Evan’s true crime? Powerful, reliable journalism that sheds light on one of the world’s most isolated countries. The accusation of espionage is a charge that Evan, his family, the Journal, and the U.S. government vehemently denied. Yet, Russia refused to set him free, extending his detention through baseless proceedings that falsely portray him as something other than what he is – a journalist.

As the one-year mark of his arrest approached, the brief was to leverage WSJ’s owned channels to call attention to Evan’s unjust detainment and demonstrate the severity this poses to journalism.

So, on March 29, 2024, we created “Missing Articles,” a representation of Evan’s missing journalism, placed where his articles should have been: The Wall Street Journal's editorial space.

We leverage our channels to represent this absence on the cover and across The Journal, with blank spaces with no image and just a headline adhering to The Journal’s guidelines. A void of information naturally placed in the WSJ, surrounded by real news and highlighting the stories Evan should have written, but are now missing.

Our strategy was clear: to reveal how Evan Gershkovich’s continued detainment creates a void of vital information, impacting us all and global press freedom. 'Missing Articles' was an ad placement and a carefully orchestrated operation with The Wall Street Journal’s newsroom to illustrate this absence.

“Missing Articles” became a topic of conversation across social media, publications, and broadcast airwaves worldwide. Several politicians, including the American Secretary of State and bipartisan congressional leaders, stood together and gave testimonies that condemned the unjust detainment and demanded that Putin release Evan immediately.

American President Biden published an official statement about Evan’s case.

Evan’s year in detention was covered in more than 100 publications around the world, had +1400 mentions on TV worldwide, increased the number of visitors to Evan’s dedicated WSJ section by 627%, inspired 3500 articles written about the issue in one day, and earned 1.3 billion media impressions worldwide.

In an unrelenting news cycle, calls for Evan’s release were louder than ever, and public pressure was enormous on the U.S. government to achieve this as soon as possible.

On August 1st, 2024, the US Government reached terms with Russia and brought Evan back home.

His story is no longer missing.