McCann-Erickson Romania called SIT to help them fight a lack of interest from younger customers for one of their client’s, ROM Chocolate.

SIT promptly advised Adrian Botan, Creative Partner & Regional CD CEE McCann Erickson Romania, to subtract the Romanian flag from the packaging and replace it with an American flag, a change that shocked the country. The move, seen as a public challenge of the country’s patriotism, was covered by all Romanian national media. After allowing one week of heated debates across the country, ROM chocolate returned the original packaging and released a TV commercial clarifying that the campaign was a joke.

The campaign was overwhelmingly successful. In addition to lifting Romanian pride, the campaign generated 300,000 Euros of free publicity, which caused ROM to take over the title of Romania’s most popular chocolate bar (a 79% increase in market share). Additionally, the campaign won 9 awards at the Festival of Cannes, including two Grand Prix Cannes Lions– a first for Romania! After receiving the awards, Adrian Botan thanked SIT for their involvement in the campaign. He acknowledged SIT’s active role in utilizing SIT’s systematic framework to generate creative solutions for the campaign.