Papers by Madalina Moraru
Revista Romana de Jurnalism si Comunicare - Romanian Journal of Journalism and Communication, 2013
This article investigates the way seasonal advertising campaigns convey the paradoxical relations... more This article investigates the way seasonal advertising campaigns convey the paradoxical relationship between sacred and profane views of Christmas. The following research reveals the differences between commercialized and religious Christmas celebrations by analyzing the advertisements running on the Romanian market between November 15th and December 25th, 2012. The present study focuses on the following topics: the values promoted by both local and international brands, the sacred mindset versus the profane behavior of commercial characters, TV ad format, global and local features indentified in the advertising message, and, finally, verbal representations of Christmas. Our findings reveal a simple conclusion: advertising creates a glocalized image of Christmas that combines the global images of Coca-Cola and Santa Claus with local traditions and religious practice. Even if the general perception of Christmas does not always rely on the sacred meaning of this celebration, consumers still behave in a religious manner, regardless of age, education level, or culture. However, regardless how deeply brands have globalized and, sometimes, made a myth from their values (e.g., Coca-Cola), Christmas in advertising cannot ignore local aspects, which, naturally, emphasize the sacred dimension of this celebration.
The phone industry is by far one of the richest service categories given audience variety and the... more The phone industry is by far one of the richest service categories given audience variety and the brand offer on the Romanian market. Several arguments support this idea as follows: first, phone companies usually develop several communication campaigns each year; second, their target is highly segmented according to various criteria; third, communication strategies and commercial formats for the same brands appeal to different kinds of consumers; fourth, accurate positioning not only reveals clear consumer insight, but also properly manages brand capital. This paper aims to discover why phone brands specifically communicate their image on a receptive market by using multidirectional strategies and comparing with other product and service categories. To achieve this, we analyzed TV advertisements that have run in Romania during the last five years and belong to the most important global and local phone networks. A major selection criterion was the commercial format, which refers to the way in which the brand message is conveyed. For instance, story of any kind establishes a very strong relationship between consumer and brand, while other types of communication are not so effective in this area of communication. Phone network campaigns clearly emphasize that brands should consider consumer attitude, the local market, competition and, last but not least, technology. Therefore, the most effective multidirectional messages address first to diverse targets and depend on global-and local-level market demands. From another perspective, phone campaigns highlight the social and emotional involvement of consumers that are strongly related to communication in a transitory and glocalized society such as Romania.
Balkan Journal of Philosophy, 2021
The creative industry daily faces genuine challenges in its work when it comes to advertising and... more The creative industry daily faces genuine challenges in its work when it comes to advertising and meeting clients’ demands. Indeed, technology and the necessity of updating creativity resources urge on new approaches during campaigns, at least in the creative department. Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation stand for essential aspects in challenging new resources of creativity in a field where copywriters and art directors unfold incredibly sensitive messages based on strong and relevant insights. The present paper aims to point out the difficulties and opportunities of creative work in any advertising agency, by exploring the purpose, the barriers and the prospects of this activity in the context of a complex relationship between client and agency, brand and consumers. One could perhaps say that copywriters are just gifted people able to simply follow instructions given by the planning department. Actually, they have their own psychological and social barriers, which represent real challenges. Therefore, we have investigated these issues by conducting semi-structured interviews based on their creative experiences in both cases, as juniors and seniors, respectively. The data collected via semi-structured interviews are investigated by using content analysis.
Journal of Knowledge Management, Economics, and Information Technology, 2012
Advertising today has conquered national boundaries, reaching consumers everywhere; however, loca... more Advertising today has conquered national boundaries, reaching consumers everywhere; however, local commercials retain their cultural background, combining global and local features. This is the new “glocalization” phenomenon, or the specificity of globalization. During the past two decades, Romanian advertising developed spectacularly, making up for the time it was forbidden. Life-styles, consumer insight, economy and market dynamics changed the relationship between global and local advertising. Today, national advertising promotes surviving pre-Revolution brands, new, post-1990 brands, and international brands adapted to the local market. This chapter analyzes the local and global features of Romanian TV commercials for national and international brands according to the following criteria: positioning, visual/ verbal identity, social/cultural background.
