Rom: BUCHAREST NOT BUDAPEST

Credits & Description:

Type of entry: Product & Service
Category: Food & non- Alcoholic Drinks
Advertiser: KANDIA DULCE
Product/Service: CHOCOLATE BAR
Agency: BV McCANN ERICKSON ROMANIA Bucharest, ROMANIA
Client: KANDIA DULCE
Product: CHOCOLATE BAR
Entrant: BV McCANN ERICKSON ROMANIA Bucharest, ROMANIA
Type of Entry: Product & Service
Category: Food & non- Alcoholic Drinks
Entrant Company : BV McCANN ERICKSON ROMANIA Bucharest, ROMANIA
Advertising Agency : BV McCANN ERICKSON ROMANIA Bucharest, ROMANIA
Advertising Agency 2 : MRM WORLDWIDE Bucharest, ROMANIA
Media Agency : UM ROMANIA Bucharest, ROMANIA
Creative Partner: Adrian Botan (Bv Mccann Erickson)
Chief Innovation Officer: Nir Refuah (MRM Worldwide Romania)
Executive Creative Director: Catalin Dobre (Bv Mccann Erickson)
Copywriter: Sebastian Olar (Bv Mccann Erickson)
Copywriter: Danna Blum Sartori (Freelancer)
Copywriter: Cristina Tatar (MRM Worldwide Romania)
Art Director: Arpad Rezi (Bv Mccann Erickson)
Art Director: Vlad Macarie (MRM Worldwide Romania)
Digital Creative Planner: Adrian Constantin (Bv Mccann Erickson)
Account Director: Ionela Buta (MRM Worldwide Romania)
Account Director: Ana Maria Ionita (Bv Mccann Erickson)
Media Manager: Alina Carasol (Bv Mccann Erickson)
Corporate Pr Manager: Carmen Bistrian (Bv Mccann Erickson)
Account Executive: Andra Constantin (Bv Mccann Erickson)
Content Manager: Laura Boboc (MRM Worldwide Romania)
Account Manager: Alina Marin (MRM Worldwide Romania)
Describe the brief from the client:
Rom chocolate bar is a national icon that champions the revival of national pride. In a category where all competitors have a sustained ATL communication, Rom is lacking the financial strength for year-round ATL. Rom’s strategy is to capitalize on flash activations that materialize Rom brand’s mission – to support young Romanians’ patriotic feeling in order to maintain and even increase their interest and attachment to the brand.
Promotion Development:
We placed city signs with "Bucharest, not Budapest" in the welcoming area of the Bucharest airport, triggering the media attention. Then, we gave Romanians the tools to join the campaign: an online tutorial explaining the confusion, a browser add-on that added "not Budapest" to every "Bucharest" on the page and T-shirts with anti-confusion messages.
Results:
The main hotels joined the cause welcoming their clients with ROM kits explaining the confusion and touristic guides organized "Bucharest, not Budapest" tours of the city.
The campaign didn't get unnoticed internationally and even the mayor of Bucharest joined the campaign explaining the confusion.)
The impact of the campaign in consumers mind showed in brand indicators: a 10% increase in spontaneous awareness, 14% increase in “favorite brand” and brand image attributes reaching all-time highs.
Relevancy to Product/Service:
All started with a capital confusion: people mistake Bucharest, the capital or Romania with Budapest, the capital of the neighboring country, Hungary. For Romanians, the series of confusions are as painful as they are funny.
ROM, the chocolate bar that has "Bucharest" written all over it for over 50 years, was the most entitled to do something about it.