Grey: We're among the top 3 countries in the region, after Russia and Poland

Grey Bucharest, a major advertising agency din Romania, in the first half of this year derived turnover similar to the level reached in 2007, as its two new customers (Bosch and Weber) and the expansion of existing businesses, managed to fill the "ga

"Late last year, we lost an important customer (Heineken), but in the first half of this year we covered the gap by gaining new customers. (...) We may not experience growth like last year, when turnover increased 36%, but we expect a two-digit performance," says Laura Tampa, managing director of the agency. Last year, the firm reported 27.3m-euro turnover.
An important change introduced in the first half was the re-creation of the strategy department, to be run by Stefan Stroe, a former Strategic Planning Director of Starcom, the media agency of Leo Burnett group. "(...) Clients want strategy and one has to have such a department to best meet their requirements", states Tampa. Though the 2007 financial results were satisfying, Tampa in early 2008 said the goals for last year had been 80% fulfilled. She was not satisfied with the agency's failure to gain customers in the financial-banking and consumer goods fields, a reason why the agency has attended account pitches in these industries in recent months.
The agency's most important customers are British American Tobacco (BAT), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Procter&Gamble (P&G), Romtelecom, ClickNet and Bosch.
In 2007, when she took over from Mihail Vartosu, Laura Tampa described Grey as a "fair" agency, which particularly relied on the creation of efficient campaigns.
"Compared to two years ago, the agency is much stronger in terms of creation, a fact confirmed at national and international festivals," says Tampa.
Besides the strengthening of the creation department, Laura Tampa also wants to develop the agency in unconventional areas, although, unlike the representatives of other communication companies, Grey manager says she is not considering setting up an online unit.
Grey Bucharest is part, together with MediaCom agency, of Grey Romania group, which ended last year with turnover worth 60.3m euros, compared with 41.7m euros at the end of 2006. Grey Bucharest is the domestic subsidiary of Grey group, part of WPP.
"We are among the top three in the region after Russia and Poland. Creatively, I think we're on the top spot, like Turkey," Laura Tampa says.