A new type of behavior is used in the Romanian advertising. This new behavior is brought forward by some women. So, “pitzipoance” will be seen in the Romanian ads, because to some people they seem funny and there is a lot of sarcasm, when we, Romanians, have a discussion about them. These women in advertising make the ads funnier and notorious.
There’s also a negative part of this use of “pitzipoanca” phenomenon. Young girls might copy this unfortunate behavior because it involves: the lack of studying, the excess of make-up, the excess of tanning, the endless running for boys, they constantly want to be in the center of attention, money is a priority for them or they wear fewer clothes than usual.
(I invite you to see some pictures published on this website which mocks this type of behavior of Romanian women:Â – in order to understand better this concept)
Because we like to make fun of this type of women, the concept seems to gain momentum in the Romanian advertising. Unfortunately, there are statistics which show that we like to see a commercial if it is funny. So, if there’s “pitzipoanca”, it’s a funny ad.
One of the most successful campaign in Romania was the one with the “1 million RON bottle” (RON is the Romanian currency; 1 EUR = ~4.1 RON). Â The campaign had online and offline coverage and was a marketing solution for OTV (a TV channel entitled “people’s television”). The campaign started on the 15th of September 2009 and ended on the 15th of January 2010.
Many brands participated in this prize competition: firstly, one had to buy a bottle of wine or another type of alcohol (only the type of alcohol which participates in this prize competition), and then he/she should send a SMS with the code or put it on the website. A person could win a car every day only by drawing lots. At the end of the contest, 1 million RON had to be won by someone who sent or entered on the website codes.
1. Targets
The main target was formed by people over 18 years old who drank alcohol and who watched frequently at OTV.
2. Message
“Buy a bottle of alcohol and win 1 million RON or a car every day!”
3. Campaign
Offline coverage
TV: The ads from TV were full of sarcasm because the concept was to mock this behavior of “pitzipoanca” and the one of the “cocalar” (men who behave in this way are called “cocalari”). There’s one of the video spot which presents the “pitzipoanca”
Transcript:
(She sees an old man with a bottle of wine participating in the prize competition in his hand) “Honey, you are the best, with 1 million RON to spend in the club, on vacation
(She is dancing in front of him) …
Come on, send the code and try your luck! Just one step and I will belly dance!
Look here honey! (She is showing him the code)”
Furthermore, the campaign supported by OTV was present on other TV channels. What’s interesting and smart, from the advertising point of view, the campaign used other channel’s advertising space for a contest whose winners can only be drawn out at OTV.
Online coverage
The site was a support for the campaign because the consumer entered there the codes, was announced who the winner might be or could find other extra pieces of information.
There were a lot of reactions on blogs related to the satisfaction or disappointment of the campaign. Many said that the contest would be a waste of time because of the previous fiasco with some apartments also given by OTV and taken away because the television did not pay them.
Concerning the online versions of newspapers, the campaign was also mentioned in their articles. The information was related to the success of the campaign, its awareness, its sales or its winners.
1. Evaluation
- There were 77 lucky winners of cars
- The word-of-mouth was spectacular
- The awareness of the brands participating in the prize competition augmented
- The awareness of OTV television, also, augmented, because there one could see if he’/she is the lucky winner
- The sales went up to 50% for “Murfatlar”, one of the brands which entered the prize competition
- The awareness of the campaign augmented more when the Romanian president, Traian Basescu, drew out the winner of the 1 million RON bottle
- The number of the participants in the campaign amounted to several millions
- The brand confidence reached high limits because the announcements of the winners were made live on OTV without any possibility of misleading the participants
- There was a lot of news coverage in press
All in all, there will be a trend of using the Romanian clichés in advertising like this one of “pitzipoanca”. It is sad to see how this type of behavior is promoted, but business is business and it does not matter if some feelings are hurt.
