Title	KARENINA. LIVE EDITION
Brand	GOOGLE RUSSIA
Product/Service	GOOGLE+ HANGOUTS / YOUTUBE
Category	C02. Use of Social in a PR campaign
Advertising Agency	PICHESKY Moscow, RUSSIA
PR Agency	KETCHUM MASLOV Moscow, RUSSIA
Production Company	SLAVA Moscow, RUSSIA
Entrant Company	KETCHUM MASLOV Moscow, RUSSIA

Name	Company	Position
Michael Maslov	Ketchum Maslov	Partner
Oleg Abdurashitov	Ketchum Maslov	Director/Client Service
Lydia Chernosvitova	Ketchum Maslov	Senior Account Manager
Natalia Merkoushova	Ketchum Maslov	Senior Account Manager
Alexander Mazanov	Ketchum Maslov	Senior Consultant/Gr
Anastasia Timoshenko	Ketchum Maslov	Consultant/Gr
Anastasia Zhdanova	Ketchum Maslov	Senior Account Executive/Gr
Anna Rogozhina	Ketchum Maslov	Senior Account Executive
Daria Khlynina	Ketchum Maslov	Account Executive
Fekla Tolstaya	Yasnaya Polyana Museum-Estate	Project Curator
Julia Vronskaya	Yasnaya Polyana Museum-Estate	International Projects Coordinator
Denis Lapshinov	Slava	Creative Director
Victor Sokolov	Slava	Creative Director
Ekaterina Konovalova	Slava	Client Service Director
Dmitry Bodrenko	Action Group	Founder/Managing Partner
Denis Vereshchagin	42 Agency	Managing Partner
Elena Sivenok	42 Agency	Client Service Director
Alexandra Dubova	Pichesky	Social Media Group Head
Michael Kazakov	Pichesky	Social Media Director
Vladimir Krylov	Pichesky	Creative Manager

The Campaign

2014 was challenging for internet businesses in Russia. New legal restrictions, criticism from authorities, and negative media commentary were all constants—and Google Russia was working hard to chart a way through the storm and convince Russians that a global search engine wasn’t a threat to its culture and language. We wanted to unite all the different worlds: the Web, the government and Russian culture – and show how the Internet can protect and preserve Russian heritage. We found our creative solution in classic Russian literature. Russia had a great literary tradition, but classics had lost their popularity with new generations. We realized we could revive interest by bringing classics into the Internet age. Our idea would be a first: we’d stage a live, continuous, online reading of a famous Russian classic and attract Russian speakers all over the world. As the focus of the pioneering project we chose Anna Karenina, by the renowned Leo Tolstoy. On October 3, 2014, Karenina. Live Edition, a marathon 36-hour reading of Anna Karenina on Google+ and YouTube, began. We engaged 700+ Russian-speaking readers in 13 time zones, taking turns reading excerpts from the book. The live streaming event drew 3 million log-ins from 106 countries, 70,000 subscribers to the Google+ project page, and 6 million views of the project videos. The record-setting feat was covered in 1000+ media articles, generating increased book sales and a surge in Google searches of Anna Karenina. Worldwide “Karenina” search queries have spiked 300%; in Russia, more than 400%.

The Brief

Unite the World over Literature—through Technology We aimed to be the first to successfully stage a global, continuous, live reading online of the entire classic Anna Karenina in just one take. Goals were to: Raise the positive public profile of Google in Russia. Promote the use and social value of Google+ and Google Hangouts. Demonstrate how Google Internet technology can help promote and preserve Russian culture, traditions and language . If we were successful, the project would unite people the world over in front of one book, and set a first new world record of its kind.

Execution

The readings began Oct 3, 2014. Each hour, several venues from different locations around the world (between three to seven different locations in 13 time zones) were connected via Google+ Hangouts and live streamed on YouTube. When one reader stopped reading his or her three-minute extract, they were immediately followed by a reader from another venue. It took about 36 hours to read the book. Not only Russian venues were connected to the live stream, but also ones from the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Korea, France, Israel, and a host of other countries. Among the readers were the Russian President’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, Press Secretary to the Head of the Government Natalia Timakova, Russia’s Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinskiy, popular Russian actors, sports figures, singers, bloggers, and others. All the videos were later united on the project website to become a permanent exhibition.

Before the live continuous reading, we organized a press conference, attended by more than 70 Russian and international journalists, including 17 TV crews representing every national Russian channel. Karenina. Live Edition has revived interest in classic literature, and technology has united the world over literature. Results: 3 million+ logs ins to the live stream 6 million+ views of the project videos 106 countries watching the reading marathon 1,000+ media articles all over the world, including 50+ TV news stories 70,000+ subscribers to the Google+ official project page A spike in book sales of Anna Karenina A new Guinness Book of World Records category and record We understood the project’s full cultural impact when a colleague reported overhearing two elderly women discussing the ‘glued-to-the-screens’ generation during his commute. “They even watched an Anna Karenina reading online!” said one. “Finally this Internet thing is doing something good,” said the other.

The Strategy

Our strategy was to blend the best of both literary and online worlds. We would find iconic venues, such as the Bolshoi Theatre, the Hermitage Museum, the Russian State Library and Tolstoy’s own historical estate in Yasnaya Polyana —where readers would perform in front of live audiences while also being broadcast over the Internet. We'd attract Russian celebrities to read. And hold a contest so that ordinary people could become "readers" by uploading home-recorded videos to YouTube. Significant preliminary work and preparation were required to plan the complex logistics of staging a continuous reading from multiple locations, and ensure the success of Karenina. Live Edition. The stage director divided the Anna Karenina book into 700+ individual parts and distributed the extracts among the readers prior to the live readings. Later she held rehearsals via Google+ with each of them, and helped arrange the staging at the filming sites.