Advertising campaigns in Romania – what does work for the Romanian public?

There is no universal strategy, each advertising strategy needs to be tailored to the customers and companies. But there are a few features which can be used as a starting point for an advertising strategy targeting Romanian customers. Guest post by Nicu Stăncescu, New Business Director Friends Advertising This topic reminds me of one of my favorite questions – What should I do to win?... To win what? And the universal answer is: Do something perfect! Evrika! Every advertising strategy has to be tailored to both customer and company. Each company and each product is offering unique features – both rational and emotional - that differentiate from the others. The same applies to people. This means that an advertising strategy for an industrial boots manufacturer -my favorite business- is completely different than the strategy for the yacht manufacturer. The most important thing is to understand the customers. Who are they? Where do they live? What do they need? Why should they be interested? And I can write another 10,000 questions about the target group and after having all the answers I can only tell that „I have an idea” about the target but never to „know it 100%”. Because people are changing, growing, evolving etc... So we also have to change, grow, reinvent, and we have to answer to different questions. There are some features that can be the start for an advertising strategy. 1.NEW - CHANGE Romanians are generally interested in novelty. Despite the fact there is nothing completely new since the hot water and the wheel were invented, Romanians want to learn, then try and eventually buy the „NEW” NEW still means for a large group of Romanian people GOOD. If it is new it must be good! With some differences, the same math’s can be apply to CHANGE = GOOD. In 1996, people voted for „the change” They were not explained what change meant. If change is in progress than it must be good and it is the right decision to make. 2.WEST One of the most interesting features to be noted is that Romanians favour the West. In the early 90’s everything which was coming from the abroad, especially from the West, was desired. Even this has started to fade-out, it still works for Romanians. Lately, this feeling switched to more sophisticated country or regional brands. Like, for example, the German trusted quality, the Swiss precision, the Irish whiskey, the British boats and so on. And then the era of multinational companies started. International, well known brands have won the Romanian market. I remember when McDonald’s opened the first location in Bucharest. It was crazy. 3.PRIDE – willingness to win Pride is the ultimate goal in life for Romanian people. To achieve and maintain their pride, they are willing to make incredible sacrifices. Romanians needs to be different, they are scouting to make the difference in each and every breath. They are looking to rule, have followers and get applauses. They will trust brands that feed those needs. 4.