Proceedings of the ENTRENOVA - ENTerprise REsearch InNOVAtion Conference (Online), Oct 31, 2018
The creative industry daily faces genuine challenges in their work when it comes to advertising a... more The creative industry daily faces genuine challenges in their work when it comes to advertising and meeting client's demands. Besides, technology and the necessity of updating creativity resources urge on new approaches during campaigns, at least in creative department. Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation stand for essential aspects in challenging new resources of creativity in a field where copywriters and art directors unfold incredible sensitive messages following strong and relevant insights. The present paper aims to point out the difficulties and opportunities of creative work in any advertising agency, by exploring the purpose, the barriers and the chances of this activity in the context of a complex relationship between client-brand management-consumers. One could perhaps say that these employees are just gifted people able to simply follow some instructions given by the planning department. Actually, they have their own psychological and even social barriers or engines, which represent challenges. Therefore, we have investigated these issues by conducting semi-structured interviews based on their creative experiences in both cases, as juniors and seniors, respectively. The data collected via semistructured interviews are investigated by using content analysis.
Revista Romana de Jurnalism si Comunicare - Romanian Journal of Journalism and Communication, 2011
This article aims to research how global and local brands managed their image according to tradit... more This article aims to research how global and local brands managed their image according to traditions and values shared by Romanian target during the Christmas Holiday, a special time for everyone all over the world. Our research focuses on TV ads broadcast (40 spots) in Romania in December 2010, namely winter campaigns developed before Christmas and dedicated to the Christmas spirit. The questions we will answer in the following study regard some important aspects such as: which product categories and brands use this special time of the year to get closer to the consumers’ life, which values are promoted by these brands, which characters and heroes of the commercials better express these values, which Christmas symbols are emphasized and what is the balance between global and local features in these campaigns. We are interested to see how brands mark out this special time of year, according to two important criteria: their strategic global values, on the one hand, and the consumers...
Revista Romana de Jurnalism si Comunicare - Romanian Journal of Journalism and Communication, 2010
During the last 20 years, Romanian Advertising often paid attention to the popular culture featur... more During the last 20 years, Romanian Advertising often paid attention to the popular culture features developed in Communism, because they are the ones that reflect consumers’ lifestyles, profiles and values still alive in our society. It is captivating to notice how many brands took advantages from this return (the eternal coming back to the past) and how varied the creative strategies of some commercials could be. Some interesting categories of products, which describe the old epoch very well, could be analyzed according to the brand history and its positioning. Consequently, national brands are focusing on loyalty, relationship with the consumer and the conformation/adaptation process to the new political and economic background. Moreover, popular culture was very well exploited through some aspects often met in the commercial script such as: specific jobs, symbols, special chromatic (the red signature), spatial and temporal elements, humor and irony, and linguistic characteristic ...
Journal of Knowledge Management Economics and Information Technology, 2014
This paper aims to discuss interesting experiential strategies of a specific European beer brand ... more This paper aims to discuss interesting experiential strategies of a specific European beer brand (Bergenbier) that maintained the balance between traditional and experiential marketing. My hypothesis is that the relationship between both types of marketing should be analysed from two angles: either commercials no longer focus on product features, but rather on events; or the experiential market is very well mirrored in ads. Additionally, this paper points out the levels of brand development that succeeded in engaging consumers so much that they found a new way to spend more time together, thus building a community. The aim is to make a comparative analysis between traditional marketing promoted by 50 TV campaigns (broadcast between 2004 and 2012) and experiential marketing events during the same interval. Basically, this paper seeks to analyze the relationship between traditional and experiential marketing, relying on the examples provided by Bergenbier campaigns, and to improve experiential strategic modules (according to Bernd Schmitt, shortened to SEM) by explaining their cultural dimension.
Styles of Communication, 2012
This study aims to put forward two concepts often contradictorily perceived: globalization and sp... more This study aims to put forward two concepts often contradictorily perceived: globalization and specificity. Therefore, the article analyzes a very successful product, namely beer. The reason for choosing beer as part of our empirical data lies on its worldwide target, its history and its frequency in TV commercials due to the new theory of sensorial brands. We are interested in the TV formats used in beer commercials and in the factors that determine global and local features. The empirical data will be made of five Romanian brands and on five international brands. Even if we tend to consider that there is a gap between global and local aspects, it is interesting to find out whether the TV commercials make this distance smaller or bigger. The basis of this study starts from several stereotypes: beer, mostly addressing men, could be associated with many issues starting with entertainment, responsibility, involvement in the community, and commitment. Local elements refer to the country of distribution, especially in the case of international brands, taking into account that beer is a product with worldwide circulation. Starting from theoretical perspectives on positioning types, commercial formats and consumer profiles, we will focus our analysis on the main TV formats and the positioning types used in the local and international beer commercials, on the one hand, and on the balance between the global and local features and on the profiles of the heroes represented in beer commercials, on the other hand.
