To Russia With Love

Creative Director: Maria Todorova Account Director: Atanas Angelov Copywriter: Stefan Aleksandrov Interactive Designer: Bastien Hervé Development: David Scusz

Nowadays, trolls are among the most potent weapons for manipulation of public opinion. This hard-to-swallow truth was confirmed once again as the Russian invasion of Ukraine started to unfold. Armies of online trolls in Bulgaria tried to defend the aggressors or claim that reports of brutalities in Ukraine are fake news. Using sensible arguments against pro-Russian propaganda has proven pointless. That is why we created an effective weapon that delivers the message more bluntly. To Russia With Love — an online generator for airline tickets to Russia, providing trolls with a one-way trip to the land of their dreams. Each generated ticket could be downloaded on desktop or mobile and used in arguments on Facebook and Twitter. Minutes after we announced the project, hundreds of plane tickets to Moscow, Irkutsk, Volgograd, and Novosibirsk, were generated on Facebook and Twitter. People sent them to trolls and corrupt politicians defending the invasion of Ukraine. The campaign started with one post and one publication on the local media (https://otgrada.bg/), attracting the attention of other media and influencers, and reaching hundreds of thousands in a few days.  Without a budget and institutional support, we managed to focus public attention by providing a small tool to remind us of what we have as freedom.