URSUS WANTS TO BE PREMIUM

For several weeks now we have been watching on TV screens a new advertising campaign for the Ursus beer, focused around two ‘season’ spots that speak about vacation, relaxation and the joy of tasting the small pleasures of life. On a more careful look one can notice the care for each detail, from the way the new bottle looks like, from the new logo or the new label, to the substantial financial investment in the quality of the video productions. A 100.000 euro advertising spot that really looks accordingly.

Ursus re-branding is part of a process of brand repositioning in the ‘premium’ segment that involves considerable human and material resources. The brand consulting company involved is the same that made the re-branding 11 years ago, Branzas agency; the only difference is that now the Romanian consultant orks with Interbrand as a team, which is one of the most prestigious international players on the market. Branzas is an exclusive Interbrand partner in Romania. ‘Our discussions with Interbrand and our exclusive partnership agreement came one year before this project. It was only natural for us to invite them to work together on this project and it was the first project made for Romania in partnership with the office of Hamburg’, stated Bogdan Branzas, Creative Manager and CEO by Branzas consulting agency. According to him behind what the consumer can see on the shelves or on the TV screens lie huge efforts and hard work that involved consultants, designers and creative managers from both Branzas and Interbrand, 3D specialists, 3D typists, pattern specialists, all coordinated from Cluj’. The next stage was choosing the winning concept and adjusting it to the smallest details, by studying many versions, color shades, materials and typing ways, Branzas says. During one internal meeting of brand ealuation before the first presentation to the client, Bogdan Branzas noticed the fact that there were a series of proposals that apparently seemed off the brief. ‘The designers were apparently starting to beat around the bush’, he remembers. ‘One of my consultants, my colleague Emil Mesaros, pointed out the proposal that seemed to be the most revolutionary from the brief point of view and said: ‘This is so off the brief apparently, but in reality it is so revolutionary, that it would really be a shame if we don’t test it’. ‘And it proved to be the right choice’ Bogdan Branzas remembers, fully convinced that the solution found provides the most relevant information on what should happen in the future with Ursus.

CHANGES OF THE BRANDING MARKET

We are far from the pioneer stage in Romania both as brand consultants and as consumer expectancies. According to the consultant from Cluj nowadays the markets are more sophisticated therefore the methods of the re-branding process are evolving as well. ‘ I focus on market analysis and survey, on trend anticipation and evaluation possibilities, because any brand must be conceived for the future’, he points out.

THE THIRD SPOT IS ON ITS WAY

As for TV communication there is already a series of spots. ‘This is a strategy dictated by the implementation period’, says Alex Badila, Group Accountant Director by Publicis, the advertising company that made the campaign. ‘We started with two spots and now we already have the third one all made based on the same line. The starting idea is that it doesn’t matter how much one likes something, or is used or satisfied with it, there shall always be something else that one likes even more. Ursus changes from something that somebody likes into something that somebody likes even more, says Alex Badila, who considers that the new communication shall be much closer to what the consumer wants, maybe even on the subconscious level, not only on the conscious one.