4 Romanian projects, in semifinals at Electrolux Design Lab

Cristina Blanaru Innovation

4 projects from Romania made it into the semifinals of Electrolux Design Lab, international contest that aims, every year, to challenge young designers’ imagination and creativity to develop concepts to represent the future in home appliances sector.

Carmen Georgescu, Electrolux 2

Electrolux Design Lab is a competition focused on innovation. The courage to innovate is what Electrolux aims to inspire to young designers all over the world. The success achieved until now by Romanian projects is due mainly to young students that conceived them and to the entire team that handled their promotion and popularization. We wish them a lot of success also from now on and we hope the projects from Romania will reach as far as possible in Electrolux Desing Lab 2014 competition

Carmen Georgescu,

Marketing & Communication Manager Electrolux Romania.

The communication for the project was handled by Golin Bucharest and targeted publications specialized in design, tech and home&deco, which received detailed info on the Romanian projects entered into the competition and the way readers could vote their favorite ones. Journalists also had the possibility to meet the authors of the 4 projects and discuss about how the projects appeared and which are their authors’ plans for the future.

When we conceived the promotion and communication strategy for the Romanian projects entered in Electrolux Design Lab competition, we had one thing in mind, namely to transform this opportunity into a chance for Romanian design’s affirmation at international level. Considering this competition takes place online, we channeled our communication efforts in this area, without ignoring traditional media activations in print and TV

Alina Popa,

Head of Consumer Division, Golin Romania.

The campaign was supported by known Romanian bloggers, that lobbied among their readers so they would vote for the projects.

Over 1,700 projects from all over the world were entered into the competition this year and Romania is the country that has most projects into the semifinals. Also, according to public’s vote, from the 35 projects that reached semifinals, all the Romanian ones are in top 10, with “Set to Mimic” project being the most voted project of the competition.

Semifinalistii romani ai Electrolux Design Lab 2014

The Romanian projects that qualified for the next stage of Electrolux Design Lab competition are

  • Instant Cleaning Glove by Stefan Bogdan (Timisoara Art and Design University) – combines nanotech, laser rays and water into a fast and efficient solution to remove stains from clothes right after they appeared
  • Garden Pod by Ovidiu Subtire (Timisoara West University) – a modular glass house that rows plants from sprout to fruit in just 24 hours, using remains of organic food as compost, solar light and humidity. Conceived to be placed outside buildings, Garden Pod transforms the food rests into useful resources, calculating the percentage of nutrients each plant needs
  • Set to Mimic by Sorina Rasteanu (Timisoara West University) – an intelligent system reproducing taste and smell of food at sensorial level and sending the info towards a microchip placed at head’s level. This allows the consumer to feel the taste of the food he craves for although he actually consumes other type of meal
  • AMO – Love People by George Preoteasa (The Alternative School for Creative Thinking Bucharest) – intelligent air purification that combines its basic function with others of entertainment and education for autism diagnosed children. AMO also brings benefits for people with asthma or different allergies

The 1st prize of Electrolux Design Lab contest is a 6 months paid internship to an Electolux global design center and Euro 5,000, second place receives Euro 3,000 while 3rd – Euro 2,000. The favorite of the public, elected via online vote, receives an Euro 1,000 prize

The teams working on communicating and promoting the projects from Romania included:

  • Electrolux Romania: Carmen Georgescu – Marketing & Communication Manager and Otilia Dumitru – Demand Planning Specialist
  • Golin: Alina Popa – Head of Consumer Division, Teodora Văcariu – Senior Media Associate, Ioana Țoni – Media Associate, Ștefana Prozan – Media Associate, Oana Popescu – Senior Events Associate, Andrei Basoc – Digital Specialist and Adrian Ștefănescu – Digital Associate.