The MAA Worldwide 2009 Global Academic ChallengeThe brief: KickStarting tourism

Romania “=*-#=*_=+#@^”+&%_ what?

Translation:

What about NOT going to Romania?

Tourists used to visiting Romania, have reduced their holiday travels and either postpone or

cancel plans related to coming here.

OVERVIEWThe current crisis is affecting the Tourism Industry, with important consequences on

Tourism Agencies, Airlines, Hotels, Restaurants, Car Rental Companies.

BACKGROUNDDuring the first 5 months of 2009, the rate of tourists coming into Romania has

decreased with 14,8% than on the same period last year. Tourists using

accommodation during January-May 2009 have accounted for 4,6 millions, with 20%

less than 2008.

Borderline points have registered 2,7 million foreign strangers, with 13,3 less than in

2008. The majority comes from European countries (95,3%), especially European

Union countries such as Germany, Italy (mainly touristic purposes), Hungary and

Bulgaria (due to proximity and relatives coming over).

(Source: National Statistics Institute)

CHALLENGEThe current crisis is affecting the Tourism Industry, with important

consequences on Tourism Agencies, Airlines, Hotels, Restaurants,

Car Rental Companies. That’s why we need to kickstart tourism in

Romania.

MARKETNG OBJECTIVE25% tourism increase during the first year of the campaign and at

least 15% percent / year on the long term.

COMMUNCATION OBJECTIVERomania, always worth visiting (even during these times).

The great places in Romania are never in crisis.

TARGET18-30 years old, young married German couples, without children.

People willing to explore more about Romania, curious, intrigued

about what else Romania has to offer, passionate about interesting

and well organized itineraries, about games and places not always

mentioned in Tourist Guides.

DARE!

STRATEGYCreate a NEW EXPECTATION for German tourists to come and spend their holiday in Romania. Make them understand that Romania is worth visiting,

even in times of crisis, because there are still things they haven’t discovered. Make them aware of the fact that besides the traditional and most visited places in

Romania, there are things and places they will be delighted to see.

CONCEPTA legend is meant to be explored to its fullest.In times of crisis, people really need to be stimulated into doing something that even they like to do, now they think twice before doing it. Even if they visited the

country and seen some of the places (the well-known touristic objectives or places they have read about on the Internet and wanted to see for themselves), they

will be attracted into seeing more if they find a new expectation / need / desire. This new expectation will be created around a Romanian symbol that refers to a

very well known legend.

Therefore, we’ll use the most common symbol of Romania, one of the reasons each tourist comes to visit our country, including Germans, and give it a little spin:

use DRACULA (Vlad Tepes, The Ruler) as an incentive to explore a legend, to discover more and more about Romania through one of its most powerful

myths

People may have visited The Bran Castle -so much related to Dracula- and might have read stories about this, but they haven’t seen how Romania actually relates

to this legend and what is there still to find out. In our Promotion Program, the image of Dracula will face Vlad Tepes (the real thing), so people will be able to

see how Dracula is not only a name, a legend or one region. It is actually, the whole country.

MESSAGEStimulate tourists into being brave and travel in times of crisis as well, as it’s going to be worth it: Be a daredevil!Come and see for yourself and find the truth about the so-called Dracula. Look for him in his own country and explore the real story about this legend.

SEEING IS BELIEVING

this might be a great story to live and tell

things are not always what they seem to be

CAMPAIGN NAME: Romania in the Flesh

Start: September / October 2009

End: August 2010

STEP 1 – TEASING:

Objective: Raise interest about Dracula and attract people into discovering his traces.

METRO AND BUS STATIONS:

In the evenings, we will release a number of promoters, that is people dressed normally, in metros and buses with

different bites on the neck (they will have long neck in order for the bite to be seen). This will attract attention and

make people take photos.

YOUTUBE:

Film the people in buses and metros and put the clip on YouTube, with the message: Dracula is alive!

UNCONVENTIONAL:

Use the usual elements that relate to vampire stories and implicitly Dracula, to raise interest and turn their meaning

upside down, in the second step of the campaign.

Place different things and objects, such as garlic, jigs, blood, coffers, vampire teeth, capes in the most important cities

in Germany and let people discover them. These things will act as traces. As if Dracula has left traces all over the

country. People will have to bring these objects to the Tourism Agencies, where they will receive a gift, first of all, and

then information about the campaign, along with specific itineraries.

PARKS: coffers placed near the benches with a message: Dracula is alive. Inside the coffers, people will find a pile of

straw and a jig and also a invitation, explaining them that they will receive something in exchange for the sticker (that

needs to be found in the coffer) if the come to a specific address. The stickers will have the information of the place

they are supposed to go and the message: Come and meet Dracula.

CLOTHING STORES:

Inside the fitting rooms, people will find black capes and will be invited to take them, keep the sticker (the same

mechanism as before) and go to that address.

