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Doing Business in Emerging Markets

Media Consulta International

Doing Business in Emerging Markets l 5

While mature markets are still struggling to harness

a meaningful economic recovery, the latest Emerging

Markets Index provides further evidence of a robust

recovery in economic activity. The rise in the HSBC

Emerging Markets Index to 53.4 in the first quarter of

2012 from 52.4 in the final quarter of 2011 under-

lines the relative immunity of emerging nations to

more damaging developments elsewhere in the

world.


Doing Business in Emerging Markets Company Profile l 7

MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL is an IndependentBusiness-Consulting firm specialized in Emerging Businessenvironments supporting investors to settle and expand intothe Romanian and Balkans Markets. We partner with clientsin multiple business fields in order to identify their highest-value market opportunities, address their strategies and growtheir business. Our customized approach combines deepinsights into the Eastern European markets with customizedbusiness strategy for each domestic or International Clientneeds.

Through its large range of services: Business Strategy (Start-up, Legal and Fiscal Consultancy, Tax Shelter Architecture,Strategic Investments), Organizational Management Lobby,Marketing and Sales, Research and Development, Commu-nication (Advertising, Media, Public Relations, Digital Mar-keting, Below the Line Activities) MEDIA CONSULTAINTERNATIONAL ensures that our clients achieve a sustain-able competitive advantage, build more capable organi -zations and secure long term lasting results.

As an Independent Company, founded in 2003, MEDIACONSULTA INTERNATIONAL has experienced a sustaina -ble growth due to our Clients success on the Romanian andCEE Markets. We thank our Domestic and InternationalClients and Partners such as: Vienna Insurance Group, GEN-ERALI PPF Investments, McDonalds, Raiffeisen Bank/MerillLynch, Thomasville, Business and Strategies Europe, Cur-rie&Brown, Erste Bank, Energy Holding, etc .

The latest Emerging Markets insights on growth uphold ourlong-held view that the global economic recovery is cru-cially-dependent on the health or lack thereof of the emer -ging nations. Employment is picking up in fast movingeconomies, the order backlog is on the rise, exports havebounced back and business expectations in the service sec-tor are increasingly positive.

However, the upside of emerging markets is tempered byother characteristics. The overall sales ecosystem in emer -ging markets is often complicated and quite different fromthat of a developed economy. Selling successfully to thesemarkets requires a sales approach tailored to their uniquecharacteristics. It’s a totally different World where one needsto Partner with firms developed and experienced in such en-vironments. MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL’s Spe-cialized staff combines the knowledge and expertise ofMature, Developed economies with the bold, innovative,permanently re-inventing the Business approach of youngemerging environments.

Please visit our Client Portfolio at page 85


8 l Acknowledgements

The following white paper contains statements and analysisdeveloped within MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL’s Re-search & Innovation Department. The output is based uponour consultants’ direct experience within the Romanian andEastern European Markets and the insights generously pro-vided by our clients and stakeholders.

The research is the result of thorough surveys on EmergingMarkets especially focused on the Romanian Market in theyears 2009 – 2012. This report uses the most recent publisheddata as support from quoted sources such as: The RomanianGovernment, International Organizations, International TradeOrganizations, Foreign Investors and Financial Institutions.

All statements and conclusions are the output of the individ-uals quoted and should not be attributed to any other entityor individual. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon ourforward-looking statements, and consider them only as an in-troduction to the Romanian business experience. Any investoror interested person in the Romanian business market is fur-ther encouraged to seek more in-depth information.

© Media Consulta International


Doing Business in Emerging Markets Contents l 9

10 Doing Business in Emerging Markets

19 Working with the Romanian State

23 EU Structural Funds and Romanian State Co-Financed Projects

35 Some Key Romanian Markets

78 MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL - At a Glance

79 Testimonials

36 Finance

44 Media

56 Marketing & Advertising

62 International lobby, PR & Events

72 Education

74 Human Resources

76 Sales

It’s Business Jim, but not as we know it

As a result, many companies see the ability to sell effectivelyto these markets as a key success factor . The core chal-lenge is to grow in a cost-effective and profitable way giventhe vast size of the markets, the differing economic and in-frastructure capacities and the variations in the markets' cul-tures and customs.

The emerging world has witnessed growth rates that far ex-ceed those of the developed world. Clearly the global bal-ance is shifting in their favour. Executives worldwide areresponding aggressively to this changing market dynamic.The term "globalization" has come to imply much more thanfar-ranging export activity or overseas research centres. In-creasingly, it is associated with core revenue-building activ-ities such as sales, marketing and manufacturing.

Studies of C-level executive in communication and high-tech companies reveal that customer-facing roles are themost important in the corporate globalization effort. Forcompanies to succeed in such roles, it is imperative thatbusiness leaders understand the sales context in these mar-kets. This can only be achieved through understanding notonly the Economic landscape but moreover the Cultural Ap-proach, the Consumer’s Insight and Business Mindset.

The Business of Doing Business in Emerging Markets

These are only a few of the local insights for which youwould need to rely on an inside Partner. And you wouldneed to search for a Partner that speaks your ‘Business Lan-guage’.As an example, Romania, one of the largest emerging mar-kets in CEE has an important advantage: If there’s a time toinvest in Romania, it is now!

From how to tip, when, where, how much? To how long does a business lunch take? When and how to drink with the locals, what subjectsto tackle and what not to? When is the deal signed? How to set-up a company and even how to developsuccessful Sales Strategies in such emerging markets?

AccentureEmerging MarketsStudy


10 l The Business of doing business in emerging markets

The West has lost its monopoly on wisdom. Butemerging economies can contribute towards newmodels of growth, finance and regulation.

„Compared with the developed world, the emerging world enjoysplenty of advantages, at least from the point of view of economicgrowth. With much lower per capita incomes, many emerging na-tions still have many years of economic “catch-up” ahead of them,suggesting that their growth rates – driven by continuous urbanisa-tion alongside productivity gains linked to improved access to globalcapital – should remain significantly higher than in the west”

Source: HSBC Emerging Markets Index, Q1, 2012

Romania is a middle income country with a GNI per capita ofUS$ 7,930 in 2008 (Atlas method). With a population of over 21million, it is the second largest country in Central and Eastern Europe and the seventh largest among the 27 current members ofthe European Union (EU).


Doing Business in Emerging Markets The Business of doing business in emerging markets l 11



Bucharest can and should become the fi-nancial and economic centre of the SouthEastern European region. Daniel Badea

for Romanian Business Digest

For the next 5 to 10 years, in Romania, strengths and op-portunities will surely overcome threats and weaknesses.This is not the conclusion of a newly discovered economicrecovery formula but rather of a simple comparison of thestrategic geographic position, market size, population, richculture and of the favourable conditions of commodities,especially agriculture.

Michael Weiss for Romanian

Business Digest

Doing Business in Emerging Markets Case Study: ASIROM VIG l 13

It is the case for several of the main MEDIA CONSULTAINTERNATIONAL Clients within different business seg-ments. Even though being able to build a healthy, longterm business within the financial segment is consid-ered quite a challenge, the firm has the privilege ofworking with some of the healthiest and strongest Inter-national and Domestic Financial Clients: ASIROM, forinstance, the oldest Romanian Insurance company withthe strongest territorial network.

The company has been through business and organiza-tional changes during the last three years especially afterthe take-over by the renowned International insurancegroup, VIG (Vienna Insurance Group). ASIROM is oneof the examples of healthy businesses with long-termfocus who managed to grow stronger following the2008 financial events. Unlike the generally acceptedbehaviour within the Corporate world (especially in Fi-nancial Services), ASIROM leaders always valued thecompany’s relationship with the public, always keepingan open and transparent relationship with the press andbeing permanently available for the most challengingquestions.

Supported by MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL’sConsultants with IMC Services throughout the last twoyears, ASIROM VIG now reports quarterly businessgrowth and has already started to focus Product andServices Development as well as the Internal Commu-nication, Marketing and Sales Activities on the most at-tractive new market segments: Corporate, Life andHealth Insurance.

Case StudyASIROM

A successful investment of Vienna

Insurance Group in ASIROM, the traditional

insurer in the Romanian market

follow in the next pages



14 l Case Study: ASIROM VIG

Together with MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL, our Communi-cation and PR Partner, we learned that Transparency and Availabilityare mandatory for building a trustworthy and healthy business; espe-cially in the Insurance sector, where Trust is our most important Asset.We decided to admit and take responsibility for our mistakes when itis the case, share our plans with our Journalist partners, celebrate suc-cess with them and even ask for their advice and suggestions in somespecific matters.

