ROM is the Romanian traditional chocolate bar that we all grew up with. Launched in 1964, with the Romanian flag on its wrapper, it enjoys 95% brand awareness. Yet its share and volume were plummeting with only 14.5% of people listing it as their favourite brand. ROM had an ageing consumer base feeling nostalgic and patriotic about the brand, but lacked new, younger fans. Young Romanians are disillusioned and cynical, only 12% describing themselves as patriots. They prefer 'cool' American confectionery brands like Snickers and Mars. How could ROM, a chocolate bar branded with the Romanian flag, gain appeal to youngsters so disengaged with national values? We knew that although Romanians tend to be negative about themselves and their country, their patriotism returns when challenged. This 'reactive patriotism' underpinned our ground-breaking campaign that challenged young people’s national ego in order to re-establish ROM as a cherished Romanian product and icon.

The campaign reached 67% of Romanians and generated €300,000 of free publicity. The ‘patriotism’ debate raged in the national media. Online response was phenomenal: in the first six days, ROM’s website had 75,000 unique visitors; Facebook fans rose by 300%; supporters launched petitions and even organised a flash-mob in the capital. Consumers created over 10 Facebook causes asking for the old ROM to be brought back, with the most popular reaching over 20000 users in one week, more than the cause for building national highways reached in one year! All brand image indicators have literally exploded, especially "ROM is a brand for me", which more than doubled, with a 124% increase. ROM outperformed the market, with a 20% growth (compared to 8.2% category growth) in the most relevant channel, hypermarkets. Most importantly, ROM ousted Snickers to become Romanians’ favourite chocolate bar, with a 79% increase of the indicator.

Our solution was simple: instead of fighting the likes of Snickers and Mars, we joined them. We replaced the Romanian ROM with an 'American' one – same product, same price, but branded with US colours.TV and poster ads launched the American ROM, bragging that the 'cool' new image will make Romanians feel prouder.

In-store 'American' brand ambassadors encouraged sampling.We fostered and encouraged social media discussions about the 'American takeover'. Twitter and blogs continued the debate which was monitored and moderated via a 24/7 'War Room' within the agency. We managed internal and stakeholder communications.Seven days later, following massive patriotic resurgence, TV commercials announced Romanian ROM’s comeback. All promotional materials changed overnight. We rewarded the campaign’s biggest enthusiasts, inviting them to participate in TV debates. The final reward was an anthem dedicated to the Romanian ROM and his fans – sang by real supporters of the brand.