UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST

FACULTY OF JOURNALISN AND COMMUNICATION

STUDIES

ADVERTISING AS A LINK BETWEEN

INDIVIDUALS AND COMMUNITY

Candidate
Ștefania Adriana Dobrescu

An applied project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the admission in the
MA Programme - Media, Public Communication and Globalization, organized and hosted by the
Faculty of Journalism and Communication Studies of the University of Bucharest.

July 2019
 For this applied project I decided to discuss the existing founder raising campaign
organized by part of the cultural community for Mr. Processor Vintilă Mihăilescu. This campaign
took place in Bucharest, starting from July 11th to 14th, at Mobius Gallery and Scena9, and
involved 30 artists, many people from the cultural community, public figures and a lot of people
who give their time and knowledge to raise money for the surgical procedure needed by Mr.
Mihăilescu.
The idea behind the campaign was to raise money by organizing an art auction, where we
could sell artworks donated by artists, and all the money would be donated directly into Mr.
Mihăilescu’s family account. I consider the subjects to be appropriate for this applied project
because it corresponds to the fundamental concerns of advertising management. As I've come to
comprehend while organizing the event and also writing this project, the subject has a lot to do
with the need for advertising and promotion, setting objectives, strategy, planning, the care
needed in approaching the term ‘audience’, using media and its appropriateness to reach the
target audience1, resource constraints, product personality and the post-event results analyzing, of
course, in these cases, we cannot talk about other significant elements of advertising,
competition, but it is highly valid when we talk about the contemporary art market.
I have proposed this subject because it’s a great example of an advertising campaign that
focuses on creating involvement from the targeted audience. This kind of campaign is unusual in
the contemporary art scene but it reflects a key aspect - developing a marketing communication
that must do more than just influence brand awareness or enhance consumer attitudes toward the
brand.2 The motivation for presenting this project also comes from being able to present
descriptive research as I was part of the organization team. Moreover, this gives me the
possibility to approach a different perspective on the events. Because I choose to write about
something that happened on the cultural scene, it would be useful to gain an in-depth
understanding of this specific context. Using the current study material I can overpass the
descriptive research and create a research design starting from naturalistic observation that can
become an evaluation research. This kind of approach would be effective in investigating causes
existing in internal validity, also giving the possibility to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of
1
Manendra Mohan, Advertising Management, Concepts and Cases, Tate McGraw-Hill Publishing Company
Limited, New Delhi, 2008, p. 65.
2
Terence A. Shimp, Advertising Promotion and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications, South-
Western Cengage Learning, United States, 2010, p. 18.
the campaign.
For the core of this project, I would like to discuss the specifics of market offerings 3, the
encouraged audience behavior, budget, objectives, the message created to sustain the campaign,
on the way we use various fields such as mass media, telecommunication, and advertising to
ensure the success of this event and the importance of timing for starting a campaign.
Together with my team, I have followed the found-raisins campaigned initiated by Mr.
Mihailescu’s family since the beginning of June 2019. Besides donating, we try to use our social
platforms and credibility to encourage people in joining forces for this cause, but as time went by
we quickly come to realize that the amount, 250.000 euros needed by the beginning of July, was,
without doubt, unachievable. With little time on our hands, less than 2 weeks, we decide to
organize an art auction.
We start by setting objectives, for this, we begin with two questions - 1. What king of behavior
should this campaign generate? 2. How do we encourage the generated behavior? The main focus
was, of course, Mr. Mihăilescu, and the approach we have regarding his image was essential to
be discussed from the beginning and followed strictly through the campaign. The main was not to
present him as a sick person, encourage people to feel sorry, but concentrating on his importance
as a writer, professor, and intellectual, highlighting the essence of his work for society. With this
in consideration, we build our project by creating a chain of solidarity. In this situation,
effectiveness was demonstrated by contributing to the campaign, this was considerate the desired
behavior. Our position was in contact with involvement and solidarity. This being established we
use solidarity and Alongside Vintilă Mihăilescu to represent and describe the campaign. For this
instance, I would have liked to go more in-depth touching the positive emotional appeal, having
in consideration the fact that moral appeals attempt to draw audience attitude to what is “right”. 4
One thing I wish would have been made more clear is the product-oriented strategy vs costumer-
oriented strategy. The line between those two was vague and the delimitation was not made clear.
We could use the image of a painting to serves as the costumer-orientated strategy, appealing to
the emotions of the potential buyers. Then, the descriptions of the works would have become the

3
Gary Armstrong, Stewart Adam, Sara Denize, Philip Kotler, Principles of Marketing, edition 6, Pearson Australia,
Melbourne, 2015, p.6