Boris Schneider Managing Director,

ASIROM VIG



Mihai CovaliuFencing Olympic Champion

Laura BadeaFencing Olympic Champion

Mihai LeuThe first Romanian boxer to win a world professional tilte

Boris Schneiderinterviewed by the public television

“Great Minds think alike, Great leaders stick together”{ PR Event }

“Great Minds think alike, Great leaders stick together” was the event’s concept, developedtwo years ago in order to bring ASIROM VIG closer to Romania’s Leaders and, at the sametime, reinforced ASIROM VIG’s position as a friendly, strong, always there, ready for a chal-lenge, ready to help, Leader. The event brought together the most important opinion leadersin Romania in the effort of making Romanian drivers more aware of the Responsibility thatcomes along with their driver’s license and of the MTPL insurance benefits.

ASIROM visits the business televisionMoney Channel

ASIROM’sPress Round Table

“Follow the leader”{ Media Campaign }

ASIROM VIG as a Leader, has beenkeeping in touch with the PublicOpinion for the past two years

mainly through this successful event:Follow the Leader. Due to its

popularity, Follow the Leader hasbeen re-iterated throughout both

2009 and 2010.


16 l Case Study: ASIROM VIG

The 2010 Edition captured the attention of the most important Romanian Media Channels, gener-ating a widespread coverage on National Television, General TV Channels, The Romanian Busi-ness Television, Radio, National Newspapers and the most influent Business Magazines.





MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL is theBusiness Advisor that orchestrated the

financing and entry of the German Water Industry Holding, Berlin Wasser on the

Romanian Market. The firm has also providedwith Corporate Communication and PublicRelation Consultancy services the NationalFund for Guaranteeing the SMEs Businesses

Loans (FNGCIMM). Media Consulta International has gained extensive practice in

the Aerospace Industry, by assisting the Romanian air transportation company BlueAir in obtaining a 3.5 years handling and

maintenance agreement. MEDIA CONSULTAINTERNATIONAL’s consultants also assisted

Blue Air during the negotiations with Unicredit Tiriac Bank for a financial

agreement in purchasing a new helicopter.


Doing Business in Emerging Markets Working with the Romanian State l 19

Working with the Romanian State however,

is not at all an easy business

It is generally perceived that working with the State inemerging markets is not always easy and it also isn’t a sim-ple, unitary process; therefore “surprises” may occur at everystep. Romania is no exception that is why when workingwith the Romanian State one discovers that, in order to over-come this distorted perception, the day to day work is eventougher and the requirements are significantly higher andmore restrictive than in well developed Economies.

Due to the old perception of corruption and unreliability,the Romanian State tends to be nowadays “even moreCatholic than the Pope”. Not many companies find it easyto work with the State and even strong multinational organ-izations have encounter difficulties in meeting all State re-quired criteria to enter business. The Public Tenders for StateProjects (in any areas: Agriculture, Environment, IT&C, Ed-ucation and Development, Infrastructure) are very strict andthe efforts of meeting all entry criteria are often intimidat-ing.

MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL has a Public TendersDepartment with specialists trained to prepare and win Statefinanced projects. In 2011 alone the firm assisted its partnersduring 60 Public Tenders that generated new business withinthe following areas: IMC, Media Planning and Buying, Ad-vertising, Business Consultancy and Project managementsfor projects in: Agriculture, Transportation, Tourism, Energy.

“The Public Tenders marketbecame interesting to uswhen we realised that wehad already gathered duringour eight years of activity allthe credentials to meet theState requirements almosteffortlessly: ISO9001 Quali -ty Management Standardcertified by TUV Austria,very good professionals withover 10 – 15 years experi-ence trained at prestigiousInternational Academic Institutions (Harvard Business School, The Chartered Institute of Marketing) and highly successful results both forcommer cial as well as forPPPS or Public, State ownedprojects which we had previously developed.”

explains Mihai Craiu, CEO MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL


20 l Case Study: Transelectrica

TRANSELECTRICA is the Romanian Transmission and Sys-tem Operator (TSO) that plays a key role on the Romanianelectricity market. It manages and operates the electricitytransmission system and provides electricity exchangesamong Central and South - Eastern countries, as a memberof UCTE (Union for Coordination of Transmission of Elec-tricity) and ETSO (Association of European Transmission andSystem Operators). Transelectrica is responsible for electricity transmission, sys-tem and market operation, grid and market infrastructure de-velopment ensuring the security of the Romanian powersystem. It also serves as the main link between electricitysupply and demand; balancing at all the times power gen-eration with energy demand.

“When working for state owned companies with extensive activity and exposure abroad,the Reputation Management services are even more complex than those of Private com-panies, because more stakeholders are involved: the Romanian public opinion, the Euro-pean Public Opinion, National and International Partner organizations, Clients, domesticand European Regulatory Organizations, Local and Central Public Authorities, Privatecompanies, potential Business Partners, Employees, Energy Market Players, the Stock Ex-change, potential Investor and the Mass – Media” (Mihai Craiu).

Specific RequirementsFour years ago, TRANSELECTRICA organized a Public Ten-der for Communication Consultancy services. The Partnerselected had to meet specific requirements:

FIRST Extensive experience in working with big state ownedcompanies

SECONDAn over 4 mil. EUR Business Figure and the ability to sub-mit for the last three years of fiscal records for evaluation

THIRDAbility to submit for evaluation at least three working con-tracts with values of over 500.000 Euros

FOURTHSubmit the performance metrics reached for the respectiveclients

FIVEBe certified under the ISO Quality Management Systemstandards

For the past four years following the PublicTender, MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNA-

TIONAL has been providing TRANSELEC-TRICA with Internal and External

Communication Consultancy services,leveraging the company’s public profile

and at the same time, managing the rela-tionship with stakeholders.

Case StudyTranselectrica

Assisting TRANSELECTRICA, the State owned Trans-mission and System Operator, which plays a key roleon the Romanian electricity market


Doing Business in Emerging Markets Case Study: Transelectrica l 21

“MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONALbrought TRANSELECTRICA to the attentionof the most important international Publications (Gaceta de Los Negocios, WallStreet Journal, La Tribune, and El Econo-mista, Il Giornale) and the company is nowa Strong and Trustworthy business partner,both on the domestic as well as on the European market.”

Adrian Baicusi,CEO Transelectrica

Along with the Management Team, MEDIA CONSULTA IN-TERNATIONAL managed to build and raise TRANSELEC-TRICA’s reputation as a strong business player on thedomestic and international Energy markets, a reliableprovider and a key Romanian company. “The most important factor in building such success is Trans-parency; it is not easy to build and maintain Transparencyon a market like ours but for a state owned company it iskey. The process of building and raising TRANSELECTRICA’sreputation started four years ago with Internal Communica-tion Management; only after building Transparency as avalue within the company, we started communicating to ex-ternal stakeholders. We organized and took part in the mostimportant Energy and Electricity events on the market inorder to stay permanently connected and open for the massmedia and the public opinion. Along with Transelectrica wekept connected and took advice from the best specialists onthe Electricity market while keeping an eye on Europeantrends and that is how we managed to make Transelectricaan Innovative and Sustainable Electricity provider. In line with our Transparency values, we also kept a contin-uous and open communication channel within and outsidethe company. That is how we managed to build a strongcorporate image on the Romanian market and it is only after,that we started, two years ago, to actively communicatewithin the European market as well.” (Mihai Craiu).

Maintaining the Communication Flow

Apart from its important role as a Consultant for TRANSE-LECTRICA, the agency is also assisting the German Electric-ity company, E.ON AG in its Public Communication inMoldova region. MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL’smain task is managing the continuous communication flowand the entire relationship between E.ON and its con-sumers throughout Moldova.

„Just like E.ON is the connection between the TRANSELEC-TRICA high tension networks and its consumers’ consump-tion points MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL is theconnection between E.ON and its direct domestic con-sumers, ensuring and managing the continuous communi-cational flow through dedicated local communicationchannels.” explains Alina Florescu, Media Director, MEDIACONSULTA INTERNATIONAL

E.ON Partner Media Channels in Moldova:Vreme noua

Ceahlaul

Crai nou

Desteptarea

Evenimentul de Botosani

Evenimentul Regional al Moldovei

Monitorul de Botosani

Monitorul de Neamt si Roman

Monitorul de Suveava

Monitorul de Vaslui

Obiectiv de Suceava

Obiectiv Vaslui

Realitatea Media

Ziarul de Bacau

Ziarul de Iasi


22 l Case Study: Transelectrica


Doing Business in Emerging Markets EU Structural Funds - Romanian Operational Programmes Project l 23

“One of the most important projects won by MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL’s Public Tender Departmentdu ring the years of 2009 through 2010 is the Romanian Operational Programmes Project (www.inforegio.ro).Following a three month public tender MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL has been appointed ROP servicesprovider for the Integrated Communication Services on the Romanian market.“

Elena Brisan, Head of Public Tenders Division

EU Structural Funds and Romanian State Co-Financed Projects

The ROP is one of the Romanian Operational Programmesagreed with the EU, and an important tool for implementingthe national strategy and policies for Regional Develop-ment. It applies to all 8 Romanian Regions. The global ob-jective of ROP is “to support and promote a sustainablebalanced economic and social development of the Roman-ian Regions, by improving business environment and infra-structure for economic growth”. This means that the ROPaims to diminish the gaps in economic and social develop-ment between more and less developed regions of theCountry. The ROP in Romania is funded through one of theStructural Funds i.e. The European Regional DevelopmentFund (approximately 84% of the ROP budget), as well asnational funding, public (14%) and private (2%). ROP isbroken down in a number of Priority axes. Each priority axisis endowed with a specific budget and incorporates a num-ber of key areas of intervention targeting specific develop-ment goals.

MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL started the deploy-ment of an Integrated Communication campaign for eachof the six program’s main axes. Apart from permanent In-

ternal Communication Services (newsletters, brochures,web page development and maintenance), in order to drawattention to the program’s benefits for interested, potentialapplicants, ROP has implemented along with MEDIA CON-SULTA INTERNATIONAL a National campaign through the2010, on the main National media channels: (National TVchannels – generic together with News and Business ori-ented: National Radio channels, Business Press and mainNational newspapers).

MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL also acts as theROP’s Communication Consultant for Public Relation serv-ices both for internal as well as external stakeholders (Ro-manian Public Bodies and Unions, International PublicBodies and Unions, Public Opinion, Opinion Leaders,Mass Media). The firm’s Research and Strategy Departmentalong with the Creative Department have been acting asROP’s content providers producing communication mate-rials (TV spots, TV Fillers, Radio materials, Print ads and ad-vertorials) in order to inform potential applicants aboutROP’s opportunities and about the first steps in submittingtheir offers for obtaining ROP financing.

Case StudyThe Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism - Regio

Providing IMC services for State financed and EU

Structural Funds Projects. Regio has been supported

through a National communication campaign.

“ROP was one of the most complex public tenders wetook part in over the last year. It had three eliminatorystages (The Qualifying documents for entering the Ten-der; The Technical Proposal; The Financial Offer) and thedocumentation for the last two stages has been preparedduring almost two months. Apart from a very complexdocumentation required for the Technical Proposal (Re-search and Strategy development, Creative Communi-cation Content Development, Media Planning andBuying Development) the criteria that participants hadto meet for entering the public tender were highly de-manding and complex at the same time (to have beenactive on the market for at least five years; to have man-aged IMC services with budgets of over 1.5 mil. EUR;to provide recommendations from 15 of the most im-portant clients with metrics evaluating the campaignsimplemented together; a minimum specific limit for thelast three year’s turnover; ISO 9001 Quality Mana -gement System Certification).”

Alina Florescu Managing Director


24 l EU Structural Funds - Romanian Operational Programmes Project


Doing Business in Emerging Markets Romanian Institutional Communication l 25

Institutional Communication andits Social Challenges

2011 – 2012 was a year in which Romanian InstitutionalCommunications gained further more maturity, making theshift from disparate, tactical, reactive communication ac-tivities to Integrated MarCom projects, tangible communi-cation KPIs and long term campaigns Co-ordination. FY 2011 Institutional Communication focus was on: Raisingawareness (both on social issues as well as on potentialavailable solutions); Connecting the Civil Society’s needswith the respective institutional programmes and feeding inthe in-field, authentic and relevant insights for the effective-ness of each program; Creating synergies among complexmatrix stakeholders.During this period, the Institutional Communication De-partment of MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL hasbeen overseeing complex institutional communicationcampaigns for its 8 newly gained (through the respectivepublic tenders) clients, as follows:

Institutional Communication: Media Planning, Buying andCampaigns Co-ordination– The Ministry of Justice - The National Trade Register Office(ONRC)– The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, TheAgency for Rural Development and Fishing (APDRP)– The Ministry of Economics, Commerce and Business En-vironment – The Office of State Participatory and IndustrialPrivatisations (OPSPI)

Institutional Communication: Audio-Video Creative Devel-opment and Delivery– The Ministry of Tourism – The Regional Operational Pro-gramme (REGIO):

Institutional Marketing Consultancy: Media Planning &Buying, Strategic Development, Audio-Video Creative De-velopment, Campaign Co-ordination– The University of Bucharest

Institutional Communication: Operational Marketing,Audio-Video Creative Development and Production, MediaPlanning and Buying– The Romanian Brokers Association (Asociatia Brokerilor).Institutional Communication: Events and Public Relations– The Ministry of the Environment and Forests – The Na-tional Authority of Management for the Operational Pro-gramme “Mediu”

26 l Case Study: The Agency for Rural Development and Fishing


Connecting the Civil Society’s needs with theinstitutional solutions

If working with the public sector is usually more demand-ing, complex and resource consuming than the private sec-tor, institutional communication has its social challenges aswell.

“The biggest challenge in the ADPDRP (The Agency forRural Development and Fishing - The Ministry of Agricul-ture and Rural Development) project was for us as consult-ants to be able to step down from our offices located in thecentre of the Capital and personally go where our client’spublic was: at the country side. More so, we were able to“undress” our previous corporate understanding of Com-munication and target audiences and really connect witheach community at a personal, human level. We were a team of five professional that travelled to almost10 Romanian villages across the country trying to em-pathise, understand and learn from those communities. Wetook part in activities related to farming, forest area man-agement, socio-cultural patrimony preservation and infra-structural maintenance. It was only after having done all this, that we were able tosubmit a relevant, “down to earth” and practical public ten-der Institutional Communication offer.It sometimes pays to get out of one’s own comfort zone toreally do one’s best to understand the environment we arecommunicating to. And when it comes to institutional com-munication with social impact there is no other effectiveway.”

Voichita Tudor, Project Lead, ADPDR

Case StudyThe Agency for Rural Developmentand Fishing - ADPRDP


Doing Business in Emerging Markets Case Study: The Private Pensions System Supervisory Comission l 27

Case StudyThe Private Pensions System Supervisory ComissionSupervise and regulate the functioning of thePrivate Pensions System

The Private Pensions System Supervisory Commission(CSSPP) is the specialized and autonomous public authoritydedicated to supervise and regulate the functioning of thePrivate Pensions System. One of CSSP’s main communica-tion objectives was initiating and maintaining an ongoingand authentic dialogue with the citizens; and through this,ensuring very good communication by informing each andevery one of us on important matters regarding our privatepension plan.

Public Entities in an Ongoing, Authentic Dialogue with the Citizens

„Some of the Romanian state owned companies are making efforts in modernising andchanging the way they previously communicated: from the monologue approach 20years ago to a permanent lively authentic dialogue in the digital era. CSSP’s goal waskeeping in touch in a friendly open and trustworthy manner with us, the citizens. MEDIACONSULTA INTERNATIONAL provided support for CSSP’s efforts through communica-tion consultancy services focusing on explaining all the criteria citizens should take intoaccount when selecting a Private Pension Fund as well as making them aware of theirown rights and obligations derived from their Private Pension selection.”

Gheorghe Gavriloff, Public Services Communication Consultant, MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL


28 l Case Study: Institutul Cultural Roman

It is with this vision in mind that MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNA-TIONAL entered the Public Tender for the Romanian Cultural Institute(RCI), a public body founded in 2003 tasked with raising the profileof Romanian culture around the world. MEDIA CONSULTA INTER-NATIONAL has been assisting the following ICR branches to organizeand promote high-visibility cultural events adapted to suit the tastesof foreign audiences, while, at the same time ensuring that a balancebe maintained between their uniqueness and an international ap-peal: RCI London, RCI Istanbul, RCI Paris, RCI Venice,RCI Warsaw, RCI Stockholm, RCI Madrid,RCI Berlin.

United in Diversity, Romanian and European Values

“In the collective consciousness of Europe, there are surprising similarities – in Fundamental Values. However,Nations still value their traditional practices and beliefs. United in Diversity is the core of Europe and Romani-ans fully embrace the “European feeling” and are also aware of the value they bring, along with all the other na-tions, through their traditional and cultural values and beliefs.” (Mihai Craiu)

Case StudyInstitutul Cultural RomanSustaining Romanian Culturethroughout Europe


Doing Business in Emerging Markets Case Study: Institutul Cultural Roman l 29


Doing Business in Emerging Markets Case Study: Institutul Cultural Roman l 31

LONDON The Film Festival, REWIND; “Marin Sorescu” AwardsEvent; organizing and communicating the Poetry Work-shops; Debate about the Romanian philosopher Constan-tin Noica; Contemporary art exhibition: “From one thingto another”; Herta Muller dedicated evening with readingsperformed by Ion Bogdan Stefanescu.

STOCKHOLM Costin Soare performance at the Royal Music Academy;the 4th edition of “the Romanian Film Days”.

PARIS Organizing and promoting the Book Fair; Developing thecommunication materials for RCI Paris; Poetry and Theatreperformance evenings.

