Context: Athens, international marketing event, 2005
on behalf of my company, i.e. my country
(Romania and Bulgaria were guests of honor)
Thank you for invite us here.
It is a usefull meeting for Eastern Europe.
A WHITE event, if I may refer to one of our colleagues slogans.
And what is the meaning of white color?
Freedom. Possibilities. Friendship. GREECE.
Last year it was launched in New York an advertising book named LOVEMARKS.
It is a new marketing concept raised by Kevin Roberts, Saatchi&Saatchi CEO. He asserts that success of a brand is made by features and reasons beyond needs and interests.
Greece is no doubt a LOVEMARK, a successful brand.
Romania has a huge handicap concerning its image: unfortunately our USP is abandoned children, corruption, prostitution, poverty and, of course, Dracula (who is often located in Hungary!).
Our Government is very preoccupied to change this perception.
We hosted in Bucharest last year a specialist in country branding, Wally Ollins. One of the items he stressed in his conference was that for a succesful outside image you have to be a trustful partner for your neighbors. Even if Greece is not one of our neighbors, during history we were quite near.
Let me present you my company, XXX – both a partner and a channel to engage partnerships.
(POWER POINT presentation)
In our days, when technical achievement allows to have a sort of „ready-made worlds” we think that the role of national news companies is crucial.
We are proud to assume a very important role in order to dispatch the real image of Romania: an attractive country, and decided to earn the quality of EU membership in 2007.
Last year, in Dublin, on EU enlargement, the writer Seamus Finney mentioned the ancient Greeks who considered everybody else being barbarians.
Consequently being modern, being European is being a bit Greek.
Is good to be here. Thank you.
.................................
So, debriefing:
As we easily can notice, it is about the same, and the only
"First Rule of Communication.. the only one"
Genuinely choose/cherish/celebrate,
the other’s and your joy of being -choose respectfully/cherish playfully/celebrate authentic
More about this rule (in Romanian):
Communication technique/case study
My first public speech was in Greece too,
at the University of Kastoria, near Thessaloniki,
with a conference dedicated to Summer Paralympics Games 2004.
It was a very empowering experience for me because
I was told to speak just 2 hours before the event,
while being on the way to Kastoria by car...
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