Bogdan Gavrila – Core Target

Open Source Officers (OSOs) are the Intelligence Community’s foreign media experts. They use foreign language and area knowledge to review and assess foreign open media sources, including Internet sites, newspapers, press agencies, television, radio and specialized publications, collecting intelligence from these media to deliver high-impact products to the U.S. foreign affairs community. OSOs develop and apply in-depth knowledge of a broad range of foreign media to identify trends and patterns, and to write analytical products. They may also translate text, audio and video information and select materials from the media for translation by independent contract translators. OSOs research and analyze the media environment in a particular country or region and prepare media analyses that inform customers of subtle relationships and trends in the media.

The candidates we seek are creative, with a keen interest in foreign affairs, strong writing and analytical skills, a well-developed facility for reading and translating one or more of a broad range of foreign languages, and working knowledge of the Internet. Many OSOs have lived in their region of interest and/or have formally studied the politics and history of a particular country or region.

Positions are in the metropolitan Washington, DC area, with limited opportunities for overseas travel and assignments. In addition to salary and benefits, these Officers are eligible to earn annual language “bonus” pay based on in-house language proficiency testing. OSOs may also have the opportunity to take courses in additional languages and area studies as well as other relevant training.

As a part of the screening process, selected applicants will be sent a language proficiency test and asked to provide an analytic writing sample. The following languages, or language combinations, with relevant area knowledge are sought: Arabic; Bulgarian; Central Asian and Russian; Chinese; Czech; Dari/Pashtu; Farsi/Persian; French and Arabic; French or Portuguese and African Studies; Greek; Hebrew and Arabic; Hindi; Hungarian and Romanian; Indonesian; Korean; Polish; Russian and Ukrainian; Serbo-Croatian; Turkish; and Urdu.

Although the job is a full time the salary starts at $36,200… not very attractive but if you are interested in this job, you can check it out here…

Cezar blogged about this as we had presidential company on our last dinner downtown: the Romanian president, Traian Basescu together with his wife sat just next to us and enjoyed the specialties like a normal couple.

Traian Basescu is well known in Romania because of his “informal caused” events. He is often seen alone in public places, driving his car or skating along with the youngsters.

Few people know that these events are very well planned. I was talking with Dan Petre a few weeks ago that the new politicians have to mix more with the crowds. The “vip” look with limousines and annoying bodyguards is not what the voters want. So, there are counselors in Romania building new images and political brands.

As we speak, I know only 2 politicians that received and implement this type of political/PR behavior: Mircea Geoana and Traian Basescu. Geoana rides the subway and sometimes walks on the streets during the rush hours. Basescu is more visible as he is the president: he shops in the local Carrefour, he skates, and he is taking his wife to the restaurants or to the movies.

As I was involved in some events where the president was invited, I had the chance to discover all the security details of the “unexpected visit”. First of all, the secret service is no longer wearing only black tie. Sometimes they wear casual or sports wear and they are in the premises 2 hours before the president. After they secure the routes and the exits, they mix with the people. If the event is planned (there is a press release that the president will be there), they send the German Sheppard trained to find explosives.
When dining downtown, the secret service is very careful not to disturb the local clients. They work in couples (men-women) and they seem to be there for a drink. Because the restaurants in Bucharest need reservation (not easy to find a table in a good place for dinner), the officers will keep a table occupied until the president arrives. You’ll notice them because even they are a couple, they don’t talk and they drink water/juice for almost an hour. During this waiting time, other arrangements are made: in order to avoid other “drinking and driving” scandals, the management is asked not to leave branded bottles on the table.

The president is a fan of the Jidvei’s wine as his friend Adriean Videanu (the mayor of Bucharest) is secretly involved with this Romanian vineyard.

Returning to our evening, it was fun because not every day we have the chance to eat with the president – I must say that he confirmed again that he is a “people person” as he was very careful to salute us or to socialize with the regular clients.