ISTANBUL The Tuyap Book Fair

MADRID Organizing and promoting the event: “The RomanianMovie before and after 1989”; Debates around the con-temporary Romanian Literature

WARSAW « The Polish Theatre reflected through the National Ro-manian Bank Archives”; Performance by Roxana Bribansoprano celebrating the Romanian National Day; Photoexhibition: “The Geography of Generosity – open spaceimages, Polish refugees: 1939-194

BERLIN « Titu Maiorescu » event; Live performance, RomanianPoems ; « Architecture and Totalitarianism » exhibition.

With the support of our consult-ants, RCI has also developed ex-tremely close ties with Romanianminorities in neighboring countriesas well as with the Romanian dias-pora. Together with MEDIA CON-SULTA INTERNATIONAL’sConsultants, RCI is facilitating theirefforts to preserve their own cul-tural identity, while living abroad.

In the last year, MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL as-sisted RCI’s branches in organizing and promoting culturalevents through the most important European cities such as:



Following the 2009 success and a pub-lic tender, the agency has also been ap-pointed the 2010 RCI consultant. In theautumn of 2010 MEDIA CONSULTAINTERNATIONAL assisted RCI to facil-itate the effort of Romanians fromabroad to preserve their own culturalidentity across the world.

This year’s communication efforts aretailored for five key European cities:Berlin, Istanbul, London, Paris andStockholm. Each of the five campaignshas been optimised following themedia and cultural consumption ofeach city: in Berlin the communicationcampaign is being deployed throughinternational publications, on linemedia, radio spots and Posters. For Is-tanbul a dynamic promo campaign hasbeen published in the Press, aired onlocal Radio and OOH in the city’s keycultural venues.

Meanwhile, the traditional communi-cation deployment in Paris, Londonand Stockholm is being enhancedthrough creative media activities acrosssome of the most crowded junctionsand metro stations.


Doing Business in Emerging Markets Case Study: The University of Bucharest l 33


Social Issues Alarm Signals

Sounding Social Alarm Signals is notan easy job. The signals have to be im-pact full, relevant, accurate and ide-ally, be accompanied by potentialsolutions or path to a better future.Sounding social alarms on culturalstereotypes is even harder, as they re-quire an incremental diffusion of cul-tural change from society’s core valuesup to the collective mind and collec-tive perception.

Case StudyThe University of BucharestCultural stereotypes change


34 l Case Study: The University of Bucharest

Raising awareness on the employmentequal rights advantages both for theemployers as well as for the employ-ees. Sounding the Alarm on employ-ment discrimination.

As part of its continuous effort of preparing professionals notonly from an Academic standpoint but more importantly forthe labour environment, The University of Bucharest de-cided to take a round trip initiative: not only train studentsto adapt to their future workplace, but furthermore, get ac-tively involved in building a more efficient, equal and un-prejudiced employment market.The campaign: “Equal rights for employment and in thework place” had as objectives raising awareness on the cul-tural stereotypes and prejudices related to employment dis-crimination. As it is usually the case with social campaigns the target wasformed not only from the vulnerable social categories (vul-nerable public segments such as: Roma people, women, dis-abled employees, people over 40, incurably ill people) butmostly those around them that are shaping and spreadingdiscriminative perceptions; the categories of people thathave the power to change and transform these culturalstereotypes in an empathic, empowering and more effectivework environment.Complementary, the awareness campaign had the objectiveof empowering the disadvantaged categories into knowingtheir rights and using their unique, specific value. MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL supported The Uni-versity of Bucharest with strategic and creative developmentboth on TV and Radio media to broadcast the message to anational qualitative audience. The TV Commercials devel-oped by the agency’s Creative Department were rankedamong the top 20 most creative and effective commercialsof 2011, according to www.addaddies.ro.

Key Romanian Markets

FinanceMediaMarketing & AdvertisingPR & EventsHuman ResourcesCounseling & LobbyEducationSales


Doing Business in Emerging Markets Romanian Key Markets l 35


36 l Romanian Key Markets: Finance

Financial Markets


Doing Business in Emerging Markets Case Study: ARDAF l 37

A successful long-term case study of a healthy domestic insurance company takenover by a strong leading CEE Investments Fund is the Romanian Insurance Company,ARDAF. Four years ago, when the partnership between ARDAF and MEDIA CON-SULTA INTERNATIONAL first started, ARDAF was one of the oldest and biggest Ro-manian insurance companies, with a strong business, but suffering from badmanagement, low level of trustworthiness and a damaged Corporate Image.

Together with the new Management Team, MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONALstarted a long-term process of re-positioning the business on the Insurance market,

re-branding the company and changing its corporate culture. This was a thor-ough and complex process involving all business structures (all ARDAF De-partments) at all levels, not only Management. Investors Relations and FinancialEfficiency Programs have been implemented, permanent Internal Communica-tion Programs have been developed and a long-term process of building stake-holders Relationship (Government, Trade Unions, Opinion Leaders and OpinionFormers) has been set in place. During the time that Marketing Strategies andNew Products and Services were being developed according to the BusinessStrategy (if during the previous years, the business was mainly focused on LifeInsurance and MTPL, new and more sophisticated products and services havebeen introduced with Demand Generation and Fidelity Programs for Casco Insur-ance, House Insurance, Health Insurance) a strong Branding and Communicationeffort deployed throughout a 10 month Communication Program.

Within one year, ARDAF became the 5th leading Insurance Company on theRomanian market (up five places and one of only two domestic companiesin the Top) and came 3rd in the Top Spontaneous Awareness Companies.

The Second Phase of ARDAF Repositioning Long Term plan included preparing thecompany for a strong international Partner take over, accustoming ARDAF’s businessculture with GENERALI PPF Holding’s Business Views, standards and requirementsand communicating the take-over under a strong, trustworthy umbrella. In 2008,following a research performed by Future Marketing, ARDAF had a 65% increasein Trustworthiness, as KPI.

MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL also supported ARDAF through the challeng-ing 2008 – 2009 times: new financial efficiency programs have been implemented,stronger cost control and operations efficiency has been set; two internal depart-ments have been re-organized to suit the new market’s challenges. At the same time,through its PR Consultants, MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL provided InternalCommunications support on delicate issues (such as Trade Unions communicationand negotiations), Stakeholders and Public Opinion Relations.

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Case StudyARDAFGaining market share on the insurance market. ARDAF, member of Generali PPF Holding.


38 l Case Study: ARDAF

“ARDAF Corporate”{ Integrated Campaign }

TV Spot “The Farmer” TV Spot “The Driver”

TV Spot “The Business Women” TV Spot “The Grandpa”



MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNA-TIONAL has implemented the re-branding process for ARDAF. TheRebranding was followed by an in-tegrated campaign around the newvalues of ARDAF: dynamism, dar-ing, trustworthiness, relaxation.



While the Corporate and PR departments were facing newmarket challenges (stakeholders’ pressure, trade unions pres-sure, and public opinion pressure) the Marketing and Ad-vertising Departments identified and managed to takeadvantage of several market opportunities: ARDAF wasready to take the lead and innovate products, services aswell as Marketing and Advertising. In the Spring of 2009, the first 1” TV Spots in Europe havebeen broadcast by ARDAF, to drive demand generation andsupport a CASCO and MTPL Competition.

Following very strong KPIs of the “IaneMA” Campaign, an-other powerful and Legendary Demand Generation cam-paign has been deployed through the winter of 2010. 100Renault Dacia cars have been offered as prize to set thecourse for the strongest promotion of the last 100 years notonly by giving away 100 new cars, but at the same timecommunicating with very deeply rooted cultural represen-tations of the Romanian Collective Memory: Historically,Dacia, the car’s brand was the first ancient Romanian Terri-tory, formed 70 years BC, from which the Romanian Nationderived. The 100 Dacii TV Spot features the most famousRomanian Historical movie (depicting the rise of Dacia ter-ritory and of the Romanian People) using the original cos-tumes and scenery and brought to life by one of the mostloved Romanian actors. In 2010, ARDAF became one of the strongest domestic in-surance companies, part of the most important Holding inCEE – GENERALI PPF Holding, with a trustworthy and in-novative image and ready to explore and set the course fornew business, marketing and communication opportunities:the Digital Marketing Department of MEDIA CONSULTAINTERNATIONAL along with the ARDAF team are now ex-ploring the deployment of the Marketing 2.0 Power withinthe Banking Retail segment.

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Source: GfK – InfoSysTarget: 25-55, urban, MHI, car owners / versus All National targetsUnivers Ardaf – 2,511,000Univers national – 20,365,000

Source: GfK - InfoSysReference period: 22 June-31July 2009Target: 25-55, urban, MHI, car owners / versus All urban targets

TV Campaign Reach Evolution “IaneMA” CampaignARDAF target reach, has exceeded the “all urban” targetreach on the first 9 reach points;Reach @3+ registered the highest penetration, with 4.1points more than “all urban”;Opportunity to see ARDAF spots: 33.7.

TV Campaign Reach Evolution “Legendary Demand Generation”ARDAF target reach, has exceeded “all national” targetreach;Reach @2+ and @8+ registered the highest penetration,with 4.5 points and respectively 4.8 points more than thenational target;Opportunity to see ARDAF spots: 14.4.



