Andreea Riscu, pastel: Adapting to the new realities and continuous learning are at the heart of everything we
AdHugger continues its series about the Romanian PR industry with Andreea Riscu, New Business Manager at pastel, discussing about how the agency sees the landscape at this moment, the latest technologies that are emerging and influencing it, how they approach the clients and many more other aspects.
PR and the new technologies, including VR, AI, etc. What are your favorites for the future and why?
The new technologies have already shaken our understanding of possibilities in PR, advertising and beyond. At pastel we’re very close to what happens in Cannes at the International Creativity Festival and generative AI has been the buzzword for the past 2 years. The discussions are no more around whether the generative technologies should be integrated, but rather on practical applications within both companies and agencies. Integrating AI into processes is definitely a learn by doing process for everyone.
Adapting to the new realities and continuous learning are at the heart of everything we do at pastel and AI is no exception. Last year we’ve already started involving AI within creative campaigns for our clients and this year we have invested in a dedicated Product Developer role with the aim to embark on a journey where AI facilitates streamlining agency processes and structures.
While both exciting and terrifying at the same time, I believe that AI’s capabilities are driven by the humans that prompt and filter the output, freeing us space to spend time on what really matters. AI is not a replacer but an assistant to humans.
What has changed for the better in recent years in PR in Romania?
In the past years I have seen more and more campaigns focusing on making a mark and contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals agenda. I think that genuine PR effort in this sense is amazing because it has the power to inspire others to join the movement and rally around topics that can drive change from multiple angles – businesses, consumers, NGOs and the government.
What about for the worst?
On the flip side of the coin, the rise in sustainability-focused messaging has also led to an increase in bold statements, causing scrutiny around the authenticity of such campaigns, especially with instances of greenwashing.
Romanian consumers, NGOs and journalists are becoming increasingly aware and critical of greenwashing and there have been an increasing number of reputational damages in the past years.
The reality is that most companies are on a journey to become more sustainable and when this is the case, it’s important to be transparent and team up with the agency to find the right messaging, the right partnerships and overall manner of addressing the communication.
What is your approach and differentiating point at pastel?
pastel embarked some time ago on a mission to bring to life more impactful campaigns, not only from a business perspective, but also from the potential to leave the world a better place than we found it. This is the vision of our founder & managing director, Dana Nae Popa, who managed to assemble a team of almost 40 people that fell in love with this mission. The human touch is the one that drives all the initiatives from pastel.
In pastel agency, we train our doing-good muscle together with our clients looking at briefs from this angle as well. For our 18th year we reiterated our commitment for impactful campaigns. We organized a CSR creative brief pitch open for both brands and NGOs, whose winner won 18.000 Euros in agency services for a ready-to-implement campaign. Over 120 companies and NGOs showed interest and the jury awarded the prize to InspirAction NGO. This autumn we started to work on the brief – a campaign that aims to create awareness on the effects of long screen exposure.
Another initiative that started this year is Efectiv podcast, a podcast that talks about the effects of good in communication, inviting guests from very diverse industries such as sports, stand-up comedy, psychology, NGOs and much more. No matter the industry we believe good can be spread through communication. You can check out here the podcast’s YouTube channel.
The pastel NGO originated from an internal program of our agency, called “No month without a good deed”. The name of the internal program became a mission for pastel NGO, which celebrated their 4th anniversary this October. Along the years over 15.000 direct beneficiaries were impacted by pastel NGO’s projects ranging from children, seniors, disabled or people living in poverty.
Our pastel team’s DNA is centered around CSR and we love it!
How is your headline translating in your work?
“The bright touch for your brand” it’s our witty tagline that showcases what we do best – strategic and creative work that resonates with the audience.
Every brief that comes into our agency is approached with a very curious strategic mind which allows us to immerse ourselves in the business of our client and gather deep understanding of our audience. We do that by partnering with our clients to facilitate the experience of working alongside them and most of the time we get real consumers to talk to us about their experience with the category and the brand. This is where we uncover real truths – barriers, emotions and drivers of people consuming the products or services of our clients.
Then, the magic creative work begins, using specific creative frameworks facilitated by our amazing Executive Creative Director, Laura Iane. We approach projects in multidisciplinary project teams, empowering colleagues from different departments to share ideas and input as experts on their field – be it creative, PR, social media, BTL or client service departments. This is because we believe a great idea could come from anyone.
What are clients looking for?
From my perspective, clients are looking for partners that are willing to understand their business and consumers from different angles, are proactive, and sometimes even challenge and inspire them to create better work together with agencies.