Curtea Veche Publishing has received the highest disctinction of the marketing and communications industry in Romania – a Grand Effie at the 19th edition of the Romanian Effie Awards, for the „Book-a-Vax” campaign („O carte pentru un vaccin”). The anti-fake news marathon from May 2021 generated an important debate about vaccination and the pandemic at a critical time, it reached 6.5 million Romanians and in just one week it managed to motivate 7,500 people to go into a bookstore with their proof of vaccination, in order to receive a free book.
Besides the Grand Effie (the communication campaign of the year in Romania), the first award of its kind received by a publishing house in Romania, „Book-a-Vax” received a Gold Award in the Positive change: social good category. It was also secondin the top brands of 2022 line-up (after Tazz, tied with Carrefour Romania) and was nominated in three other categories: Branded Utility, Timely Opportunity, Other Products and Services.
Motivating their choice for the grand award, the jury explained what significant social impact this campaign had and how a small team from the cultural sector chose to battle the tidlewave of fake news.
In May 2021, during a new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a vaccination rate of 11% (fully vaccinated) and with hospital beds fully occupied in Romania, Curtea Veche Publishing was the first brand which took a public stance in favour of vaccination and against fake news, stressing the importance of an informed decision.
Curtea Veche Publishing & House of Arrows Team: Irén Arsene Máté (General Manager), Barna Némethi (Executive Director), Cristina Bărăităruș (Group Account), Theodora Petrescu (Account Manager), Miruna Meiroșu (PR Manager), Marius Motoca (PR Specialist), Maria Sarivan (Planner), Cătălin Tabacu (Copywriter), Dora Marian (Senior Creative), Sonia Ciocan (Senior Creative), Radu Osaciuc (Senior Creative).
The Romanian Effie Awards Gala took place on the 16th of June 2022, at Bragadiru Palace in Bucharest. Organised anually by the IAA (International Advertising Association) and the UAPR (The Union of Advertising Agencies in Romania – “Uniunea Agențiilor de Publicitate din România”), it is considered the most important event of the communication industry in Romania, because it focuses on results. The Effie Awards also have a European and a global branch.
The anti-fake news marathon, “Book-a-Vax”, added up to extremely high social media exposure, thousands of messages from followers, dozens of collaborators who joined forces with us, thousands of books offered by the publishing house through the Diverta chain of bookstores, and most importantly it added up to 7,500 people who decided to get vaccinated in just one week, as a result of an informed decision. For an entire day, during a live online stream, doctors, psychologists, anthropologists, public figures and authors of the publishing house spoke about the pandemic from different perspectives and chatted with the viewers. Among them there was Adrian Sângeorzan (MD and writer), anthropologist Alec Bălășescu, psychotherapist Gáspár György, musician Cornel Ilie (founder and lead man of the Vunk alternative rock band), former gymnast and olympic medalist Diana Bulimar, YouTubers Silviu Faiăr and Alex Zlăvog, writer Carmen Firan, TV producer Alex Donovici (also the most translated Romanian author of children’s books), lawyer Alina Dumitrașcu.
The campaign also received multiple accolades in the previous year: a Gold Award in the Crisis & Risk Management category at the Romanian PR Award (the most important national PR competition); a Gold Award in the Digital Platforms – Viral Non Video category and a Silver Award in the Digital Campaigns – Others category at the Internetics Festival (the most important Romanian festival dedicated to digital intelligence and excellence in online communication); a Bronze Award in the Special Projects category at Webstock (the most important event in Romania dedicated to social media and online communication).
This is not the first time when the communication team of the publishing house has received such awards. In the past they also won numerous prizes for big awareness campaigns or communication campaigns with a huge social impact. Recently, the #TimeToRead campaign (#TimpulSaCitim), brought to life together with Asociația Curtea Veche (the NGO founded by the owners of the publishing house) and Leo Burnett Bucharest, was nominated at the Global Effies 2021 and included in WARC – top 100 global most effective campaigns, a unique performance for a Romanian publishing house.