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Online Advertising Market Business Watch in Romania
I’ve noticed Kaspersky Antivirus getting involved in a very interesting community campaign. I like it when people say that Christmas should last longer, therefore having a green Santa in January is always fun.
If you enter MosKraciunVerde.ro you still have the chance to win one of the 111 special prizez – the big prize: lifetime subscribtion to Kaspersky Antivirus 
On the 16th I had a short post and a teaser about Orange and their blogging platform in Israel. Dvorit Shargal, the famous israeli blogger attending World Blogging Forum in Bucharest has the blog hosted on a public Orange platform.
Today you can check out the Romanian version of the blogging platform: http://www.orangeblog.ro/
This september, BIZ Magazine asked me to say a few thoughts in an interview regarding Internet marketing in Romania.
The cover story they published this month is related to internet marketing and online advertising. I reccomend you to buy the magazine and read and read it from scratch. Continue reading ‘BIZ Magazine cover story – Internet Marketing’
I was surfing the guests invited to attend the World Blogging Forum in Bucharest and I’ve noticed that Dvorit Shargal, famous for her israeli blog called Velvet Underground, has the blog hosted on a public platform powered by Orange Israel: Continue reading ‘Orange blogging platform I’
I had three interesting conversations with three friends and I’ve decided to write in this post some conclusions based on research, books, experience and so on. Of course, this might explain my daily behavior and why I always have a big smile on my face and I’m never nervous no matter what people are saying :)
1. Nucleus accumbens – the craving spot is in our brains
In April I was blogging about Buyology, the latest book signed by Martin Lindstrom. I finally managed to buy it and the book is filled with useful learnings. One interesting chapter covers the study conducted among smokers – the result showed that cigarette warning labels not only fail to reduce smoking but they activate the nucleus accumbens (craving spot) in their brains and encourage smokers to light one
-”Instead of save lives, become a killer marketing tool for tabacco industry” says Lindstrom in his book.
Don’t smoke! Can cause cancer
Yesterday I was thinking to upgrade my MINI and that I really like the new Coupé Concept. Yeap, MINI is a fun car, I remember that last summer it used to give me a big smile while driving home after a long day at work. Now the traffic in Bucharest is heavy during the day but MINI can be fun in all traffic conditions.
The only thing that is bothering me that they started to advertise in Romania and I’m afraid they’ll attract the same buyers as they did with BMW (but then again, I’m not judging). And speaking of campaigns, BMW Romania had one Internet campaign this year promoting a new MINI (a boring 55Kw and 75HP version). Probably very poor results since they had no ideea where the MINI fans surf online Continue reading ‘MINI. Two Untamed. MINI Coupé Concept. MINI Roadster Concept.’
CBS and partner Pepsi Max – the first-ever VIP (video-in-print) promotion:
Opening the page activates the player, a quarter-inch–thick screen with circuit board underneath.
PUMA has another “wonder shoe” designed to write history – the Yaam (pronounced yom), the sprint spike created exclusively for Usain Bolt to run the Berlin World Championships.
149 grams, superlight, 80-85 EUR, very orange, way too cool. Details here…
And a bonus – Bolt setting a new world record: 9.58! I think he’s faster than my Mini. Continue reading ‘Yaams – the fastest spike on the planet’
Before reading the post below, please read the article wrote on 30th of Nov 2008 (Financial crisis hits Netbridge companies).
After 8 months…
Netbridge Investments (Boom), the biggest online player in 2008 in Romania (sales house), was declared insolvent by the Bucharest Court.
Some people say that this case is similar to Bigger. This is not true. The money and all the assets that belonged to Boom are now managed by two new companies:
- Digital Ads – managing director: Mihaela Grafu;
- Trade Ads – managing director: Valentin Oeru.
Although almost 3 mil. EUR disappeared thanks to smart lawyers and well-done papers, the two company above have the same offices, employees and deals. Ironically, Digital ADS (Mihaela Grafu) and Trade Ads (Valentin Oeru) have new contracts with media agencies and money are being spent. Of course, few people care if the publishers will ever see their money but Digital ADS and Trade Ads are happy to be able to promise the smallest prices available in the market and the biggest rebates.
Netbridge Investments is owned by NCH Advisors (investment fund), managed by Siminel Andrei and “engineering” seems to be a way of business.
BDO Conti Insolvency was appointed Judicial administrator.
Related posts on blogs:
News on the matter:
LATER EDIT: Boom Advertising – official press release here…
Last week I found out a positive piece of news regarding mobile advertising in Romania.