OBJECTIVES

Reach:Reach @1+: 76,8%Reach @3+: 67,7%Opportunity to see:OTS: minimum 33,5Minimum TRP’s:TRP’s: 2.577 Minimized target group CPP:TCPP: 31,7 euroCompetitive Objectives:Maintaining a challenging position in the categoryHigh visibility of ARDAF communication campaign

RESULTS

Reach:Reach @1+: 78.1% Reach @3+: 70,6%Opportunity to see:OTS: 33.7Delivered TRP’s:TRP’s: 2.632Minimized target group CPP:TCPP: 31,4 euroCompetitive Objectives:1-st in the category on the insurance marketHigh visibility of ARDAF communication campaign

TV STATION SELECTION CRITERIA

Main TV Channels(22% from total ARDAF campaign insertions)- TV Channels with high audience ratings- Build quickly campaign reach

News Channels (29% from total ARDAF campaign insertions)- Good audience ratings & low duplications withmain channels- Maximize Reach

Niche Channels(49% from total ARDAF campaign insertions)- High affinity among target group- Increased frequency

“IaneMA”{ TV Campaign }

One and three secondTV spots campaign,

endorsed by the well-known Romanian artists:

Casa Locco



“Legendary Demand Generation”{ TV Campaign }

100 Dacia Renaultprizes for ARDAFclients. Thebiggest promo-tion in the industry

OBJECTIVES

Insertions planned:3,411 insertionsReach:Reach @1+: 80,0%Reach @3+: 70,0%Opportunity to see:OTS: minimum 10,0Competitive Objectives:Maintaining a challenging position in the category

RESULTS

Insertions aired:2,763 insertionsReach:Reach @1+: 87.9% Reach @3+: 73,8%Opportunity to see:OTS: 14.4Competitive Objectives:Maintaining a challenging position in the categoryHigh visibility of ARDAF communication campaign

Main TV Channels (33% from total ARDAFcampaign insertions) = 902 insertions- TV Channels with high audience ratings- Build quickly campaign reach

News Channels (23% from total ARDAF campaign insertions) = 633 insertions- Good audience ratings & low duplicationswith main channels- Maximize Reach

Niche Channels (44% from total ARDAFcampaign insertions) = 1228 insertions- High affinity among target group- Increased frequency

TV STATION SELECTION CRITERIA


44 l Key Romanian Markets: Media


The Romanian Media Landscape is still characterized by arather low level of marketing investments and a significantmargin in negotiating discounts, more so for TV and print ad-vertising. Romanians love TV and are still newspaper con-sumers, even though the Internet’s penetration is high andon-line publications’ appeal continues to grow. Indeed, On-line is becoming the new star in terms of media consumptionand investments, with an almost 11% expected growth for2012 (where the global market is expected to grow 5%), butit still remains a small piece of the big pie; even though On-line ad investments are expected to grow significantly in 2012.TV is still the main media channel since it’s considered theless expensive option of entertainment; TV advertising invest-ment grew 5 – 7 % in Q1 of 2012, (Source: Deloitte – Tech-nology, Media and Telecommunication Predictions, 2012). Interms of Printed media Romanians have a strong preferencetowards newspapers. The best results are ranked in by tabloidsand sports newspapers, however the big generalists newspa-pers are still successfully maintaining readership.The success of economic newspapers and ratings growth ofniche TV channels in the past years are interesting trends tofollow. It’s true however that Online content is attracting moreand more of the Printed media readers, but printed mediastands its ground relying especially on the readers aged over30.

Media has been the first area of expertise for MEDIA CON-SULTA INTERNATIONAL. We have been operating as a mediacompany since 2003. We value having grown together withone of the most powerful media trusts in Romania. Therefore,we have first developed our media skills in practice and by

doing business with all media vehicles (television, newspa-pers, radio, magazines, as well as new media) shoulder toshoulder with the best people on the market. That is how wecame to know the media business from both sides: the edito-rial focus as well as advertising investments objectives. Weare now partners with all the main media channels. At thesame time, we have evolved into a strong, reliable, fully fea-tured business consultancy for national companies as well asfor foreign investors, supporting them in achieving their busi-ness goals. Our development is solid, as it was made one stepat a time. We dedicate focus, effort and care to every newservice added to MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL Portfolio.

Media

The Romanian Media Market is one of the most dynamic in Europe


Doing Business in Emerging Markets Key Romanian Markets: Media l 45

One of the most important resources in emerging markets is based on People: visionary,talented people, always waiting for the next challenge to take them beyond their limits.

Mihai Craiu, CEO MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL

For the past 20 years Mihai Craiu orchestrated the launch and development ofsome of the most important Media Channels of the Romanian market. He heldvarious Editorial, PR, Sales and Management positions. Thus his style of man-agement reconciles both the editorial and commercial sides of the media busi-ness and makes the most out of this convergence. He was the BusinessDeveloper for the main TV channels: PRO TV, Antena 1, Antena 3, and Antena1 Constanta. Also, during 2001 – 2008 as General Manager, Mihai Craiu or-chestrated (along with the Editorial Management and the newspaper’s team) thepositioning of Jurnalul National as Number 1 on the daily quality newspapersmarket. In 2004 he was one of the three founders of the Business MagazineSaptamana Financiara; which he transformed (as General Manager and Share-holder) into the Business Press market leader dethroning the previous 15 yearsold leader, Capital. He was the first to innovate within the media industry andturn the crisis upside down. In 2009, a year when all media producers werefacing the peak of the financial crisis Mihai Craiu launched Realitatea BarterDeals. Following its success Media Sales for REALITATEA TV and Romantica TVhave been outsourced to MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL (the full servicebusiness consultancy firm that Mihai Craiu founded seven years ago). Innova-tion, challenging the market and swimming against the current when visiondictates, are part of his DNA: 2011 was a time when all media producerslooked mostly to protect their investment and felt threatened by the uncertaineconomic times, coupled with the fast pace of technological development. YetMihai Craiu reframed the industry, by founding two more challenging mediaproducts: Realitatea Constanta (the main territorial TV channel in Dobrogea)and the Television School ‘Tudor Vornicu’, a New Media Lab at the forefront offusion journalism, with focus on Social TV.


46 l The Digitally Empowered Social TV

The Digitally Empowered Social TV

Forming the first generations of TV pro-fessionals for the media products han-dled by the agency is MEDIACONSULTA INTERNATIONAL ‘S mainobjective for TvF. The school is prepar-ing well rounded media specialists:digital natives with strong traditionalmedia background. Media consump-tion and particularly the Television in-dustry have been entirely redefined bythe fast pace of technological innova-tions.The web is impacting our most per-sonal daily activities. Media consump-tion and particularly TV has beencompletely redefined by the technolog-ical fast pace innovations. As an active player on the RomanianTV market, MEDIA CONSULTA INTER-NATIONAL believes in a new TV busi-ness model: The Digitally empoweredSocial TV. Being at the forefront ofmedia transformations and the newmedia business model, the need formedia professionals for the post digitalworld is higher and higher. Thus TvF es-timates a market demand of around600 – 900 students per year.MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONALowns 75% of TvF with an initial invest-ment of 500 000 EUR, out of which220 000 equipping the school with thenewest technology and the remainderinvested in Marketing Services.

If I were to give the New Media elites in our country just one piece of advice, that wouldbe to follow the inspiring media leader Waren Buffet’s advice: “Invest in yourselves”. It isthe reason for which we focused our efforts to have the best resources at the Social Televi-sion School, best technical equipment and best professional on the market. It was ouraim to design a learning and media innovation environment and my only advice to thestudents would be: make the most out of all these resources, invest in yourselves.


Case StudyScoala de Televiziune Tudor Vornicu(TvF)Media Innovation


Doing Business in Emerging Markets The Digitally Empowered Social TV l 47


48 l Case Study: Realitatea de Constanta

I believe in the strong touristic and business potential ofthe Southern Region of Romania.


Case StudyRealitatea de ConstantaRegional socio-economical news to foster the

growth of Dobrogea region.

REALITATEA TV CONSTANTA fulfils a need in the Southern Region of Romaniafor a niche TV channel: the News, Analysis and Business Information Television.“I believe in the strong touristic and business potential of the Southern Region ofRomania and I know that at the present time news and analysis programmingwere supplied by the general content TV channels. However, there is an importantneed on the market for a dedicated News Television” (Mihai Craiu)

The TV Channel is equipped with the latest British technology and it is also thefirst local channel to produce local TV Debates and Shows. The Media Sales serv-ices are managed by MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL‘s Sales Division andprovide an estimated 150 000 EUR per year income.

REALITATEA TV CONSTANTA joins theother Media business lines launched byMihai Craiu to enhance the holistic ap-proach of MEDIA CONSULTA INTER-NATIONAL’s Services at the forefront ofthe Media market: The Media Sales De-partment, the Social TV school (TVF),the Barters Bank (RMBD).