For the press:
- the president told his wife that he dismissed his bodyguards for the holidays;
- the waiter came with a bottle of white wine and served him a glass;
- yes, he was driving

It seems that NCH is not the only one helping Neogen or paying the competition. Maybe because it’s around Christmas, and they feel the need to share

Let me explain: this will come as a shock before Christmas at ARBO – they are also direct competitors with NEOGEN (ARBOtext vs Neogen Text Ads) but in the same time they are no.1 in promoting their business (Congrats, you guys!)

Why is this happening?
Because the ARBO site owners receive money from Neogen as they send people over to BestJobs or Noi2 (the affiliate program) – for every person registered they earn around 30 cents (I recall) but also 20-50% if a company orders some services on Neogen.

ARBO should be terrified by this fact because in some way or another, they are loosing big bucks because their site owners are using the ARBO ad server in promoting rival networks. Imagine how would be like if all the in-house banners will point to Neogen or Netbrige as recommended services…

They are looking for middle-level and as we speak, more than 70 people applied for the job on BestJobs and over 90 on eJobs. It seems that the new manager will take care of the sales in the advertising department.

Why is someone about to get fired at NCH over this:
- because they have at least 3 career websites in the group
- because they can afford a RECRUITING AGENCY or a small head hunter – after all, they are looking for a Sales Manager, not for a janitor
- because this can cause PR problems (some people could think that the websites NCH develops are not so good since NCH uses other services)
- because they have a policy not to pay the competition for the same service they have in-house (I belive we all have this policy )

Finally, their premium recruiting website (HR Romania) has no announcement about this career opportunity. I wonder how is like to pay your competition to decide who is suitable for your company

This is a funny print screen: MyJob (powered by NCH) is their most visited jobbing website – but the good traffic is not a thing to be proud of when you have the most looked-up word “holiday greetings”…

I had to drop by in a short visit this evening at ARBOmedia and I was shocked to see that their headquarters is invaded by gift bags. So if you are a site owner, client, planner or journalist connected to ARBO, expect some bonus treats this year.

The website will be available here in a few days.

Consensus has been established among European leaders over how the EU should proceed with enlargement. Speaking at the European Council on 14-15 December, Commission President Barroso explained that the pace of enlargement depends on the EU’s capacity to integrate new members. “Consensus is clearly emerging around what I call the three Cs, consolidation, conditionality and communication,” he said. While the door to enlargement remains open, candidate countries must respect all the criteria.

President Basescu made the front page on International Herald Tribune. The article was published yesterday by Craig S. Smith, just minutes after Basescu’s speech in the parliament:

The move comes just two weeks before Romania joins the European Union on Jan. 1 and represents a belated attempt by the country to make a more complete break with the Communist past than was possible in the managed revolution of 1989. After the Communist authority collapsed in Moscow that year, many of the region’s Communist officials simply changed hats and continued to participate in government when authoritarian one-party regimes morphed, largely unchallenged, into independent free-market democracies.

The report cites the names of many other former apparatchiks, including Tismaneanu’s own late father, Leon Tismaneanu, who was deputy director of the state publishing house and wrote in support of the regime. Corneliu Vadim Tudor, now leader of the ultranationalist Greater Romania Party, was singled out for his role as a former Communist state poet.

Tudor and his supporters tried to disrupt the parliamentary session Monday. At one point, Tudor stood up, blew a whistle and held up a red card like those used to signal fouls in soccer. While some lawmakers applauded Besascu’s remarks, others sat in silence.

You can read the rest of the article here…

Dan Petre (D&D Research) made a very interesting research for Brandient (Aneta Bogdan) – TOP50 Romanian Brands (Dacia, BRD and BCR made the TOP3). Today I had the chance to surf the branding companies and I was very pleased as I discovered new perspectives on the study.
First to comment is Bogdan Branzas – he thinks the study is useless and he says that they don’t plan to have a similar research during the next years.
Stefan Liute (Grapefruit) is more reserved but at some level agrees with Branzas.
As I know, Aneta Bogdan is not blogging yet but Dan Petre (the mastermind behind this study) started to explain some of the issues on his new blog.
Because me and Cezar try to write about wines on our online magazine, I asked Dan about Murfatlar (the most notorious brand in the industry). The answer Dan provided is here and it’s very interesting to read.
I wonder if Liute and Branzas will surf Dan Petre’s blog – maybe we’ll see further comments

Do you need a credible excuse in order to avoid a party this season?
This the ultimate tool for your relatives, boring friends, ex-girlfriends and other usual suspects: “Enlighten Holiday Party Excuse Generator TM”

The “Great Man” theory of history is usually attributed to the Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle, who wrote that “the history of the world is but the biography of great men.” He believed that it is the few, the powerful and the famous who shape our collective destiny as a species. That theory took a serious beating this year.