Starcom Direct (part of Starcom MediaVest Group) won one of the prizes in the Vodafone – Mobile Advertising Campaign of the Year contest (London) with an interactive campaign for the new Renault Megane.
The campaign, “Noul Renault Megane“, presented a fun, unique media mix involving online, mobile, bill insert, direct mail, e-mail and advergaming.
Congratulations to Mircea Gheorghe and his team.
IAB Romania and PwC announced the results regarding the online advertising market in Romania in 2008.
Notes regarding PwC report:
- est. 72,4 million RON – at a 3.6 medium RON/EUR rate in 2008 it means 20 mil EUR;
- almost +70% growth compared to the market in 2007;
- the beginning of crises meant a slower overall growth;
-DELETED PARAGRAPHS regarding seasonality and spenders (official request) – INFO AVAILABLE TO BUY FROM IAB/PWC.
I really liked PwC’s gesture to applaud because:
- 20 million EUR meant a psychological step for the local Internet advertising market;
- Internet is the most dynamic medium in Romania with the highest growth in 2008.
A digital newspaper noticed yesterday that a blog campaign started two days ago had zero reactions. When starting a campaign on blogs, companies should know and track some key aspects when targeting Romanian blogosphere.
Here are some things from a presentation I’m working on, called “Brand Intelligence at work”:
Continue reading ‘Brand Intelligence – Tips for blog advertising’
Samsung LED TV – probably the best viral video until now with almost 8 million views on YouTube in the first two months. This is something you just can’t do on television
I liked this particular comment on YouTube:
More like the “big brother” network. I don’t want a phone company that knows what I’m doing every second I’m on their network – I just want good coverage, good bandwidth and no dropped calls. Guess I’ll stick with AT&T.
Then again, maybe this is why I’m still a big fan of T Mobile
Catalin Tolontan warns in an interview about a new case similar to Bigger Group and their overnight bankruptcy.
Augustin Roman (General Manager at Gazeta Online) also has a post regarding this issue but in both cases, they don’t mention the identity of the companies involved.
I can tell you that the issue is related to the Romanian online industry and probably it’s about a big Internet player.
Although not related to the issues above, we should notice that Petrisor Obae also has a post describing how Boom (the biggest online sales agency in 2008) is now splitting in two. The interview with Cristian Petriceanu is very interesting – he says that they want to optimize the online revenues through several companies.
One thing is for sure: if a big player in the online advertising market faces big pr0blems, we can see heavy shifts of market and revenue shares. My guess is that the next 60 days will be very demanding for local online companies.
2009: Liverpool Street Station
1944: Calea Victoriei, Bucharest, Romania (minute 0:41)
Notes:
- pre-existing social networks based on word-of-mouth can produce and increase brand awareness/social events and happenings;
- social networks exist beyond Internet;
- although the term/concept of “viral marketing” first appeared in mid 90’s, introduced by Tim Draper, we have viral campaigns caught on film dating back to 1944;
- the term “flash mob” was first used in 2003 when Bill Wasik launched the modern mobs;
- Romanians were the first to use Social Networking in organizing Flash Mobs, in 1944.
BRD – Groupe Société Générale is the second bank in terms of banking assets in Romania. They rank first of the financial entities listed at the Bucharest Stock Exchange and second of all the listed companies and this week they celebrated 10 years of doing business in Romania.
For this special event, they prepared the most impressive campaign of the year covering TV, Radio, Internet, Print and OOH. The main promoters of the campaign were Romanian all-time sport stars Nadia Comaneci, Gheorghe Hagi and Ilie Nastase.
BRD – Groupe Société Générale is deeply anchored in the Romanian economy and the global community through more than 930 agencies and more than 1300 ATM. In December 2008, BRD counts 2,6 million active individuals and corporate customers and more than 2,3 million banking cards. BRD is also one of the most active companies using the Internet for promotional campaigns.
The campaign called “BRD – 10 years” generated lots of buzz and since the subject is still fresh, I wanted to look it up on google. I’m more than happy to say that for all the people looking for “BRD 10 ani” on Google, the first 3 results were Antena1.ro, GSP.ro and SFIN.ro:
This tactical
Launched yesterday in UK:
Gusti and Sorin keep their deepest secrecy and start this teaser campaign. In 5 days they’re going to let us know their brand new and brain blowing online project.
Rumors say it’s gooing to be way too cool
LATER EDIT – a very long story and all the details published here.
Caught my attention last week, before Valentine’s Day:
The website: www.tecombini.ro – client: Vodafone/Agency: McCann Erickson Romania
Tonight, starting with 20:00, the International Advertising Association (IAA Romania) will host its anual Excellence Awards at Fratelli Studios.
