MOSCOW, JANUARY 16, 2017 — RT’s international #1917LIVE Twitter project, a large-scale historical re-enactment marking the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution by retelling the events “in real time,” won in the Best Use of Social Media category at the 2017 Adweek ARC awards – a competition honoring the best and most innovative storytelling projects in media, PR and advertising. RT is the first Russian brand to win an Adweek ARC award.
“It is truly an honor to be recognized by leading creative-industry media such as AdWeek. The ARC awards slogan – ‘It’s all about the story’ – speaks to our work on #1917LIVE. We set out to create a real-time experimental format of educational digital storytelling and are very excited to be awarded ‘Best Use of Social’ by the esteemed panel of judges,” said Kirill Karnovich-Valua, deputy editor-in-chief of RT and project manager of #1917LIVE.
Among the contenders for this year’s competition were campaigns for Bacardi, Fox, P&G, and AT&T.
In late 2016, RT launched one of the biggest-ever historical re-enactments on Twitter. Brought together under a fictional media outlet feed called The Revolutionary Times (what was known as the “Russian Telegraph” before the “Revolution” on November 7), the innovative project consisted of dozens of Twitter accounts set up as key historical characters of the time period, from the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II and revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin to common workers and soldiers. The project included a series of specially produced promos recreating the events that took place 100 years ago, like the abdication of Nicholas II, starvation in Petrograd, and Lenin’s famous speech.
As part of the #1917LIVE project, RT filmed an eight-part “Revolution 360” series with each episode telling a different story of life in the revolutionary era in 360 degrees – from the trenches of World War I to the tumultuous streets of the capital. All videos are published on the #1917LIVE website, as well as on RT’s social media platforms and RT’s VR app RT360 (Google Play, App Store, Oculus).
In November 2017, #1917LIVE took home the ‘Best in Education’ award at the Shorty Social Good Awards, as well as second place for ‘Best Overall Twitter Presence.’ In October 2017, #1917LIVE made it to the finals of the Drum Social Buzz Awards in the ‘Most Innovative Use of Social’ category, the finals of the 2017 Clio Entertainment for ‘Best TV Promo Campaign,’ and the finals of the Epica Awards.
The Adweek ARC Awards honor the best in branded storytelling over the course of the past year across 21 categories. The awards are managed by Adweek, a weekly print magazine and website that offers cutting-edge insights into the world of marketing and advertising. This year’s ceremony will take place on January 18 during the Sundance Film Festival in Deer Valley, Utah.
