The local entrepreneurs have begun looking into creating powerful and competitive brands and trademarks, along with a greater attention to the image and reputation of their companies.
The brand is the only solution in the competition with multinational companies and the proper positioning can ensure Romanian entrepreneurs a place on the market. This was one of the conclusions of the entrepreneurs, top executives and media and branding experts that attended the ZF Branduri romanesti conference organized by ZF and Raiffeisen Bank in Cluj-Napoca on Thursday.
More than 120 local entrepreneurs attended the event that discussed such topics as what making a name for oneself in business means and what steps to take in the branding process.
“When I started the company in 1993 I picked a name that was hard to remember and 15 years later did some rebranding and decided to change the name to Carmangeria Moldovan. We also applied the Blue Ocean strategy and made our stores more modern, with a beautiful design, to give customers a different experience,” Cosmin Moldovan, general manager of Carmangeria Moldovan, said.
A brand can be one of the major factors enabling Romania to slow down migration.
“The brand helps us as a country hinder migration more or less. 80,000 people are leaving Romania every year, and, under the circumstances, brands can help. We must think what it would have been like if successful entrepreneurs had not existed,” said Felix Daniliuc, executive director with Raiffeisen Bank Romania.
Raul Ciurtin, who created the Zuzu and Fulga brands and is a shareholder of Prefera Foods in Alba, which owns the Capricii si Delicii brand, believes the cornerstone of the brand of a company is keeping its promises to customers.
“I think a brand must define its consumer and keep its promise to them. The cornerstone of a brand is the promise to its customer. Romanian brands are also bound to understand Romanian consumers much faster than foreign brands do. Romanian brands should adjust their rhetoric to their consumers’ needs,” Raul Ciurtin said.
Mircea Tudoran, who created the Telemea de Ibanesti cheese brand, said that the moment when his company registered the brand as a protected designation of origin was the key moment for the development of the business.
“Once securing that protected designation of origin it became easier for us to talk with retailers and banks.”
Branding experts said that a brand is more than a logo, or a registered trademark and many local entrepreneurs do not understand what a brand is.
“Romanian companies delay too much, there is confusion about what a brand is (…) and chaotic development of Romanian brands. We must understand the brand is not a logo, is not a registered trade mark. The brand is in the minds of the people, no one owns a brand,” said Adrian Docea, creative director of branding and advertising agency Heraldist & Wondermarks.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)