To be sure, there are individuals we could blame for the many painful and disturbing things that happened in 2006. The conflict in Iraq only got bloodier and more entrenched. A vicious skirmish erupted between Israel and Lebanon. A war dragged on in Sudan. A tin-pot dictator in North Korea got the Bomb, and the President of Iran wants to go nuclear too. Meanwhile nobody fixed global warming, and Sony didn’t make enough PlayStation3s.

You control the Information Age. Welcome to your world:

Antonio Eram, Aura Tatu, Alina Nemes, Bogdan Manolea, Catalin Francu, Cristian Mezei, Doru Panaitescu, Dragos Dehelean, Dragos Tuta, Gusti Roman, Ionut Oprea, Ionut Popa, Madalin Matica, Marius Balaci, Octavian Costache, Orlando Nicoara, Radu Ionescu, Sorin Tudor, Steven Aftergood, Vlad Popa, Allicia, Ana Pobleanu, Andrei Chica, Bogdan Epure, Catalin Paduraru,
Chartreuse, Eduard Koller, Eugen Erhan, Florin Grozea, Ionut Bratu, Mariana Duma, Mirona Iliescu, Stefan Liute,
Gheorghe Copos, Ioan Mircea Pascu, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Jeremy Wright, Jim Boykin, John Romero, Jonathan Schwartz, Sin-Yaw Wang, Liviu Hahaianu, Radu Dumitru, Adrian Seceleanu, Alex Mihaileanu, Andrei Badin, Andrei Crivat, Cezar Ioan, Cristian Manafu, George Popescu, Iulian Comanescu, Laura Sandu, Mircea Dinescu, Vali Ceafalau, Victor Kapra, Vlad Nichita
and many others…

You too are the person of the Year (read more – click here)

They have their own tracking system (Neogen Monitor) but the service is not what they really want. Their direct competitor in Romania is Trafic.ro – the difference is that this one can track many providers (although the information is public only for the mother company) – at some time they needed the databases for targeted advertising and trafic.ro helped.

On the other hand, Google Analytics is the ultimate tracker – if compared, both trafic.ro and Neogen Monitor are in the stone age – their popularity is due to the ranking option but their future is uncertain as they’re not impartial and they use the strategic data in order to develop their own online projects.

I wonder if Google Analytics is a good tool for Neogen

This is a blog I recommend to all non-romanian speakers who surf my page – the project was started by Iulian Comanescu (romanian journalist) and I think it is one of the best resources in English about the Romanian mass-media.
This week’s recommended article: “Romanian oligarchs slow down their assault of the media market”

“An elegant shot of the queen’s granddaughter pictured staring into the camera in a long mud-splattered Roberto Cavalli dress with a plunging neckline under the headline “Beautifully Poised” – First Aired: 13-12-2006″ – via BrandRepublic.

I’m waiting for Elena Basescu (the president’s daughter) in the new Dacia Logan ad.

Doru Panaitescu is leaving ARBOmedia. Beginning with 1st of January 2007 he will blog at Initiative Media – this is probably the last important movement in the online advertising market this year.

Meanwhile, the management decided to shorten the contacts on the official website – it seems that some of the people there were targeted by recruiting agencies. With Doru there’s another story: ARBOmedia works with Initiative Media so they had the chance to know the person (and skip the head hunters ).

Doru is more relaxed these days and as you can see, he is trying online dating:

You can read it all here.

