in 2019 did not take place. The Moscow government has officially announced that there will be a memorial museum at Nikolskaya 23.

This means that the Russian society has received the first and very important vaccination against dictatorship and political violence.

All of this has become possible due to public outrage.

With the budget of 900 USD we have received about 200+ of such media publications as: BBC, The Times, LeMonde, El Pais and other media sources in 32 countries. The project was covered by many lifestyle media: Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, and Esquire, which have revealed the truth to potential customers of the boutique (Earned media value USD 8 mln).

46,000 people responded to our call and signed an online petition in support of the idea of a museum at Nikolskaya 23.