Comunicar
This study aims to present the extent to which online education influenced the level of empathy d... more This study aims to present the extent to which online education influenced the level of empathy displayed by university students. The research relies on a self-evaluated applied survey in two European countries: Portugal and Romania. The participants in this research are 1,085 students enrolled in Communication Studies programs. The purpose of this study is to unfold the connection between gender, exposure to digital technology, empathy level according to the Basic Empathy Scale applied to young adults, and online education self-perception that involves the use of webcams. Empathy can have positive effects on students’ satisfaction and increase students’ outcomes. The shift from a physical environment to a digital one brought significant challenges that most students and teachers were not ready for. The digital environment influences how empathy is expressed. The present research found evidence of a relationship between exposure to technology usage, emotional contagion, and gender. ...
Central European journal of communication, 2015
Communism was one of the most powerful social philosophies of the past century. In Eastern-Europe... more Communism was one of the most powerful social philosophies of the past century. In Eastern-European countries, it established a different type of globalization based on similar lifestyles and political systems. Everything functioned as in a factory, based on the same regulations, constantly estranged from the capitalist world, mostly characterized by freedom of choice, variety, autonomy, media and business. On November 10th 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the beginning of the destruction of this apparently invincible communist puzzle. Revolts began in Poland and developed throughout Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. According to Grugel (2008), the main feature of the Communism collapse in Central and Eastern-European countries was simultaneity. Similarly, Fukuyama stated that the year 1989 marked “the decisive collapse of Communism as a factor in world history” (1992, p. 25), because democratic countries aspire to homogenous political and economic systems. In a sense, Central and Eastern European countries reacted similarly to this transition from an authoritarian, dictatorial system to a democratic one, but they proceeded to adapt differently to the Western mentality. Even today, this political situation is far from stable, as citizens of formerly communist countries need time to learn to live and work differently, after so many years of monopoly. As stated by Grzymala and Jones Luang, “post-communist states are neither stable, nor consolidated” (2002, p. 532).
The following paper intends to reveal the involvement of women into coining efficient communicati... more The following paper intends to reveal the involvement of women into coining efficient communication campaigns for different product categories promoted on the Romanian market. Product consumption explicitly depends on target interests and social integration considering its division into two directions according to age groups (the old generation and the young, "new media generation") after the 1989 Revolution. Our main purpose consists in identifying female profiles in Romanian advertising starting from Geert Hofstede's theory. He created a fivedimension model (power distance, individualism/collectivism, gender of nations, uncertainty avoidance, long/short-term orientation) of national culture, by analyzing local and global brands, on the one hand, and different product categories (dairy, coffee and chocolate, drugs, banks and insurance, mobile phones, home appliances), on the other. This paper will apply the content analysis method, whose purpose is to reveal the Romanian identity promoted by the female characters of at least 50 TV commercials. In order to get a wealth of information, this study focuses on important aspects such as tradition, independence vs. involvement in family responsibilities, authority vs. subordination, living environment (city or countryside), as well as relationships with men and children. At the end of this research, we expect to reach two important goals. The first one is to establish a relationship between product categories, local identity, and the Romanian target, which is still in transition after the Anti-Communist Revolution. As for the second goal, we hope to discover some female patterns which are very well exploited in Romanian advertising based on cultural and social background. The hypothesis that strongly supports this research is that women have an essential role in preserving local identity, appealing to the Romanian consumer in commercials created especially for them.
Manager Journal, 2013
This paper aims to present the opinions of Romanian advertisers on the local industry from two vi... more This paper aims to present the opinions of Romanian advertisers on the local industry from two viewpoints: the evolution of advertising after 1990 with regards to brand development, and the attempt of advertising agencies to balance change and stability during the economic crisis. Regarding the first aspect, the study emphasizes the way the Romanian market has developed in terms of local and global brands, revealing the most successful brands and campaigns delivered by the local industry and the significance of local brands to advertising professionals. On the ex-communist and new-democratic background, this paper seeks to reveal the way the Romanian identity has been conveyed in advertising in the last 20 years, based on professionals’ experience. In this respect, this article focuses on Romanian brands history after 1990, considering that local economy and capitalism changed consumers’ mentality and needs. It was a time of transition, but the best moment for developing old brands and branding local products, whose image did not even exist before. In terms of strategy, this research shows great interest for this process of surviving and saving domestic brands, not only by adjusting their values to the new-democratic world. The evolution of Romanian advertising is also deeply connected to its identity on the European market, especially to being recognized as a re-born industry after the Communist Era. Regarding the second issue of the present research, the study attempts to uncover whether the internal organization of advertising agencies progressively changed in order to more effectively cater to client needs.
