Give me a reason / Speaking to Contagious, Olivia Spanu, senior copywriter at McCann Bucharest, said: ‘Romania has the highest economic growth in the EU, but also a very low level of tourism with a 5.3% share of GDP versus neighbouring Bulgaria with 12.8% and Hungary with 10.2%. It is a beautiful country with unspoiled natural beauty and rich history, but it never settled for a clear touristic brand identity, nor a defined strategy.’ Spanu added, ‘The same goes for its health tourism. Where Romania has a clear price/quality advantage, it is outperformed by the likes of Hungary, Turkey or even the more expensive Austria.’ This campaign redresses the lack of tourism strategy with a clear, engaging offering of unique holiday packages that combine the best of Romania. The organisation leans into the country’s beautiful landscape and affordable quality healthcare, giving people a reason to visit Romania when they need dental care, even if they’ve never considered visiting the country before.
Better than you / According to the agency, rather than competing with other countries, the campaign’s strategy was to start competing with other dentists, to rebrand Romania as The Most Beautiful Dental Clinic in the World. Spanu told us, ‘Our media strategy was to target the UK as they had an NHS dentist shortage and Romania’s dental holiday offering was very competitive. In the UK, you could pay up to £280 for a dental filling, while in Romania you would get three-in-one for that price: the dental treatment, a guided tour, plus three nights at a four-star hotel.’ By identifying dentists in the UK as their competitors, the organisations could tailor their offerings to appeal to British tourists. Apart from selecting the pre-paid packages, visitors can also use the chatbot on the campaign website to customise their trips. These elements provide medical travellers with flexibility and gives Romania a unique selling point to attract visitors to the country to get their dental procedures done.