FOOD MARKETS: Garlic at promotion. You can buy one bag of garlic and receive another one for free. The free one will

contain the stickers and the invitation.

FIND THE

BEAUTY

OF THE

REAL THING

sometimes reality is greater than fiction

PHOTO AUTOMATIC MAHCINES: Add the option of a vampire style photo taken. Each time a person takes his/her photo, they will receive a sticker with an invitation

and the message: Dracula is alive. Come and meet him. Like in the cases before, they will be explained they receive something in exchange of the sticker.

CLUBS: BLOODY DRACULA cocktails. With the same stickers and message attached.

MAGAZINES: On Print, the teasing will be announced with different unfinished stories about where Dracula lived, abut his childhood, about his passions and his

favorite places to visit. These will be actually stories related to Romania, that will be revealed after in the 2nd step.

ONLINE: Tourism and Booking pages (such as TripAdvisor or Booking.com) will be actually bitten in one corner. When you open the website, you’ll hear the sound of a

bite and notice the right corner of the page is bitten. A banner with a message will appear: Dracula is alive. Come and meet him! Along with the address and the

invitation to print a sticker in order to receive something in exchange.

MOBILE PHONES: We will activate the Bluetooth and send people messages whenever they cross a Tour Operator or a Restaurant (the ones we are making a

partnership with) to come in and taste the Food of Dracula or Visit Dracula, for example.

STEP 2 – REVEALING

Objective: Make people aware that Dracula is just an image, that Dracula is just a name given to Vlad Tepes, the Romanian Ruler. Make people discover the

legend of Dracula and that he actually represents a whole country and that is Romania.

Once people come with the stickers, for each object they have found they will receive a correspondent. For the jig, they will receive a nice hand-made furniture

object, for the ones finding the cape, a traditional Romanian blouse. For ones who drank the cocktail, we will offer a Romanian red wine (such as Feteasca Regala,

for example). For the ones taking pictures in vampire-style, we will offer a photo album or a photo guide about Romania. For the ones buying the garlic, we’ll

prepare a book with Romanian recipes.

We will know what to give to whom, depending on the codes they have on the stickers.

IMAGINE A TANGIBLE EXPERIENCE

FANTASTICALLY

REAL

DIRECT MAILING:

Many people know very little about Romania but quite a lot of them would remember the story of Dracula. This vampire is perhaps the best known Romanian

“brand”. Tourists travel to the country to visit the count’s castle in the first place. The legend of Dracula is a big tourism attraction. But beneath all this, there are a

lot of things to discover.

So’ we will create special packages where they will find more about the legend of Dracula, about the name and where did everything begin, about who was Vlad

Tepes, about the Romania of Vlad Tepes with pictures also.

ITINERARIES:

With places all over Romania that have connection to Vlad Tepes, the so called Dracula.

Examples: Itineraries with places where Vlad Tepes has had battles with the Turks, with places from the period before becoming a lord, with places he lived and

visited: Sighisoara, Hunedoara, Bran, Targoviste, Comana Monastery, Snagov Monastery, Poenari Fortress, the village of Arefu, the city of Brasov and the Curtea

Domneasca, the count’s palace in Bucharest.

AIRPLANE TICKETS OFFER: 2 IN 1. Free of charge the place of the person who is joining (Message: As someone needs to protect you from Dracula)

STEP 3 – IN ROMANIA:When actually coming to Romania, we still want to offer tourists a lot of surprises. We’ll create a competition and make people take pictures in every place they go,

as a proof. So, for a number of 3 people who went in most places and create the best photo album, we offer another trip to Romania, whenever they want with

airplane tickets and objectives entrances paid.

LOOK BENEATH THE LEGEND

ROMANIA IN THE FLESH

EVALUATION:

The campaign combines efficiently creative elements from the fantastic world of Dracula with traditional Romanian elements, which makes the

combination hard to resist for the target. This way, German tourists will find in a very organized way many more things about Romania through Dracula’s

eyes.

Germans have always been interested in Romania, especially count Dracula. Now, more than ever, even on crisis, if we offer such a Promotion Program, we

will make them more curious.

The effectiveness of the campaign will turn out positive, as it is constructed gradually. The target will be provoked to do something, to engage in the

campaign from the beginning till the end, with elements of surprise all the way. This will also generate a lot of word-of-mouth as people talk about and

share what they like and what is intriguing them.

Because things come in small pieces, the excitement is maintained all the way through the 12 months and may be kept on the long term.

CREATE YOUR OWN MYTH

ASOLUTELY GENUINE

Who: OUTLET Promotion Marketing Agency - Ana Maria Vasilache, Andra Apreotesei, Adriana Stanescu

Where from: The Alternative School for Creative Thinking - Bucharest, Romania

seek

the

truth

and

discover

real

stories