Journal of Media Research-Revista de Studii Media, 2010
Following the evolution in time of two interesting brands allows the researcher to find a lot of ... more Following the evolution in time of two interesting brands allows the researcher to find a lot of information about their success or failure. What is really essential in developing a comparison is the fact that, both of them (Coca-Cola and Pepsi) are part of the same category of products: soft drinks. In advertising, everything depends on strategy applied on the market, which is adjusted to the positioning. This concept has been developed in the last 20 years and it has totally changed the perspective upon the market, starting with the brain motivation of the consumer, on which the final choice is based. Coca-Cola and Pepsi have a compelling and competitive history, as one could see from the commercials and other creative proofs. For this reason, the positioning of these brands could be easily recognized analysing some commercial products, like their slogans, in this case. They demonstrate that, despite becoming the fashion-setter, Coca-Cola had to cope in time with a lot of unpleasant and unexpected situations, which conditioned variation of the positioning according to the enemy's movements, Pepsi. This continuous competition has an effect upon the whole strategy of brand management, and it has given a lot of opportunities for creation and finding the right way to the consumer's mind.
Journal For the Study of Religions and Ideologies, 2013
Our study focuses on the impact of American advertising on local consumers and industry and discu... more Our study focuses on the impact of American advertising on local consumers and industry and discusses the relationship between standardization and localization on the global market. Although America seems to be a hybridized, 'McDonald-ized' reality, it is in fact grounded on a multicultural and social mix that deems it highly recognizable. Consequently, we argue that reconstructing American identity means sharing similar values with other cultural spaces, whose history, religion, and social customs require a different approach to daily life and finding new means of expression. Our main argument is that advertising disseminates its message in foreign markets and that American campaign models were implemented despite cultural differences. Therefore, we will study the way American heterogeneity becomes homogeneous in the advertising realm, and explain the relationship between standardization and localization in promoting brand values. Our analysis relies on examples of the post-1990 Romanian advertising revolution that showcase the global American influence on Romania's local industry as reflected by celebrations (Valentine's Day, Man's Day) and other American symbols (the cowboy image, the impact of the English language) present in locally broadcast advertisements. Consequently, our paper asks a very controversial question: Does market globalization embed the American spirit in indigenous cultures through advertising, bypassing local culture, ideology and society?
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Papers by Madalina Moraru
Our main hypothesis led us to a straightforward conclusion: the 25/2013 audio-visual regulation triggered a rapid reaction of online channels in advertising, which at first developed by replacing television and radio advertisements.
Keywords: advertising, audio-video regulation, online, media channels.
Consequently, the study investigates this problem by using content analysis applied to a sample of approximately 100 advertisements running on television on the Romanian market for global and local brands. The most relvant categories for this study are electronics, cell-phones, and computers.
In conclusion, ageing was not completely ignored in Romanian advertising, but its perception has different perspectives.
Keywords: elderly customers, ageing, advertising, technology.
Mobile phone brands were among the first to adopt this strategy. This happened because, their services were addressed to various demographics and efficient communication engages consumers in virtual communities. Moreover, the mobile phone category requires frequent updates and the most effective way to understand consumer behavior is to pursue them daily. Our research aims to analyze the online communication of four important mobile phone brands from different countries: Vodafone-Romania, Orange-France, T-Mobile-United Kingdom and Virgin Mobile-Australia. We investigated their online campaigns and brand activities between 2012 and 2014 focusing on their use of the social platform Facebook.
Keywords: Facebook, advertising, mobile phones, consumers;
The present research focuses on identifying local features in order to make a comparison with the global characteristics. The research method will be the content analysis applied on a sample of 100 commercials of brands belonging to the following categories: the traditional perspective, the innovative perspective, and the combined model. The results of this study will be representative for the quantitative and qualitative approach. We are going to organize this article according to research variables regarding aspects such as product categories, traditional/innovative elements, national vs. European identity (cultural, linguistic and political identity), positioning strategy (for example, the one based on time is, specific to traditional commercials), brand identity.
Our main hypothesis is to identify the European impact on Romanian advertising, and we will support it by analyzing different brands (international and local) belonging to the same product categories. Thus, similarities and distinctions will be more obvious, justifying the contamination of local values by European features. Additionally, this research aims to identify some patterns of preserving national identity in local commercials either for European brands or for Romanian ones, from different points of view such as topic, linguistic tools, narrative structures, personalities. At the end of this study, we will focus on the advantages and disadvantages of creating a chameleonic identity for the brands by importing external values.
The main challenge of this research is to prove that national identity has been equally developed in commercials broadcast not only for local brands, but for global brands as well, due to consumer needs and insight. Moreover, another issue this study is going to answer to regards the way European brands are perceived by consumers in local commercials on the Romanian market. Establishing the relationship between European and Romanian advertising implies answering the following questions: Do European brands emphasize the values of their country of origin, or are they similar to other global brands? Can we really talk about a Romanian identity in this context of assimilation of European values and lifestyles?
Keywords: national, European, identity, Romanian, advertising.