4
S H H Kazmi, Satish K Batra, Advertising And Sales Promotion, edition 3, Excel Books, New Delhi, 2008, P. 124.
product-oriented strategy.5
After agreeing on the terms concerning the objectives and presentation, we needed the
products. The first proposal to donate works for the auction was directed to the artists represented
by us. Knowing with certitude that we will have to present more, we contacted the other gallery
owners, so they could have the possibility to inform and discuss this proposal with the artists that
every gallery represents. At the same time, as an artist, working exclusively with an art gallery
means that you will have to announce and consult the galleries about any decision you are
inclined to do. Being part of this community we were well aware of these contractual obligations.
For those hard to reach we collaborated with other representatives of the contemporary art scene.
Having these three points reach, our artists, independent artists and other gallery artists in five
days we collected 33 artworks from well know artist or emergent, in different mediums -
painting, sculpture, installations, photography, collage, drawing. In this situation besides having a
reasonable number of artworks for the auction, we also extended our campaign through other
people's channels of communication. At this point, we have the products, the promotions of the
project are now viable throughout the gallery that agreed to be a part of this, but also throughout
the artist represented by the galleries.
Without a doubt, our two fundamental purposes were to raise money for the professor’s
surgery by selling as much of the artworks as possible and encouraging people to donate smaller
amounts. For this and through this campaign we had in mind the broader and more complex
composition of marketing so we created activities related to customer need, fulfillment, and
satisfaction6, which originates from the feeling of solidarity and involvement and at the same
time being able to obtain artworks. This is a crucial element to achieve something difficult in the
contemporary art market, the improvement of the relationship between buyers and sellers and to
create a mutually beneficial exchange7.
Regarding the budget, we know from the beginning that this project will have to be
equally substantial and inexpensive because all the money that we’re going to be raised will be
donated so we use affordable methods. Our main costs were directed to well-presented art
5
Michelle Huang (ed.), The Reception of Chinese Art Across Cultures, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, United
Kingdom, 2014, p. 282.
6
Kurt Shah, Alan D’Souza, Advertising and Promotions - an IMC Perspective, Tata McGraw-Hill Company
Limited, New Delhi, 2009, p. 7-8.
7
Idem.
objects. For this, we spent the most on framing the artworks, besides this, there was a small part
directed towards social media paid advertising. For protocol goods, like water, wine we asked for
donations. With help from companies providing this kind of goods and volunteer work form
many people, we succeed to maintain a minimum budget.
As soon as everything was confirmed we start the promotion and advertising activities for
informing, reminding and reinforcing. For social media marketing, we use Facebook and
Instagram, platforms where we wanted to make relevant and genuine contributions to consumer
conversations8, platforms where we know there is the appropriate audience for the product. At the
same time, the reaction regarding the campaign was immediate and suitable for receiving
feedback about the product leveraging this information to reach an even wider audience. As the
campaign went by we used paid banners, targeting people from urban areas, interested in art,
contemporary art, and anthropology, with ages between 25 and 60 years old. For Instagram we
use mainly images and just a couple line of text about important details about the event, tagging
the artists and the galleries they are working with if it was the case. For Facebook we use the
event created for the vernissage and auction to add more details about the campaign and create a
biography of Mr. Mihăilescu, sharing articles written about his work. and Even if we had
immediate feedback and a large reached audience, one of the concerns and aspects weren’t able
to measure was the impact of social media on the behavioral change. More specifically, if the
online behaviors can translate to offline, also having in consideration the incidental exposure.9
Even if we are well aware of the importance of social media and its power of reaching the
desired audience, especially in our business, we are dealing with a product that is an image. But
also understanding that this image has a story behind it that gives the value and makes it unique
and desirable. Without this story, the image loses its power to touch people's sensitivity, even if
the viewer has the power to create its interpretation. With this in mind, we try to use a form of
testimonial advertising. We contacted influencers, knowing that very popular people can generate
popularity for the campaign10. Following the desire to get involved, TV and radio public figures,
politicians, actors, photographers, writers or institutions that we know or that other people could