It’s the only party during the year where you can meet all the Romanian marcomm industry under the same roof… so if you’re doing media business in Romania, this is the place to be tonight (I gave up my Vonda Shepard tickets for this event ).
Here is a studycase for sociology and advertising: two posters, two different countries, two presidents, two success stories, two copywriters, two different schools, 18 years between them, same target, same learning books.
The copywriter has ultimate responsibility for the advertisement’s verbal or textual content, which often includes receiving the copy information from the client. wiki
Last August I was blogging on PROTV / MediaPro Interactiv – plans for 2009 and their new Romanian online sales team.
Beginning with january 2009, Bogdan A. POPESCU is the Digital Sales Manager at PRO TV/CME group and although we haven’t seen any press release from PROTV, he will be managing the online sales for the Internet division (different from MPI).
This means that we have another player in this fragmented market as Orlando Nicoara (MediaPro Interactiv) will focus on other MediaPro products and also on some independent websites. Continue reading ‘Bogdan Popescu, Digital Sales Manager at PRO TV’
41 media questions in a “must read” interview with Laurentiu Ionete, GM at CLIR Media, the most efficient advertising sales agency in 2007 (1.046% growth compared to 2006), part of INTACT Media Group.
Yesterday morning I found out that the first figures from the study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers for IAB about the internet advertising market in Romania are available and need final processing before going public.
It seems that there are some issues unsolved regarding the figures provided by some sales houses but the overall numbers should be closer to reality. In a discussion I had last evening with Doru Panaitescu (at Dorin Boerescu’s and Alex Visa’s HyperActive party), he suggested that we should multiply by 2 the numbers provided by PricewaterhouseCoopers in order to have a clearer view
I think it’s interesting to see if the online advertising market in Romania is really 20 mil, 30 mil or 40 mil, what is the real growth and so on… but no matter what the figures IAB will provide, I’m sure that we’ll have plenty of talks and fights on the subject.
“Banned” George Bush ad from Walls Sausages “We only select the two best bits” campaign UK. By Beattie McGuinness Bungay:
Adevolution (Val Voicu) published a post on his corporate blog and linked to a movie on YouTube. On the right side, on the Related Video section appeared only one link pointing to Cartel in internetul din Romania (published by Imagoo7).
Both movies use “adevolution” tag.
The second movie had a negative impact on Adevolution when it first appeared (few months ago) and suggests that Orlando Nicoara, Val Voicu and Mihai Fanache are part of a Romanian Internet cartel and that MediaPro Interactiv, Adevolution and MediaCafe are somehow connected.
I guess using YouTube for Adevolution’s corporate movie was not the best choice.
Mircea Pascu (Direct Marketing Manager for L’Oreal Paris, Maybelline New York, Garnier) planned a very catchy teasing campaign that made me think there is also a destination on our road
Today I finally found out that on the 15th of October they’ll host a special event with international guest speakers (Patrick Chambon, New Media Director/Garnier International and Stephanie Moittie, Managing Director/Publicis Net).
It seems that all the buzz is about the new launch of Garnier’s campaign “Ai grija de tine” and of course, their new website www.aigrijadetine.ro .
*I wrote “neighbour” because their headquarters is also on Ficusului Boulevard, just across the street from Intact.
This is the first major online news that involves IAA. If you don’t know (yet), IAA is the International Advertising Association, a “one-of-a-kind global network” with more than 4,000 members, 56 chapters, 76 countries. IAA’s members are top players from the marcomm industry and that’s why this press release is important.
IAA (as a platform for industry issues) is dedicated to consumer choice, responsible advertising, protecting and advancing freedom of commercial speech. Continue reading ‘IAA says no to Yahoo! and Google partnership’
A few minutes ago in New York, at Advertising Week , Yahoo announced their new ad trading platform in the fight against Google: Continue reading ‘Behavioral ad trading platform from Yahoo’
Moving Brands is the branding agency in charge with rebranding. Please note that now, when written in prose Mindshare no longer has the upper case “S” – the company’s name will now be written Mindshare and not MindShare.
Online advertising expenditure has grown for more than 80% of European advertisers this year (study by the European Interactive Advertising Association – Brand Republic report).
Key figures in The EIAA Marketers’ Internet Ad Barometer:
Do you plan to do online business in Romania? Contact me.
DISCLAIMER: this is a personal blog. The contents of this site does not necessarily represent the expressed opinions of my employer, my endorsers or my partners.
