You will find below, in whole, stories from three big news networks in the world, as a case study on the impact that an original idea can have in sending a message and a correct image. (I know, for most of you there is nothing original in this).
Think like a news supplier for a second! He feels the need to convey something relevant for his audience. He does not want to convey the positive or the negative story – but the relevant one. It is relevant for the audience abroad – in the case of the UK, do you take into account the cliché-image of Romanians – that we rank last in Europe for blood donation (too)? (Well, second to last, if it’s any relief). Knowing that blood cannot be reproduced artificially, that without blood life is impossible, that the donor’s body shortly restores the donated amount of blood… yes, it is relevant to know that in a civilized country there is a problem with the system (perhaps with the people, those who “know what Romanians are like” will rush to say), if they cannot find a solution for volunteering in a vital issue (attention, it is no longer 100% volunteering in the case of an earthquake or helping a close relative or friend!). Whatever we may do, we won’t really be able to change this negative story about us, one more in the category „Romania is currently one of the worst European countries”… What can we say? Don’t believe statistics, Dracula’s descendants have a cult for their blood, that’s why they don’t want to donate it? ...
Perhaps, if we had a “different” idea, we could expect a positive story to be broadcast on BBC, without rigging reality, but in a form that says “these Romanian guys really understand they have a problem and look how smartly they are trying to solve it…”?
It seems so. This is an untold effect of a story irrigated by a smart idea, like that of the organizers of Untold Festival in Cluj. But we had a story about a festival like many others in the world, in a city like many others in the world, in a country like many others in the world, which doesn’t even donate blood!
Maybe there weren’t too many comments on theguardian.com, but look at the thousands of shares. And guess what? The first comment for a story in Romania is “What a brilliant idea!” of an active reader who calls himself benjicott. And, judging by the comments he had sent to many other articles, on various topics, I would not say he is Romanian (he has civil comments – a rare occurrence in our local forum-dweller’s blood type).
All of a sudden, however skeptical you may be, you are starting to see differently most of the events that have flooded Cluj this year, in the project European Youth Capital 2015. Perhaps those drums did not sound for nothing in Unirii Square. You see those 300,000 participants at Untold as marketing agents, which Diana Apan speaks about, at the SHARE federation, communication manager of Youth Capital. You see how, for instance, fitted with smart ideas, a project like Volunteers Academy has the chance to reach its goal “to create a volunteering network of the youth that want to get involved in the implementation process of the program Youth@Cluj-Napoca 2015 European Youth Capital. Our long-term objective is that once this network has been established and strengthened we can include the activities of these young volunteers in the projects, activities and bigger volunteering networks in Romania; also, we aim to establish partnerships with other youth organizations both from our country and from Europe”.
The remarkable on the city hall’s website
Let us try now to promote the story that “Cluj has a development strategy”. It is “a remarkable result of the community”, as the home page of the city hall’s website announces. Of course – 1300 pages or so. But why did the local media neglect it, or, when it didn’t, it treated it in a remarkably sarcastic way? It has remarkable views, such as “Cluj will be a European point of reference with its dynamic, vibrant cultural life, which supports experimentation and initiative. Culture will be a transversal factor in organizing the community, becoming the engine for social transformation and urban regeneration”. It has remarkable conclusions: “both the disadvantages and the competitive advantages of the city involve risks. The risk of disadvantages is aggravating in time, while the risk of advantages is being ‘imitated’/‘copied’ by competitor cities which can thus catch up with the advance of Cluj.”
Seriously now, I am truly trying to give you a positive story! Quiet on set, please… What about this, a little patience, please, maybe you like it – “The analyses we have carried out show that the cinema industry indicator, if we compare it to the university center or the medical center, seems to provide more competitive advantages for Cluj-Napoca than disadvantages. This conclusion can further launch the hypothesis that the idea of a cinema center is a potential director for the city’s strategic development in the coming years.”
What, what are you saying – that in Cluj there is a single company with more than 10 employees and a turnover of € 20,000 which has to do with TV/cinema? That a single flower does not bring the spring. Wait a minute, we are speaking of a potential, maybe you didn’t understand.
Wait… look, he turned the page, we lost a reader. You can’t really help me with a smart idea, let me give a 100% positive story, that Cluj has a strategy. Oh, don’t tell me that in the Transylvania Film Festival (TIFF) there is a section called Words Are Very Unnecessary!
The Untold festival takes place in Transylvania at the end of July, and organisers are hoping that their „pay with blood” campaign will encourage more donors to come forward, the national news agency Agerpres reports. Playing on the region’s association with Count Dracula, posters for the campaign show a vampire hooked up to a blood bag. „Given that Romania faces an acute blood shortage in medical facilities, a campaign that takes inspiration from these myths in order to draw attention to a real problem is more than welcome,” says the festival director Bogdan Buta.
Articolul face parte din numarul 7 al revistei Business Days Magazine.
Business Days Magazine este un proiect editorial Business Days care are scopul de a promova cultura antreprenoriala sanatoasa in Romania.
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