Allicia is the one behind this so this is it (q/a are in romanian):

1) Luati cartea cea mai la indemana, deschideti la pagina 18 si scrieti aici al 4-lea rand.
“[...]din secolul al XIX-lea si care a folosit aceste initiale in campania sa electorala – s-a raspandit in toata lumea (cf. A.Pease, 1981/1993, 18)” (Septimiu Chelcea – Comunicarea nonverbala in spatiul public)

2) Fara sa verificati, cat e ora?
05:34

3) Verificati
05:21 (traiesc in viitor)

4) Cum sunteti imbracat?
Tricou portocaliu ARBOcontext – cu toate ca nu folosesc inca serviciul.

5) Inainte de a raspunde la acest chestionar, la ce va uitati?
JOBfest.ro – interviul Magdei.

6) Ce zgomot auziti in afara celui al calculatorului?
O melodie cu Depeche Mode…

7) Cand ati iesit ultima data si ce ati facut cu ocazia respectiva?
Ieri. Am facut shopping cu Mihai Manole intre 23:00 si 05:00 – excursii intre METRO Voluntari si METRO Baneasa pentru agende, calendare, sticle de vin. Antiradarul a facut banii. Eram singurii clienti METRO la 05:00 (deh, miliardari excentrici).

Ati visat ieri noapte?
Mda.

9) Cand ati ras ultima data?
Rad acum.

10) Ce aveti pe peretii incaperii unde sunteti?
Postere UN DCP (Drug Control Programme), o harta mare a UE, multe miniaturi(Ferrari F50, Porsche 911, Lamborghini Murcielago, etc.) teancuri de carti, hartii, printuri si ziare.

11) Daca ati deveni multimilionar peste noapte, care ar fi primul lucru pe care l-ati cumpara?
Cateva sticle de vin din Crama Connaisseur – sarbatoresc impreuna cu prietenii.

12) Care este ultimul film pe care l-ati vazut?
Michael Moore – TV Nation – incerc sa-mi dau seama cine-l finanteaza

13) Ati vazut ceva neobisnuit astazi?
Nu pot sa zic.

14) Ce parere aveti despre acest chestionar?
Aur curat.

15) Spuneti-ne ceva ce nu stim inca.
O companie mare va intra in curand pe piata din Romania si va face achizitii de cateva milioane $$$ (media).

16) Care ar fi prenumele copilului dvs. daca ar fi vorba de o fetita?
Anoicumena.

17) Care ar fi prenumele copilului dvs. daca ar fi vorba de un baiat?
Arial, Grigore sau Google – depinde si de nasi

18) V-ati gandit deja sa locuiti in strainatate?
Daca tara o cere…

19) Ce ati dori ca D-zeu sa va spuna cand intrati pe Portile Raiului?

20) Daca ati putea schimba ceva in lume in afara de politica, ce ati schimba?
Pot sa schimb si o fac zilnic. Mentalitati, oameni, idei… poate chiar vieti.

21) Va place sa dansati?
Cu cine?

22) George Bush?
Cu el da, insa nu Tango – poate o hora…

23) Care a fost ultima chestie pe care ati vazut-o la televizor?
Stirile TVR – cel mai bun jurnal de stiri.

24) Care sunt cele 4 persoane care ar trebui sa preia acest chestionar?
Cezar, Alex, Vali sau Catalin.

1) The Student of the Year – from VIP – check out www.studentulanului.ro.
The project is sponsored by Generali Asigurari, SOFTWIN, CARPATCEMENT and PFIZER – This morning will be the press conference and this evening the ceremony at Intercontinental Hotel.

2) Bologna Week – From ANOSR (Actually Traian Bruma is behind the project – sometimes he is a one man army) and it seems they’ve done a great job. Check out the official website at www.bologna.ro – they had no sponsors except the Romanian Government but I know that BRD and Vodafone were interested in their project. I’ve notice the partnership with the romanian edition of “Le Monde Diplomatique“.
They also have a new blog as “Bologna Instigators” here -this was my idea

In case I didn’t mention, we support both “Studentul Anului” and “Bologna Week” as media partners.

