A.A.C.A.R. Horia Motoi: REPETITION

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Use of Media Relations

Advertiser: A.A.C.A.R. HORIA MOTOI

Product/Service: AUTISM AWARENESS

Agency: SAATCHI & SAATCHI ROMANIA

Creative Director: Johan Ohlson (Saatchi & Saatchi Romania)

Creative Group Head: Laura Iane (Saatchi & Saatchi Romania)

Senior Copywriter: Marius Tianu (Saatchi & Saatchi Romania)

Copywriter: Andrei Nica (Saatchi & Saatchi Romania)

Art Director: Bogdan Vintila (Saatchi & Saatchi Romania)

Art Director: Vlad Giogu (Saatchi & Saatchi Romania)

Junior Copywriter: Loredana Barla (Saatchi & Saatchi Romania)

Group Account Director: Carmen Barda (Saatchi & Saatchi Romania)

BTL Senior Account Manager: Ioana Hurdubelea (Saatchi & Saatchi Romania)

Corporate Communication Coordinator: Corina Pisc (Saatchi & Saatchi Romania)

Business Unit Director: Ramona Tcaciuc Dumitru

Social Media Manager: Denisia Aghiorghitoaie

Media placement: TV - Pro TV - News 07 - 02 April 2012

Media placement: TV - ProTv - Football match: Gaz Metan Medias- Dinamo - 12 April 2012

Media placement: TV - Antena 2 - "It`s show time" - 12 April 2012

Media placement: TV - Digi1 - Football match: Rapid - Vointa Sibiu - 15 April 2012

Media placement: TV - B1 TV - Talk show - 20 April 2012

Media placement: TV - TVR 2 - News 22 - 04 April 2012

Media placement: Radio - Radio Guerilla - Morning show - 02 April 2012

Media placement: Radio - Europa FM - Morning show - 02 April 2012

Media placement: Press - Ziarul Ring - cover page - 05 April 2012

Media placement: Press - Centrul Vechi - 13 April 2012



Summary of the Campaign

2nd April 2012, World Autism Day.



Horia Motoi – a Romanian non-profit organisation – decided to speak not only about autistic children, but also about their parents. Repetition is the main learning tool used for helping autistic children to overcome their impaired social interaction and communication. The burden of doing the repetition lay with parents. Consequently, we asked some of the most important media channels to repeat part of their standard message – stating, at the end, that the parents of an autistic children repeat thousands of times a single word until the child can understand it. The next day, these social networks carried out the message: Facebook, bloggers, news feeds. The following days more and more unconventional spokespersons joined the cause.



The Situation

Romanians know little about autism. 87% of them are aware of the disease, but only a small fraction - 12% of them - know something about it (Gallup Research, 2011).



The Goal

Get people talking about autism and about ABA (Appplied Behaviour Analysis) - an effective tool used in effectively treating autistic children. The therapy was brought for the first time to Romania by AACAR.



'Horia Motoi' was to treat Radu, the son of the association’s founder.



The Strategy

While talking with Horia Motoi representatives, we realised that not only autistic kids are facing a difficult task, but also their parents. Poorly supported by the state, the parents have to struggle with all sorts of problems, from a lack of understanding to financial difficulties.



The starting point of the strategy is the core idea of ABA Therapy: repetition. Autistic children have to repeat a word or a phrase thousands of times before understanding it, which means the parents have to repeat it also thousands of times.



Execution

The launching day was April 2nd, World Autism Day. All the media channels were invited to advocate the campaign’s idea by repeating several times their usual message. The next day, the idea went viral on Facebook, blogs and news feeds; and developed further with the help of half a dozen football teams, music bands and stage performers.



Documented Results

Paid media: 0.

Earned media: more than €100,000, in a matter of days.



Media Reach:

• 1 out of 6 Romanians heard about it,

• More than 3m people through TV,

• About 1.5m people through press,

• More than 1m people through Radio,

• More than 500,000 online users on sites and blogs.



Media Coverage:

• 5 TV stations, including the biggest TV station in Romania,

• 3 major radio stations,

• 13 newspapers, including 2 covers.



Unconventional coverage by/at:

• 7 football teams who played important cup and league games,

• Major Romanian theatre actress, Maia Morgenstern, in the play 'When Isadora Danced', by Martin Sherman at the Odean Theatre in Bucharest,

• Folk Frate’s concert in Iron City Club,

• The Amsterdams’ concert in Control Club,

• MC Chopper Academy, riding the streets of Bucharest.