R.I.M./Menatep - Silent Announcer (1993, Russia)

The Stunt

Ivan Chuvelev was hired as the Silent Announcer. The 30-60 second ad was filmed at the Novosti Press Agency offices, reportedly on a hallway. A few days later, the ad aired after the national news. Chuvelev was staring at the camera throughout the ad, saying nothing. The same ad continued airing the next day, and onwards for around three weeks. This quickly caught Russia's attention, being mentioned in comic strips and the source for many speculation. Chuvelev's relatives had to unplug their phones because their friends kept asking them what the ads were about.

During the last 15 days of the campaign, either to renew interest, or possibly because rival agencies had bought up the next ad space and pretended to be the "second half" of the ad (thus stealing the marketing opportunity from R.I.M.), the Silent Announcer finally spoke, but left more questions than answers as he said, "The day will come when I say everything I think about this."

R.I.M. had, by this time, finally found a company willing to pay for the ad space, Menatep Bank, one of the first private banks in Russia. The saga would come to an end when the Silent Announcer would say (depending on who's telling the story) "I was silent because there is a wonderful bank where you should deposit your foreign currency." or "The day has come when I can tell you: "Everyone join Menatep!". R.I.M., however, found itself having another problem: people had gotten used to the Silent Announcer, even after he started speaking. Pisarsky "realized with horror that he had been silent for a month, but would say everything in just one day", and reached out to the news anchor that night to inform viewers to stay tuned to the end of the program.

The night the finale of the Silent Announcer aired, the news anchor began by telling audiences, "Dear comrades, immediately following the news, an important message will be broadcast; please do not turn off your television". This message aired within the Far East and Siberia regions of Russia (like the U.S., news broadcasts go live in the east and then air on the west delayed).

This is where R.I.M.'s third and final problem happened. In Russia, the announcement that an important message would be broadcast was interpreted as shit hitting the fan. Russia, at this point, was tumultuous. The 1991 Soviet coup attempt had taken place a few years before, and even worse, the ad campaign was happening shortly after the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, when President Boris Yeltsin dissolved the Parliment and ended the Soviet system in a violent matter which left 100+ people dead and left Russia close to civil war. Unsurprisingly, the people of the Far East and Siberia began panicking, and reportedly started rushing to stores to stock up on salt, matches, and vodka. R.I.M. recieved a phone call from an angry head of the TV station, telling him, "What are you doing? Making such announcements is the prerogative of the President!".

This is where R.I.M.'s third and final problem happened. In Russia, the announcement that an important message would be broadcast was interpreted as shit hitting the fan. Russia, at this point, was tumultuous. The 1991 Soviet coup attempt had taken place a few years before, and even worse, the ad campaign was happening shortly after the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, when President Boris Yeltsin dissolved the Parliment and ended the Soviet system in a violent matter which left 100+ people dead and left Russia close to civil war. Unsurprisingly, the people of the Far East and Siberia began panicking, and reportedly started rushing to stores to stock up on salt, matches, and vodka. R.I.M. recieved a phone call from an angry head of the TV station, telling him, "What are you doing? Making such announcements is the prerogative of the President!".

As the news program began on the west side of the country (where the most populated cities are located), the message asking people to stay tuned was removed. Unsurprisingly, this led to people turning off their TVs at the end of the news, unaware that the Silent Announcer's finale was to take place (reportedly, the final ad aired the day afterwards as well before it finally stopped airing). As a result, the "punchline" of the campaign is not well remembered, and some who remember the campaign do not remember the final ad at all, and consequently do not remember what was being advertised. This ad is considered lost, as no uploads of it have surfaced online.

References and Links

• TVTropes entry on the Silent Announcer ad
• Interviews by Pisarsky and Chuvelev regarding the ad