COSMOTE Romania launched a new communication platform for prepaid customers

COSMOTE Romania has positioned right from its entrance on the market as the brand that cares about real people needs, is close to them, facilitates communication and makes it accessible for everyone.

Moving from "Close to you" to "Our world is you", COSMOTE has taken a step forward into being a part of Romanians' lives. In order to further transmit the brand promise, COSMOTE Romania has recently launched a new communication platform for promoting it's prepaid products.

Having in mind the fact that young people like to spend most of their time out of home and they are more outgoing orientated, COSMOTE Romania created an original communication platform, with an unique concept, building a brand new place, Café 076, where all kind of interesting things happen. People face unexpected challenges, they go to express themselves so the place is a must to attend if you want to have good time. This way, COSMOTE has the chance to be more actively involved in Romanians' lives, by giving them a common place they can relate to, a place where fun meets daily challenges.

The communication platform was developed in partnership with Ogilvy Romania.

"As innovation is key in our marketing strategy, we always refresh our communication campaigns and surprise our public not only with the most advantageous value for money propositions on the market, but also with new and exciting initiatives. This is why, for the new communication platform, we chose to create a totally new and unique location, specially designed to reflect the day to day lives of young people socializing with their friends. With the unique setting and recurring characters for all the commercials, we trust that the brand will achieve even more consistency and the public will respond well to our new propositions", stated Costas Kapetanopoulos, Marketing and Communication Director, COSMOTE Romania.

Cristi Simion, Creative Director Ogilvy&Mather, about the campaign - "A natural step after changing the slogan -" Our World is You "- is to support the brand promise at the product communication level. Thus appeared the Cafe 076, where you go when you want to be you, to meet and talk with friends, to have fun, to have a first meeting, a special and sparkling place where your world expands. Each TV spot portraits different characters and different stories, each with its own separate world - but all extremely truthful. What we want is the entire COSMOTE communication to capture moments of real life. This new platform will help us do it. "

In Café 076, a modern place with hi-tech details, three recurring characters - Miki, Dan and Andrei -, face all kind of challenges and help the daily customers of the café discover the happy, fun filled side of any moment.

The launch of the campaign has been marked by two executions:

"Music" Campaign, promoting the 4in1 extra option for Cartela COSMOTE, is an integrated advertising campaign (TV, radio, web, OOH, in store communication) having as key message: "More friends mean more fun!"

There are situations when friends make the difference in changing your mood and turning a less pleasant situation into a fun filled, happy and memorable moment. The story of the TV commercial focuses on how waiting for a someone who is late could become an exciting musical experience when all the clients in the café at that moment join in to lift the spirit (supported by the amazing staff - Miki, Dan & Andrei).

With COSMOTE 4in1 extra option the customers can call their friends and loved ones at any moment of the day, benefiting from 70 off net and fixed international minutes, 70 off net SMSes, 1200 on net minutes and 1200 on net SMSes, all for only 6 Euros credit/month. Moreover, with Cartela Bonus 48 they receive back 1 Euro credit/month, so the extra option is actually available for 5 Euro credit/month.

"Truth or Dare" campaign promoting Start extra option for Cartela COSMOTE is an integrated advertising campaign (TV, web, OOH, in store communication) having as key message: "Challenge anyone for a conversation!"

The story of the TV commercial is concentrated around the idea that for all the moments when starting a conversation can be difficult, twisting it into a different approach could be the successful way. A smart, funny line can help someone get noticed and together with the most accessible extra option on the market success is guaranteed. Playing truth or dare is just a game, but one of the clients at the Café decides to use it to start a discussion with Miki.

With Start extra option the customers can benefit from 400minutes on-net and 40off net minutes, allfor the price of3.5 Euro credit/month. With Cartela Bonus 48 they receive back 1 Euro credit/month, so the final price is 2.5 Euro credit/month.

The Ogilvy team that contributed to this campaign consists of : Albert Nica - Executive Creative Director, Cristi Simion - Group Creative Director, Cristi Dita - Art Director, Alexandra Manoila - Copywriter, Andreea Constantinescu - Art Director, Alexandru Badarau - Copywriter, Anca Ungureanu - Art Director, Traian Aron - Art Director, Costin Bogdan - Copywriter, Raluca Petrescu - Account Director, Bogdan Sonea - Account Manager, Claudia Dobrea - Account Executive, Raluca Sultan - Senior Strategic Planner.

On behalf of COSMOTE Romania, the team that coordinated the making of this platform is formed of:

Costas Kapetanopoulos - Marketing & Communication Director, Dana Bursuc - Marketing Communications Senior Manager, Mirela Ghita - Head of Office, Anca Abaza - Brand Manager, Ciprian Postelnicu - Media Manager, Elena Raduta - Media Specialist.

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COSMOTE Romania had 6.7 million customers at June 30, 2010. Launched in 2005, COSMOTE Romania achieved the fastest network development in Europe, according to the Citigroup report in June 2007. In less than 5 years, COSMOTE Romania surpassed its competitors in terms of national network coverage. Today, COSMOTE Romania offers seamless communication to more than 99% of the population and 90% of the territory. COSMOTE Romania is a subsidiary of COSMOTE Group, the operator with the strongest presence in SE Europe with 21.6 million customers in Greece, Albania, Bulgaria and Romania. For more information, visit www.cosmote.ro.