Doing Business in Emerging Markets

The Rise and Fall of media products

In 2005, Mihai Craiu launched the Business Magazine, Sap-tamana Financiara, on a highly clustered business publica-tions market with a dominant 10 years powerful leader anda tight and strong battle between numbers two and three.“No one believed that we will survive on the market, not tomention we would ever become number one, but in thiskind of business, the rule is never say never. We understoodthat the best editorial team on the market, best working con-ditions, thoroughness and high professionalism weremandatory but no longer a differentiator on such a com-petitive market. They needed the support of a winning Mar-keting and Sales Model and that’s what we focused ontogether with Gabriela Vranceanu Firea, the Editorial Di-rector. We developed a 360° Marketing approach, de-ployed through: Events featuring the Business and Socio– Economic Arena; branded supplementary items distrib-uted alongside the magazine (such as the National Geo-graphic CD series; the History’s Secrets DVD Series;Socio Economic branded books). In time, these brandedsupplementary items became a brand extension, being

commercialized under the SFin brand.” (Mihai Craiu)

Saptamana Financiara surpassed the market leader in lessthan two years and continued the growth. The magazinepeaked when the ex President of United States Bill Clinton,accepted Sfin’s invitation to come and launch the Romanianversion of his autobiography, “My Life”. Sfin was the firstBusiness Magazine to treat its reader with complementaryeditorial products and even to launch a brand extensionline.

Case StudySaptamana Financiara

Launching and building the leading innovative

Romanian Business Magazine on a highly

competitive and clustered market.

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Turning The Crisis Upside down - The BarterBank

Realitatea Media Barter Deals (RMBD) is the first RomanianBarters Bank and the most dynamic Romanian media struc-ture; RMBD was set-up by Mihai Craiu together with one ofthe most powerful Romanian media holdings, REALITATEACATAVENCU, in order to transform the financial crisisthreats (lack of media investments) into a relevant opportu-nity and put good use of the new market needs (the need ofmedia consumption among Advertisers, with different, easierpayment possibilities). RMBD managed investments forclients within the following fields: Auto, FMCG, Retail Bank-ing, and Insurance. Mihai Craiu and Sorin Ovidiu Vantu areRMBD’s shareholders with equal participation: 50% - 50%and owns exclusivity for the barter activities of REALITATEACATAVENCU Media Group.

Case StudyRealitatea Media Barter Deals

The implementation of the first Barter Bank from Romania.

A partnership betwwen MEDIACONSULTA INTERNATIONAL

and REALITATEA CATAVENCU Media Group.

Case Study: Saptamana Financiara l 49


50 l Case Study: Saptamana Financiara


Doing Business in Emerging Markets Case Study: Saptamana Financiara l 51

At the same time, along with the business magazine, we de-veloped a weekly business TV show with the same namepresented by Gabriela Vranceanu Firea. The two mediaproducts would complete and support each other from aneditorial and IMC perspective. They both benefited from astrong, relevant and aggressive communication campaign.Saptamana Financiara printed magazine and Sfin TV be-came the standard for the Romanian business media, witha highly professional editorial approach, high relevance forthe public opinion and strong leadership pedigree.

Besides the Editorial and Marketing efforts, the two mediaproducts have been strongly supported by a tailored SalesStrategy. For the first time in Romania, Advertising Clientswere no longer buying advertisement sqm, but IntegratedCommunication Consultancy: Saptamana Financiara SalesTeam was trained to provide long term communication sup-port and help the Clients and Agencies deploy their brandcommunication through complementary channels withstrong editorial affinity under Saptamana Financiara um-brella: Events, Seminars and Business Conferences, SfinBranded Products, Supplements. Mihai Craiu orchestratedthe Marketing and Sales Architecture through which Sapta-mana Financiara and Sfin TV became the reference pointamong the Romanian Business Press.

In 2008, Mihai Craiu decided to quit his active positionwithin the Operational Management of Saptamana Finan-ciara, keeping only his 22% shares. Following the new man-agement’s decision to break the legacy of the successfulBusiness Model Mihai Craiu had built, 2009 was the firstyear from its set-up when the publication registered financiallosses.

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“Building a successful business model formedia products especially on an emergingmarket with such Media Consumption as Romania required a tailored solution, a hugelevel of experience, vision and a bold atti-tude. Unfortunately it simply doesn’t workwith safe, verified recipes!” (Mihai Craiu)


52 l Case Study: Jurnalul National

Mihai Craiu joined Jurnalul National in 2001 as GeneralManager. It’s been his main challenge to make Jurnalul Na-tional (on the fifth position at the time) the Number one Ro-manian newspaper (among quality press). “Jurnalul Nationalwas a heart ache, a back pain and a continuous challenge!Together with Marius Tuca, the Editorial Manager we wantedto make it the newspaper Romanians and Romanian cultureidentify with. The most Influential, Trustworthy and Loved.We were permanently thinking how to attract more readerswhile keeping our guiding values, so we exploited everychance we had. For example when Luciano Pavarotti died Iknew there was something we had to do so I called SonyMusic. We branded Pavarotti's CD and issued a special edi-tion, distributed for our readers only.

Case StudyJurnalul National

Becoming a reference point of Romanian

Culture.

A heart ache, a back pain and a continuous challenge

“In the summer of 2005, when the SNA (The National Bu-reau of Readership Auditing) results clearly stated that wehad reached 1 Million readers, we knew it was not the fin-ish line at all; it was just another beginning of anotherheart ache, another back pain. We knew we had now aneven bigger challenge: to permanently meet the expecta-tion of those 1 Million readers and even always exceedthem.” (Mihai Craiu).

“At that time, Jurnalul National had become a referencepoint for Romanian culture; people were finding them-selves in its pages more than in any other newspaper;there was a daily anticipation for Jurnalul National and itwas indeed, the publication that created the Tomorrow,each evening, in the Intact, Mega Press, Cluj and Moni-torul Printing houses. I learned a lot about Romanian cul-ture through Jurnalul National and I learned a lot aboutmy consumers through its pages.” (Boris Schnider, Managing Director, ASIROM).

“For the Sales Department I created a team of elite de-voted professionals striving every day to create, generateand manage profit for the newspaper. We were continu-ously brainstorming new ideas to offer added values to ouradvertising clients. We were working closely with the edi-torial teams to offer relevance and consistency with adver-tising messages, while keeping our editorial values. It ishow we developed the first newspaper’s supplement: Jur-nalul de Colectie” (Mihai Craiu)

“When first issued, Jurnalul de Colectie was a strong cul-tural vehicle featuring the most important and interestingsubjects within the Romanian arts, culture, and socio – po-litical movements across the entire country. For the firsttime after the Communist period, it was like the entirecountry was breathing in the same rhythm, same thought,same culture, every Monday.” (Ioan Niculae, PresidentINTERAGRO).

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Doing Business in Emerging Markets Case Study: Jurnalul National l 53

“The events organized byJurnalul National at theRomanian Athenaeum,Casa Capsa or at the Ro-

manian Theatre were in a class oftheir own and at the same time werevery representative for the Romanianculture and spirit. It was always apleasure to be there and being a guestwould mean you are in the books, onthe Romanian business market.”(Nicolas Buzoianu, Chairman, Energy Holding)

“The Supplements were indeed avery good Sales Tool and I decided tocreate a dedicated Supplement De-partment within the newspaper. This al-lowed us to issue one supplement a dayand keep the same editorial high quality.The variety of the supplements trans-formed the newspaper into an extremely powerful editorialand advertising tool. But we didn’t want to stop here. We felt there was more bothin terms of Editorial as well as Advertising potential. Togetherwith the supplements and the branded CD which werehighly appreciated as added value by our readers, we started

to develop specific events which also be-came channels to culturally promote theRomanian spirit of that time. We man-aged to bring back to life the old, tradi-tional values and marry them with themodern views of a newly Capitalist Ro-mania.” (Mihai Craiu)

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54 l Case Study: Jurnalul National


Doing Business in Emerging Markets Case Study: National Geographic TV Channel l 55

To compete among the best, where we belong

“We collaborated with MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNA-TIONAL in a very creative manner for our Sales Department.Mihai Craiu convinced us he will bring in Advertising clientsand as we were a TV station at the beginning of the road welooked for partners that could introduce us to this market.There were numerous situations in which we talked aboutthe ideal viewers profile for our TV Station and MEDIACONSULTA INTERNATIONAL was a real help and showedus the means to do this so that we develop the National Ge-ographic Channel as it was in mature countries. We practi-cally started this business with the help of MEDIACONSULTA INTERNATIONAL, as Mihai Craiu knew themedia and advertising market very well. National Geo-graphic now gained its place among the best TV Stations inRomania and is now directly competing with DiscoveryChannel (even if we entered this market three years later).We appreciate MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL’s sup-port to catch up with the best TV Stations and now to evencompete with them.” (Radu Petric, Official representativeof NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC in Romania)

Case StudyNational Geographic TV

Setting up National Geographic in Romania

three years later than its main competitor and

regaining well deserved market share


56 l Marketing & Advertising


Marketing and Advertising

A young and competitive market, with very well trained pro-fessionals. The Advertiser is still the most important coun-sellor of Romanian enterprises. Even though the field washit by recent economic events, once the economy startsgrowing it is one of the main businesses to regain growth.Advertising Services in Romania are very complex andtrained to take responsibility for specific KPIs; In RomaniaAdvertising is also responsible to certain extents for: Com-mercial Research & NPD, Product Development, and Prod-uct Design.During the crisis years, many small and medium size do-mestic agencies closed their doors, leaving their recoveringClients in search for new consultants. Only the strong havemanaged to survive but they “play” in a stronger more bal-

anced environment. “The financial crisis did bring profit aswell as profit! It also saved us from our futile arrogance andgave full rights to relevance and authenticity” states MihaiCraiu, CEO MEDIA CONSULTA IN TERNATIONAL Together with his team of consultants, Mihai Craiu managedto keep the firm among the Top Five Independent manage-ment consulting firms, with a stable 18% profit marginthrough the past six years. Since 2008, MEDIA CONSULTAINTERNATIONAL has been certified under the ISO 9001Quality Management System. The firm is part of the Interna-tional Advertising Agencies Association in Romania (IAAARomania) and of the Romanian Association for AudienceMeasurement (ARMA).


Doing Business in Emerging Markets Case Study: Realitatea Catavencu & Adeplast l 57

Case StudyADEPLAST

Creative solutions to entering

the public’s collective culture.

Does SEX Still Sell?

Part of the “pain and gain” of doing business in emergingmarkets is the opportunity to permanently challenge and re-invent the rules of the game. MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNA-TIONAL has the privilege of smart clients (domestic as wellas international) who had the courage of taking risks, chal-lenging the status-quo, all these efforts serving the businessgrowth objectives. ADEPLAST is one of the domestic clientswith business in the DIY field (decorative dye producer ori-ented mostly towards for the B2C, DIY domestic market)who trusted MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL Businessand Creative Consultants with the mission of generating highROI and share of voice through low share of spending, butagreed to an unorthodox, atypical approach as long as itserved the brand equity and the business.

ADEPLAST managed to enter the collective conscience ofits specific target audience through a Creative approach

from “an Advertising Middle Age” as we like to callit. Due to the high target affinity for the concept,ADEPLAST had during the fall of 2009 a 20% salesincrease on a market that contracted more than40%. At the same time, the level of Buzz generated

by the smart and witty approach anduse of a SEXY concept reached envyingfigures (235 000 views for the on-lineTV spot in the first week, only); socialnetworks free coverage; ethical, socialand advertising blogs and publicationscoverage due to the controversial subjectand the smart authentic way it has beenbrought to life within ADEPLAST Cam-paign.


58 l Case Study: Adeplast


Doing Business in Emerging Markets Case Study: ROVERE MOBILI l 59

Case StudyROVERE MOBILI

An important part of the Romanian

„cocooning”, „homing” trend.

Rediscovering the feeling of HOME

If „less as more” is the new trend inhome decor, then the new luxury isready to rediscover the feeling of„Home” for each and every one of us.In Romania, MEDIA CONSULTA IN-TERNATIONAL had as a communica-tion objective to bring the furniture andhome deco brand, ROVERE insideeach home. Through challenging eco-nomic times and with the help of theagency creative teams, ROVERE dis-posed of all sophisticated, unnecessar-ily “bling” perception of luxury to bringus the new, relevant feeling of home.With clear fine lines, minimalistic de-sign, strong but warm colours, ROVEREreinvented itself as an important piecein the Romanian „cocooning”, „hom-ing” trend.

MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONALdeveloped for ROVERE two comple-mentary video packs: the classical TVspots featuring the „new home” atmos-phere, combined with innovative online video, bringing the style, the de-sign, and the brand’s universe closer toits Romanian public and inviting themfor a visit on-line, on the website, RO-VERE’s virtual home or in every Ro-manian store.


60 l Case Study: LA FANTANA

Case StudyLa Fantana

The main watercooler provider in

Romania and Serbia.

La Fântâna is the main water coolerprovider in Romania and Serbia cover-ing both the private as well as the cor-porate markets with corporate partnerclients such as: Ardaf, BNR, DHL, INGGroup, Medicover, Orange România,and Oracle.

„As one of the vital elements for ourwellbeing, water is being treated withdedication and care by La Fântâna.That is the reason for which this waterhelps us maintain our physical har-mony and balance while enhancingour wellbeing either at home or at theoffice. The act of drinking one’s glass ofwater should always be a small per-sonal ritual; La Fântâna takes care andjoins you in performing this daily rit-ual.” Explains Ana Maria Gate, Market-ing Manager La Fântâna România.

MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONALprovided La Fântâna with media plan-ning and buying services in Print andOnline by teaming up with one of themost relevant, loved and trustworthywellbeing and lifestyle Romanianchannels in order to remind the con-sumers and everyone of us about LaFântâna’s properties.

Wellbeing follows everywhere: at home and in the office


Doing Business in Emerging Markets Case Study: APA CRAIULUI l 61


Carrying Life's essence within

Case StudyAPA CRAIULUI

Health and vitality

of mineral water.

“When working with a product that carriesthe feeling of wellbeing within, the adver-tising role is smaller, but harder: onedoesn’t need to add advertising features tothe product, but the challenge is being ableto catalyze the product’s own beneficialfeatures; being able to capture the essence,the source and bringing it in front of thepublic to test it and have the last word.”

Dinu Tarnovan, Wellbeing Creative Consultant

MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL

“Apa Craiului was a product carryinghealth and wellbeing within, from thesource. Just like our client captures thispure water and brings it to refresh ourhomes, we were challenged to capture itspure message gathered and brought to usfrom Piatra Craiului, its mountain place ofbirth, and share it with the Romanian pub-lic. We’ve chosen to communicate thiswater during the hot summer days and re-mind each and every one of us of the revi-talising source which lays in our Romanianmountain springs: health and vitality inevery drop”.

Dinu Tarnovan, Wellbeing Creative Consultant

MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL

PR and EventsEvents have their very important place in emerging marketsas they are the main opportunity for networking, buildingand maintaining Personal Relationships, generating newideas and concepts. In a business environment highly de-pended of the human factors with a high context culturesuch as the Romanian one, attending events is the heart ofyour business and a Partner trained to develop such storytelling events is priceless. In Emerging Markets even PRevents need an “editorial” relevant, interesting side. The artof creating and generating happenings to promote your busi-ness objectives is at high rank here.

The lobby instruments most frequently used in fast movingmarkets are: research and surveys to present solid cases andarguments directly to decision makers; educational and in-formative events during which decision makers are pre-sented and fully familiarized with the results; public debates;legal monitoring and counselling.

According to a GFK Romania survey (January, 2012), NGOsare the main actors on the Romanian lobbying scene. Theyare followed by multinationals, and only 4% are specializedlobby companies that act in the name of specific clients.Mihai Craiu is one of the most effective international anddomestic lobbyist and amongst the most active militants forthe initiative of regulating the lobby activity in Romania.Throughout his career he supported this activity both by or-ganizing international events (Bill Clinton in Romania;Mikhail Gorbachev, in Romania; Viscount Etienne D’Avi-gnon and Richard Haas in Romania) as well as domesticevents (such as eGovernment, a two days Davos of Commu-nication and Technology with the attendance of H.E. Mr. Tra-ian Basescu, President of Romania).

International LobbySupporting the initiative of regulating the Lobby Activity in Romania


62 l International Lobby, PR & Events


Doing Business in Emerging Markets Counseling & Lobby l 63

In Romania the lobby activity was not so well developed,partially because the public saw it for many years as a legalumbrella to bribery. But the mentality started to change. TheRomanian state’s political inconsistency, characterizedthrough perpetual law changes, created an environment forlobby to grow. Many international companies who openeda business in Romania found precious help in the Romanianlobbyists, unfortunately very few. As a surrogate the counselling and lawyer firms have takena lot of the lobbyists attributes. The lobbyists are pricelesswhen you need to deal directly with the Romanian state, be-cause of its complex and heavy bureaucratic structure. One of the most active militants for the Lobby Activity onthe Romanian market through the past 15 years is MihaiCraiu. Within MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL MihaiCraiu was involved and generated the most important PRand Lobby Events in Romania; he published several articlessupporting the lobby activity and presented all over theworld case studies where smart, wise lobby can support theinterest of the public opinion.

For Counselling activities, MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNA-TIONAL also partners with international firms, specializedin programs and projects financed by international or bilat-eral bodies developed on the Romanian or CEE Markets.BUSINESS & STRATEGIES IN EUROPE S.A. (B&S Europe) issuch a consulting partner based in Brussels since 1991which provides technical assistance services to companies,public organizations and institutions, with main clients suchas: Asian Development Bank (Philippines), EuropeAid Co-operation Office (Turkey, Congo, Eritrea), European Com-mission.

