No matter how sad or worried we usually are, ALL of us instantly become very happy when someone makes us a lovely surprise!

This is the insight we based on in our PR campaign designed for Gusto Pufuleti, the most famous corn snacks in Romania, when the producer introduced a new variety on the market: Gusto Pufuleti with Mega Surprises (a snack bag containing different toys that you could only discover when opening the package).So what better launch for the new product than a national Mega Surprises campaign to make real surprises for real people around the country? It perfectly fitted on the brand’s communication umbrella: no-matter-what optimism, our campaign succeeded to bring Romanians authentic reasons to remain or even become positive! We started by making surprises for journalists, celebrities, the brand’s social media friends & fans and afterwards to customers from the entire country! The campaign created buzz and strong emotional bond with the target, while the media coverage results involved articles in written press, news on TV and radio, plus fine exposure in social media! For the client, these great results provided a 4:1 ROI!

We launched our campaign, by choosing the editors-in-chief of the relevant glossy women publications and bloggers. Our intervention team, formed by corn mascots burst in whooping “Surpriiiiise”, while the entire editorial team remained astonished!! Authentic reactions, childlike innocent joy! They were so excited, that they wrote instantly on social media accounts and in magazines!

Then journalists paid it forward and became accomplices, helping us to create Mega Surprises to celebrities. One of the greatest surprises was made to the most famous woman in Romania, directly in her TV live show, watched by 4% of the Romanians, around 900,000 people.

The third phase targeted consumers, through a National MS Contest on radio and social media, inviting Gusto’s friends & fans, to submit their surprises ideas. Hundreds of Mega Surprises were subscribed both by kids & parents all over the country! The most creative and emotional ones were brought to life.

The results? Well… the best surprise was both for us and the client! We actually succeeded to do real surprises for real people in the name of Gusto Mega Surprises reaching over 4,500,000 people, 1/4 of Romania’s population!We obtained 100% coverage in press with personalized messages, great exposure on TV and radio: 10’ on TV, 90’ on radio, more than 200,000 people reached in online media, hundreds of pictures, comments & messages on social media and a 4:1 Return on investment!!Gusto Mega Surprises campaign brought joy and optimism in the most authentic way. We succeeded to create a strong emotional bond between the product and its consumers, both kids and parents, encouraging interaction with the brand and the product. Moreover, by personalization of the brand, we managed to sustain and give to our brand communication strategy a different approach, one which was more human and genuine.