The key point of N23 project was a strong emotional experience that helped us deliver a powerful message. With this activation, we have achieved great changes in Russian social and cultural agenda. The Russian government is restoring the cult of Joseph Stalin, and continues political repressions. Because of that they wanted to erase the most horrible symbol of Stalin’s terror – the House of Executions at Nikolskaya 23. There were plans to open a luxury perfume boutique here.

But thanks to this experimental project, now there will be a memorial complex for victims of political repressions.

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 hand, a bed of soil from the Kommunarka execution yard inside. And a vial on the soil: 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 vivid 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) Leading domestic and international media (as a tool to reach the first audience)

3) The wide public not indifferent to the historical memory of Russia. (as the energy that fills the project).

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

When "Novaya Gazeta" came with the brief it was only 10 days left before the 30th of October -The Day of Remembrance 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.

A society cannot move towards democracy and political freedoms until it learns the terrible lessons of the past. In today's Russia, opposition repeatedly faces prosecution and is subjected to tortures in prison while protests are violently repressed. That's why the government deliberately ignores Stalin’s crimes for political purposes. Some examples: the parliament is considering replacing Alexandr Solzhenitsyn's novel “The GULAG Archipelago” (the main novel about repressions of the 30s) with the Bible in school curriculum. Moreover, 3 new monuments to Stalin are opened in Russia every year.

As a result, more and more people forget or even don't know about the crimes of this person. According to a pan-national poll in 2019, 46% of Russians, aged 18-24, have never heard about mass repressions in the USSR. And 70% of responders "rather positively" rate Stalin's role in the country's history.

And we have broken this media vacuum.