Graffiti BBDO signs the newest campaign for British American Tabacco in Romania

Graffiti BBDO signs the newest campaign for British American Tabacco in Romania, “Counterfeited cigarettes can include anything”, that runs on nation-wide in Romania starting September.

The campaign is an information one and is a reaction to the sustained growth of counterfeited cigarettes traffic

Counterfeited cigarettes can have anything in their composition and the prejudices  they generate for all the involved ones are huge, except the ones that traffic them. Consumers that buy this sort of smokes will not know what they include besides tabacco, where and in which conditions they were produced and transported or who are the ones that distribute them. From authorities’ information, we know the traffic networks have strong ties with the organized crime. In the same time, Romanian state looses huge amounts of money in uncollected taxes, while the genuine producers are affected and they need to shrink their operations in the area to be able to handle the situation. That is the precise reason why we chose to run an information campaign in September and October, one to make all fake cigarettes smokers to understand what risks they are exposed to

Adrian Popa

Corporate & Regulatory Affairs Director British American Tobacco South-Eastern Europe

 Sometimes, in an advertising campaign, the best dramatization is the reality. We wanted to show to the public, as direct and as straight as possible, how counterfeited cigarettes are made, in insalubrious spaces, with a rich fauna consisting in rats and insects, by people that think Hygiene is just a name. We brought the message as close as possible to the people not only through outdoor, but also through unconventional executions in the subway network, oil stations and even on roads

Mihai Gongu

Creative Director Graffiti BBDO

Campaign includes an informational component also regarding the way the genuine packs of smokes can be identified, mentioning the Romanian holographic stamp, health warning printed on the package, a pictogram on the back of the package, information regarding gudron, nicotine and carbon monoxide, bar-code and info-line.

We started from a simple observation: people know counterfeited smokes include dangerous ingredients and taste different from the original smokes, but the better price makes them to ignore those obstacles. This way, we had to find an impact-full way to show counterfeited smokes can include anything and the solution was simple: the way these smokes are deposited and transported is in doubtful conditions, that round up the “quality” of them

Stefan Chiritescu,

Head of Strategy, Graffiti BBDO.

The informational campaign “Counterfeited smokes can include anything” runs at national level in Romania and includes advertising (Graffiti BBDO), PR (Graffiti Public Relations) and digital communication (Kaleidoscope).

Graffiti BBDO team involved in the campaign includes: Mihai Gongu – Creative Director, Stefan ChiriTescu – Head of Strategy, Olivia Basag – Copywriter, Alina Zaharescu – Art Director, Gelu Florea – Art Director, Adi Ghita – Designer, Simona Costea – Client Service Director, Cristian Gomoi – Senior Account Executive, Lavinia Florea – Account Director and Sever Petrovici – AV production.

The client, British American Tobacco, is represented by Valentin Canura – Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Manager and Adrian Popa – Head of Corporate Regulatory Affairs SE Europe.