Gandul.info - "Why don't you come over?"

GMP Advertising

GMP Advertising Bucarest, Romania

Awards

13897

Brand: Gandul.info
Country: Romania

Advertiser: MEDIFAX Group

Title	Why don't you come over?
Agency	GMP Advertising
Campaign	Why don't you come over?
Advertiser	MEDIFAX Group
Brand	Gandul.info
Date of First Broadcast/Publication	2013 / 1
Business Sector	Newspapers, Magazines, Books
Tagline	Why don't you come over?
Story	The campaign gave a prompt answer to the British innitiative in late January to run a campaign that would deter Romanian migrants from coming to UK, when the labour restrictions will be lifted for the new EU member countries Romania and Bulgaria in Jan 2014. A couple of days ago, Mr. Keith Vaz, British MP the Head of the Home Affairs Committee analyzing the migration estimates, actually come to Bucharest and wore our T-Shirt proving that our message was a pretty convincing one even for the authorities. :)
Philosophy	16 months after telling the world how Great Britain is and welcoming everyone, the UK Government planned a negative advertising campaign in Romania to persuade potential immigrants to stay away from UK, entitled “You won’t like it here!”It peaked a hysteria fueled by politicians like Nigel Farage, leading the UK Independent Party, talking of invading gangs of Romanian criminals. Even David Cameron claimed Britain is threatened by waves of "benefits tourists" whose only ambition is to abuse the British welfare system. The blunt discrimination against an equal rights EU member outraged Romanians and triggered an European crisis.
Problem	For our client Gandul.info, the leading online Romanian newspaper, we seized the opportunity to immediately come up with a cheeky response within two days of the news. Addressing several targets: the millions of Romanians at home, Gandul readers or not, the tens of thousands of tax-paying Romanians living in the UK and the European and UK press itself. The objective was to get Romanians to fight discrimination with humor and thus change the perception about Romania and Romanians and block out the British plan.
Result	Hundreds of Romanians created posters using our application and shared them. Over 300 couches were submitted on the website in the first 48 hours all over the country and tens of jobs by both private and state-owned Romanian companies. The Gandul Facebook Engagement Rate hit a record 37% and the paper’s readership grew by 30%. Daily Mirror sent journalists to Bucharest, who acknowledged our headlines were true. This impromptu initiative, with no government backing or funding, turned out to be the most successful image campaign for Romania, covered by hundreds of top publications worldwide like The Economist, The Independent or Time, TV networks like ABC News, BBC News, Channel 4 and radio stations totaling EUR 2M worth of free media. Most importantly, the ridiculous campaign planned by the British MPs was cancelled and a survey revealed a fresh British attitude towards immigration:http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/10/fresh-way-immigration-public-support
Media Type	Public Relations
Length	120 seconds
More Information	www.whydontyoucomeover.co.uk
Creative Director	Mihai Gongu
Senior Art Director	Alina Zaharescu
Account Director	Catrinel Manolescu
PR Account Director	Simona Firtat
General Manager	Felix Tataru
PR Executive	Alexandra Rus
Digital Creative Director	Horia Manolache
Digital Art Director	Andrei Cucoanes
Digital Copywriter	Oana Nastase
Senior Strategic Planner	Andrei Balan
Web Developer	Andrei Mocanu
Web Programmer	Cosmin Panait
Head of Planning	Bogdan Nitu
Web Development Dir	Vlad Manolache
Senior Account Executive	Daniela Vasile
Group Creative Director Mediafax	Lucian Mindruta
Mediafax Group Editor In Chief	Claudiu Pandaru
Mediafax Group General Manager	Orlando Nicoara
Group Brand Manager Mediafax	Persida Roata
Special credits	Melania Stoleru