The First 10
Buyers
For AliExpress's 10th anniversary in Russia, we tracked down the very first people — those who placed an order among the first 500 in the platform's history in the country. Each of the 10 heroes got a personal billboard in their home city. Not actors, not ambassadors — real people who believed in AliExpress before anyone else.
The best way to say "thank you" is to do it publicly
Anniversary campaigns usually talk about the brand. We decided to talk about people. We found the first buyers of AliExpress in Russia — those who placed an order at the very beginning, when the platform was still unfamiliar. They became the faces of the campaign.
Every city saw its own hero. Not a media figure, not a celebrity — an ordinary person from Irkutsk, Vladivostok or Tolyatti who was the first to click "buy." That's the real ambassador.
Archive of the first 500 orders
From the database of AliExpress's first 500 orders in Russia, we identified 10 people who had bought earliest. We contacted each of them, explained the campaign, and arranged a shoot. Each person was photographed in their own city — and that portrait went up on outdoor advertising exactly where they live.
"Thank you for believing first"
The campaign was built on a personal address to each hero. Not a general slogan — a specific "thank you" to a specific person, visible to their entire city. This format works because it's honest: there's a real story behind it, not an invented character.
