President
Ruxandra Rău – Director Brand & Communication Strategy, Telekom Romania Mobile
Organizing Committee 2022
Nicolae-Cătalin Cirstea – Senior Brand Manager Flavored Non-alcoholic, Ursus Breweries
Marketeer with 8 years of experience in brand-building.
I started my marketing career in an entrepreneurial environment, at the Titi Aur Academy, where I experienced for the first time the definition of a relationship with the consumer. Subsequently, I continued my career in Unilever, where I was part of the staff team that dealt with the deodorant and oral-care categories and the execution of Rexona and Signal brands in 7 countries.
I am currently Senior Brand Manager at Ursus Breweries and deal with Ursus Cooler, the alcohol-free flavored brand. From strategic brand positioning exercises and annual planning exercises, to coordinating the implementation of plans with direct and cross-functional teams.
I believe that a brand should be ambitious and always focus on making an impact (aka a change in behavior) in the lives of consumers. I treat brands and campaigns with a very simple model: to be differentiated, to stand out, consistent, clear and … to be convincing.
Wenka Booij – Head of Brand and Marketing, ING Bank Romania
Wenka started her marketing and communication career with KPN, the telecom market leader in the Netherlands, where she o.a. ran campaigns introduced a new mobile brand and set up an internal marketing academy. In 2011 Wenka joined ING, developing the employer brand for the management trainee segment. After heading the brand direction team at the ING Global Brand Management department in Amsterdam Wenka joined the Romanian organization in March this year.
She combines creativity and strategy to build brands and create meaningful impact, aiming to do that not only in business but also in life.
Ileana Cociaș – Senior Marketing Director, Procter & Gamble South East Europe
Strategic marketing leader with 15+ years experience in advanced marketing. Passionate about building strong teams and partnerships. Results oriented, and driven to deliver strong market growth across the various EMEA regions and across various FMCG portfolios from grocery, to beauty, to petfood. In depth knowledge of both Eastern and Western Europe countries as well as a complex range of commercial business models ranging from distributor to direct markets. Passionate and experienced in end-to-end marketing from the design phase to the in-market sales plan execution. Core areas of expertise:
• Organizational structure design
• Brand and portfolio management
• End to end marketing design and execution
• Marketing capability building
• Transition Management during Divestitures
• Agency and external partners management
• Key Accounts (Trade) management
• Team management (direct reports & multi-functional teams 40+)
• Budget management and cost optimization with focus on ROI
Mihai Trandafir – Managing Director, UM Romania
19 years of experience in advertising, in a leading Media Agency in Romania, UM
Agency of the Year @ Festival of Media Global in 2016 (amongst over 10 other awards)
European Media Agency of The Year at Eurobest 2015
28 Cannes Awards
3 Grand Effies in the last 6 years, Gold in Media Innovation
Member of the Jury in Festival of Media Global Finals, as well as in Cannes Lions in 2017
President of the Effie Romania Organizing Committee 2018
Specialties:
Media & Advertising Strategies, Connection planning,
Research & Negotiations
Diana Crâșmariu – Head Of Strategy, Cohn & Jansen JWT
15 years of advertising, of which more than half in strategy, Effie winner several times.
Corina Bratu – Planning Director, Leo Burnett
For 12 years in the industry, I am still just as excited to be paid to ask questions, to solve human nature issues, and to advocate for what I think is right.
I am lucky to have smart colleagues and clients from various industries, from FMCG to Telco, and from everyone who steals every day, on local and regional projects.
In 2019, I graduated with another MBA founded by Seth Godin, a fantastic experience, which reconfirmed to me that I am exactly where I need to be.
Irina Pencea – Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Jam Session Agency
Irina Pencea is Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Jazz, one of the most awarded independent agencies in Romania both locally and internationally and has 22 years of experience in communication and brand strategy, business development and management.
Roxana Mătăşel – Marketing Director, Sphera Franchise Group
I am 16 years old in the field of Marketing and Communication, 13 years old exclusively employed in advertising agencies and 3 years old in Marketing in the company in which I still work.
I started in advertising in the Customer Service department until I reached the position of Group Account Director and then I migrated to the Strategy department. The main agencies I worked for are Young & Rubicam, Gray (formerly Geometry) and Mccann, I worked on many accounts and in many categories I will mention just a few: P&G, Vodafone, Doncafe, Bancpost, Mastercard, Caroli Foods, Unilever, Heineken, Nestle , KFC, PizzaHut.
Simona Panait – