Sponsor 
GLOBAL – NOVEMBER 2011: The Eurobest Advertising Festival presents the Advertiser of the Year Award to advertisers born out of Europe who have distinguished themselves for inspiring innovative marketing of their products and who embrace and encourage the creative work produced by their agencies. Previous recipients of the Eurobest Advertiser of the Year Award are IKEA (2010) and Guinness (2009).
In this year’s festival from November 28 to 30 in Lisbon, Eurobest honors Kandia Dulce, one of the most important confectionary companies in Romania, which launched the very courageous ‘American Rom’ campaign.
Manufactured by Kandia Dulce, ROM, is a traditional chocolate bar wrapped in the national flag that all Romanians grew up with. Having an aging and nostalgic consumer base, the ROM bar was losing ground with the young generation who preferred cool international brands.
Working with their agency McCann Erickson Bucharest, Kandia Dulce decided to challenge young Romanian´s national ego by replacing ROM´s packaging with an American version. The first phase of the campaign saw the newly US-branded ROM bar being widely promoted in stores across the country, on billboards, on the campaign´s microsite and Facebook page. The brand change caused outrage across the nation with consumers´ reaction being widely debated and reported.
As Romanian patriotism peaked, Kandia Dulce launched the second phase of the campaign which saw, overnight, the US-branded wrapping being replaced once again by the national flag and all communications and promotions reverting to the original Romanian style design. The stunt created immense PR and reporting across all national media.
"Kandia Dulce took a great risk and were extremely brave in the way that they re-launched Romania’s favourite chocolate bar ROM. Not only did their achievements supersede their expectations with increased brand awareness and sales in the activated stores, but it also caught the attention of the nation awakening national pride. It´s great to see a traditional brand challenge consumers in such an imaginative way. We are proud to present them with The Advertiser of the Year accolade at Eurobest this year, an honor well deserved," said Philip Thomas, Festival CEO.
The award will be presented to Kandia Dulce´s Elena Petrea, Senior Brand Manager, and Gianina Popescu, Brand Manager, during the Eurobest Awards Ceremony on Wednesday evening, November 30, in Lisbon´s São Luiz Theatre.
Commenting on the award, Gabriela Munteanu, Marketing Director, said, "ROM is a true Romanian brand, the chocolate bar born in the troubled communist era and reborn in democracy, a brand that remained unchanged, authentic and daring in a permanent changing society. We believe that the ROM brand has a special place in the hearts and minds of many people. The amazing engagement of people during the campaign was due in part to this strong connection with the consumer. We are much honored to receive the Eurobest recognition and we feel encouraged to raise the stakes for another Eurobest in the coming years."
The ‘American Rom’ campaign has already won two Cannes Lions Grands Prix this year in the Direct and Promo & Activation categories as well as winning at New York Festivals, Cresta and Golden Drum.
Kandia Dulce have been producing confectionary for the Romanian market for over 100 years, taking care to make products that match Romanians´ tastes and traditions while evolving along with their consumers’ needs. As well as ROM, Kandia Dulce´s portfolio of brands include Kandia, Laura, Magura, Silvana and Sugus.
For full information on the Eurobest Festival, please visit www.eurobest.com.