You can read the article here – you’ll notice the print screen and in the middle of the page is Dan Petre (btw, he started his first blog here)

Post Updated
Yahoo Messenger (formerly known as Yahoo Pager) presented a beta version of its latest 9.0 release and a Windows Vista version so I wanted to see what’s new, if the hidden features are still out there and how to get more from the new software. Continue reading ‘Yahoo Messenger’

The article appeared in Cotidianul and for the first time I believe that BRAT can cause many conflicts if they don’t pay attention to what they say in public.
The BRAT results seem to be analyzed by Valentin Negoita while the article is written by Iulian Enache. At least one of them has no idea about the figures presented there.
They say that 55,3% of the people living in urban areas are using a computer. At some time, they say that 20,6% of the users are children while 15% are adults. The title of the article also placed the adults in minority suggesting that on the Romanian Internet are only non-adults.

A simple math tells me that we have 100%: there are 20,6% children, 15% adults and the rest of 64,4% are either unborn, teenagers, immature persons, too old but still running and some deceased.

They also mentioned that they questioned 9.000 people so I wonder how this was done (probably online, and on some websites).

Why is it an issue?
Because BRAT will audit the Romanian Internet (for the first time) and this article raises serious doubts… or maybe the journalist used to write about agriculture before this. I wonder what Doru Panaitescu (ARBOmedia), Orlando Nicoara (MPI) or Sorin Tudor (NETBRIDGE) have to say about this, if they consider this article relevant and how they will react as BRAT members.

I was invited to a special event this evening and I met someone involved with the new KISS TV. They launched the the tv station a few days ago and after the first week they managed to underscore UTV and right now they aim for the Romanian MTV. As the figures show, the fact that KISS TV has the support of KISS FM (no. 1 in November according to the figures) posts serious threats for the leader.
December 2006 will probably be a good month for KISS TV and a new leader will shake the budgets already planned in some agencies.

You can read the article here. One week from now, we’ll have another online event: JOB-Studenti.ro will celebrate 2 years of existence as leader of its niche.
Meanwhile, you can read an exclusive interview with Dan PETRE – 10 tips for a career in Advertising.

The RNC nameserver (rotld.ro) had severe problems and was out for 2 hours – this meant that many romanian websites had dns errors and everybody was fuzzy over this. My first thoughts were about the hosting and as I called our providers they explained the whole situation.
An important fact to notice is that RNC (controlled by the Romanian Government) has limited schedule and they get many complaints as they close at 16:00 every day. I’m not affected by this on daily basis but it seems that many romanian web hosting companies have trouble adjusting to the RNC policy. I remember one time I had to wait almost 2 months for a transaction in order to buy a domain (from a RNC partner).
Although they had the problems with the namserver, there was no press release and no news on the official website.

After Jacobs or Alka (Prajitura Casei), Vodafone is the next brand to target the Romanian Internet users via Yahoo Messenger. Although Vodafone is the most profitable mobile operator in Romania, they are still cutting back on their costs. They’ve canceled hundreds of contracts (outsourcing, services) and they try to obtain the lowest prices ever on everything.
Of course, this has an impact on the customers – as a Vodafone user, I’ve experienced several crashes with their web servers and very poor client service. The call center operators go by the book and have no idea when I try to explain some technical issues – of course, I can’t talk to the technical department because of their policy. For several times they promised to call me back and this never happened (maybe because I was calling from my other phones on “enemy” networks: Orange and Zapp).
Last but not least, the Romanian Office for the Consumer’s Protection is receiving complaints from many customers as Vodafone cancels the warranty on their phones for strange reasons.
Well, I hope they’ll manage to get over it as I am a Ferrari and Vodafone fan. Stay red!

As Sorin Tudor promised in October, here is the new blog section on trafic.ro – the section will be very interesting to follow if the Romanian bloggers will use this tracking service – all kind of useful statistics.

Romania’s National Day was celebrated with great interest as the country approaches its entry in the EU. All I’ve seen were very good PR campaigns both in Romania and abroad. Beginning with 2007 we’ll see more and more positive campaigns as Romania is already dealing with the problems caused during the last years.

Although the traffic in Bucharest is terrible, the military parade and new Christmas lights were the main attractions of the day.

This day was a holiday for me too: we made a special online campaign called “Romania – I Love You”, and we posted the banner on all of our websites for 48 hours.