8
Philip Kotler, Gary Armstrong, Principles of Marketing, edition 14, Pearson Education, United Kingdom, 2012, p.
18.

9
Shelly Rodgers (ed.), Esther Thorson, Digital Advertising: Theory and Research, edition 3, Routledge, New York,

2017, p. 275.
put us in contact. The idea behind this was every person could choose one artwork and write a
very personal text about what that artwork means to her/him. Another method that I think would
have been for use is the testimonial of average-user. A spokesperson that is not a celebrity or
portrayed as a collector but an average person, a person to whom the audience can consider
similar to themselves.11
Another aspect of getting the message to people was our site and newsletter database. For
this we put together a mail containing essential pieces of information of the vernissage (the
special event organized in the day of the exhibition opening, meant to present all the works) and
auction, a short biography of Mr. Mihăilescu, details about his illness and statement, the account
people can donate to and a list with the works available in the auction. After we send the first
mail to all the people in our database we decide to create another one, with a personal invitation
from the gallery’s staff. This time we addressed our message to university, media agencies, press,
and collectors.
Because of the usually restricted budget, we come to develop a large audience using direct
marketing. Direct mail was another way used in this campaign, the advantages we have using this
kind of marketing are related to being immediate and customized, messages can be prepared very
quickly and can be tailored to appeal to specific consumers, it is interactive, it allows a dialogue
and it leads to one-to-one customer relationships.12
The most important aspect of all the online campaign we did on social media, mail or mouth to
mouth was to gather insight about every action that we did. For social media platforms, having a
business account gave us the details on how our paid campaigns reach the people and how any
interaction with the message. For the newsletter campaign, we use MailChimp, using this
platform in two days form the first mail we check the hours that people opened our message and
how many they were in total. So for the second mail, we were able to be more precise regarding
the schedule.
We made sure that we are communicating the message through broadcast media because

10
Thomas O'Guinn, Chris Allen, Richard J. Semenik, Advertising and Integrated Brand Promotion, Cengage
Learning, United States, 2011, p.350
11
Ibidem, p.349.
12
Philip Kotler, Gary Armstrong, op. cit., p. 425.
it has a high reach and it’s high in geographic and demographic selectivity 13. Following the
schedule of the reporters, we manage to have one broadcast before the vernissage and one after
the auction, with the mention that donations still can be made. In both broadcasts we talk about
the solidarity of the cultural community, part of the artists involved presented their reasons for
accepting the proposal to get into this project, and in the second broadcast, we made sure to
include some of the people that bought art from the auction.
The vernissage was the possibility to interact with potential buyers and other people that can
support the campaign. We made sure to have a positive attitude and also be well informed about
every artist and artworks presented, explaining them in an easy to understand manner. Rather
than just mentioning the purpose of the event we wanted to make sure we build relationships with
the potential costumers and strengthen the relationships we already have with some of the
costumers.
more precise regarding the schedule.
On the day of the auction, we had the second TV team ready to film the whole event and
interview the artist that were present and the buyers. In the day we were mostly concentrated on
putting into action the whole plan concerning the organization and promoting the event on social
platforms via live transmissions, also making sure that we cover the bets by telephone and email.
At the end of this project, together with all the people who joined forces for this, we were able to
sell eight works out of thirty-three and raise a considerable amount of money. The importance of
our statement after the event was equally important to the one we did transmit during the
campaign. We made sure to thank and appreciate everyone involved but also be transparent about
the results of this found raising campaign.
After making a summary of what we have done in this campaign I have come to
understand that such actions are more complex than a basic framework for advertising planning
and decision making that presents as key steps - situation analysis, marketing program,
advertising plan, and implementation. Time was from the beginning, not a favorable factor. Since
we decide to do this campaign and until the time the money was needed there was a little bit more
than two weeks. For this problem, a smaller number of works could’ve offered us more time for
promoting the campaign. On the day of the auction there were thirty-four artworks, because of

13
C. L. Tyagi; Arun Kumar, Advertising Management, Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi, 20014, p.
44.
this we spend to much time on transportation schedule and visits for framing. Moreover, the
target audience was too broad, there was no information regarding job description, hobbies,
earnings or other aspects essential in an exact identification.
In this instance understanding the audience, economic and social environment to which
the audience belongs was a key point, that could have been more discussed in planning the
campaign. Having in mind all the actions that we decided to do I could say that the pull strategy
was, at that moment, the most viable solution we had, also being in accord with our purposes,
budget, and image.
Bibliography

1. Armstrong Gary, Adam Stewart, Denize Sara, Kotler Philip, Principles of Marketing
edition 6, Pearson Australia, Melbourne, 2015.
2. Huang Michelle (ed.), The Reception of Chinese Art Across Cultures, Cambridge Scholars
Publishing, United Kingdom, 2014.
3. Kazmi S. H. H., Batra K. Satish, Advertising and Sales Promotion, edition 3, Excel
Books, New Delhi, 2008.
4. Kotler Philip, Armstrong Gary, Principles of Marketing, edition 14, Pearson Education,
United Kingdom, 2012.
5. Mohan Manendra, Advertising Management, Concepts and Cases, Tate McGraw-Hill
Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi, 2008.
6. O'Guinn Thomas, Allen Chris, Semenik Richard J., Advertising and Integrated Brand
Promotion, Cengage Learning, United States, 2011.
7. Rodgers Shelly, Thorson Esther, Digital Advertising: Theory and Research edition 3,
Routledge, New York, 2017.
8. Shah Kurt, D’Souza Alan, Advertising and Promotions - an IMC Perspective, Tata
McGraw-Hill Company Limited, New Delhi, 2009.
9. Shimp A. Terence, Advertising Promotion and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing
Communications, South-Western Cengage Learning, United States, 2010.
10. Tyagi C. L., Kumar Arun, Advertising Management, Atlantic Publishers and Distributors,
New Delhi, 20014.