The chart below is an overview of the projects developedtogether with B&S Europe

Counseling & Lobby

Primary Sector

Source: B&S Europe


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Placing Romania on themap of one of the mostimportant geo-political international groups:Bilderberg

“During challenging times, it is always advisable to bringin experts that can shine a different light on the situation.Head in the sand, nervously worrying about the future, insuch times, is never useful. On the contrary, trying to un-derstand and encompass different people’s expertise to

gain a wider, global view on your potential future optionsis the successful approach.”

Mihai Craiu


Doing Business in Emerging Markets PR & Events l 65

The European Union after the sovereign debt crisis

Case StudyINTERNATIONAL LOBBY

“The European Union after the sovereign debt crisis”,

Conference. Bucharest, 14.10.2011

October 14th, 2011 was a unique momentin Eastern Europe: Two of the most influen-tial and powerful global geo-political lea -ders, Viscount Etienne Davignon, (Presidentof Bilderberg Group) and Mr. Richard Haas,(President of the Council of Foreign Rela-tion)s) have attended the conference: ‘TheEuropean Union after the sovereign debtcrisis.’ hosted by the Romanian NationalBank.

Viscount Etienne Davignonand Mr. Richard Haas haveaccepted to hold the confer-ence invited by Mihai Craiu(representing MEDIA CON-SULTA INTERNATIONAL)together with the Romaniannewspaper Puterea and theRomanian News channelRealitatea TV.


66 l PR & Events

International personalities answering our invitation

After Bill Clinton (2007), Mihail Gorbaciov visitsBucharest in 2010 for themost spectacular newspa-per launch in Romania

20 years after the fall of Communism, Mihail Gorbaciov, theleader of the ex-USSR paid a one day visit to Bucharest onApril 14th 2010 to attend the launch of the daily newspaper,PUTEREA (The Power). The event has been organized byMihai Craiu (and the PR team of MEDIA CONSULTA INTER-NATIONAL) along with McCann Erickson at the DiplomaticClub in Bucharest and it was ranked by the public opinionas “the most spectacular newspaper launch” with three exPresidents attending as guests of honour: Mihail Gorbaciov,Ion Iliescu, Emil Constantinescu and other Top 300 Roman-ian personalities socializing during the event.

The first edition of the newspaper has been brought by hel-icopter and handed directly to Mihai Gorbaciov right on thelanding lawn. The large number of public figures, the elegantenvironment enhanced by subtle violin chamber music andgastronomic delights as well as the occasion being the firsttime in Romania when three ex state presidents were attend-ing such an event made it by far the most successful medialaunch in Romania.PUTEREA is an international project started by a foreign in-vested fund, developed by a London media group and lo-cally managed. It has been positioned as a niche publicationfocusing on politico-economical business investigations andanalysis.

“Following the successfullaunch, MEDIA CONSULTA IN-

TERNATIONAL is discussingwith shareholders potential fur-

ther support with Marketingand Sales consulting services

for the newly started publication.” Mihai Craiu


Doing Business in Emerging Markets PR & Events l 67

Traian Basescu, President of Romania openingthe 2010 edition of the eGovernment ForumThe 2010 Edition of the eGovernment Forum hosted over300 attendees at the Marriott Grand Hotel Bucharest, duringApril 12 – 13th and featured eGovernment as main issue,with focus on developing and enhancing the efficiency ofthe Public Services, such as: eHealth, ePublic Finance,eLearning, ePublic Tenders. As key opening speakers, theevent hosted: His Excellency, Mr. Emil Boc Prime-Ministerof Romania, Mr. Gabriel Sandu Minister - Ministry of Com-munications and Information Society, Mr. Christian RuppFederal Executive Secretary eGovernment Austria, togetherwith speakers and lecturers from fields such as: public serv-ices, public administration, IT&C, commercial institutions(telecommunications, IT&C, Finance, Business consultancy,Health), R&D representatives, Romanian and Foreign Aca-demic Lecturers. The first day of the event featured general and main interestsubjects such as: On line Government Services; Citizen Re-lationship Management; Public Sector Reforms in theWeb2.0 Era; IT&C in European Governance and PublicServices; Government to Business. The second day has beendedicated to workshops, in depth case study and analysiswhere attendants had the chance to exchange experience,set future business and co-operation relations and discusspotential further eGovernment projects.For the past 17 years, eGovernment Forum has been thethink tank on Convergence, Technology, Innovation andDigital Economy.

"The benefits of this type of Government(eGovernment) apply for all Romaniansocio - economic actors: companies arenow able to easily pay their bills, state au-thorities can control the procurement betterand apply the process faster and moretransparently. Within this context, I recom-mend and raise a flag towards the stateowned companies to use the electronictenders system for all the public tendersthey are deploying.“ stated His Excellency,Mr. Traian Basescu, President of Romaniaduring the opening session of the eGovern-ment Forum, special guest at the event byMedia Consulta International and Comput-erLand.

“My dear friends, First of all, I take this opportunity to thank

you for the invitation to the RomanianeGovernment Forum from today. Really, itwas a well organised event, also amplifiedby the presence of H.E. Mr Traian Basescu,President of Romania. Please receive my

congratulations on this event and I wish you and your team best of luck

in the future business.” Your sincerely,

Yacub Yousif ALHOSANIAmbassador of UAE to Romania

follow in the next page


68 l PR & Events

Since 1992 the eGovernment Forum brings together over300 high level key actors of the Information & Communi-cation Society, from all over the world. Cross disciplinarypeople gathered together for two days in an effort of captur-ing the collective intelligence (trends, challenges, and po-tential solutions) in IT & C, technological empowerment anddigital economy. During the past years, eGovernment Forumhas been perceived as: A two days "Davos of Communica-tion and Technology".• provides an arena for presenting and debating differentpoints of view• presents a great opportunity for participants to developimaginative solutions together during both formal and infor-mal face to face discussions as well as after the Forumthrough electronic networking• enables its participants to keep abreast with the latest de-velopments in technology, regulation, markets and applica-tions from the fields of communications and broadcastingAn annual High-Profile International & Independent Event• dedicated to Business, Policy, and Civil society issues• influences the successful evolution of the Information So-cietyThe eGovernment Forum 2010 has been supported and or-ganized by a consortium formed of MEDIA CONSULTA IN-TERNATIONAL / Computerland and headed by Mihai Craiu(PDG MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNATIONAL)) together withNicolae Badea(President, Computerland).

Romanian Successful BrandsRomanian brands and products are ambassadors whichspeak to the entire world on our behalf. In order for othersto understand, value and respect us, we must first gain creditthrough our own work and accomplishments. By showingappreciation for Romanian products, we respect our ownwork.That is why Successful Romanian Brands was an event aim-ing to promote our work, first within our own country andthen to the rest of the world. The event was organized inpartnership with Saptamana Financiara in the fall of 2006,Romania’s strongest weekly business magazine. The Sapta-mana Financiara specialists, along with a jury formed by topRomanian and foreign communicators choose the most Suc-cessful Romanian Brands, throughout Romania’s marketinghistory. MARCI ROMÂNESTI DE SUCCES was a successfulinitiative of underlying towards the Public Opinion of ourstrongest inherited brands; a journalistic initiative of Sapta-mana Financiara magazine supported by MEDIA CON-SULTA INTERNATIONAL with the long term aim ofgenerating Romanian Values and becoming a strong com-munication channel for the brand: Romania. Nowadays, four years after, MEDIA CONSULTA INTERNA-TIONAL is still loyal to that long-term goal: this publicationis also part of our efforts of bringing Romania and the Ro-manian Business Environment closer to International, For-eign Investors.

Romanian Values, European Values The sociological research conducted by the firm at the requestof CES (the Centre for European Studies) and presented by Ms.Nemes Elena Vintila on behalf of the MEDIA CONSULTAINTERNATIONAL / Computerland Consortium at Bonn Euro-pean Congress where Mihai Craiu also attended as guest of theEuropean Peoples’ Party (EPP) in the fall of 2009, is part of ourlong term “personal” goal. Promoting Romanian values is partof our firm’s DNA and will always remain our Mission State-ment.

Chicago's Taste of RomaniaThe Festival “Chicago’s taste of Romania” (Chicago, August2009), brought to the public’s interest the only festival whereRomanian culture and traditions deploys on American land.“Chicago’s Taste of Romania” is a caravan of Romanian con-temporary civilization, bringing an important contributionto the worldwide perception of our Romanian brand by pro-moting elements of the local culture: history, traditions,ideas and artistic movements. All of this taking place thou-sands of miles away from home, for 18 years in a row.Participants come from all over USA, diplomats, Romaniancommunity leaders, Romanian Orthodox church leaders,artists, business people, congressmen and officials from theChicago Town Hal

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