ROM - Come home, Romanians - (2015) case study (Romania)

Romanians have long been in 2st place among Europeans who are working abroad, having left Romania due to lack of trust in their politicians, lack of jobs, or simply to study. Although the numbers are not official, over 4 million Romanians (out of a population of 18 million) are estimated to be studying and working outside the Romanian borders. I can vouch for the fact that yes, there's lots of Romanians in Sweden right now (not counting the Romanians I know who moved to Sweden in 1980 due to other reasons).

Then at the 2014 presidential elections, one candidate promised to deliver a change: “I want to bring all Romanians back home”, he said. And the massive voting presence of Romanians working abroad proved that they still care about their homeland. So ROM, the most Romanian of all Romanian brands, decided to help people along. In order to deliver jobs to Romanians who were abroad, ROM brand partnered up with recruitment agencies and recruitment announcements have been published in newspapers in the countries where most Romanian are living and working.

Then ROM invited Romanians to go on the dedicated website (http://www.intoarceteromane.ro) and create customized, tear-jerking videos for their relatives working abroad. Every film represented an invitation to get in touch with our job consultants.

With only a non-TV media investment, ROM managed to reach 1 million people during peak season, local media picked-up the story and started to cover the recruitment process with daily news and the CVs started pilling up. The initiative became so popular that the Labor Minister joined the cause. Life is like a bar of chocolates sometimes; pretty sweet.

Ad agency: McCann, Romania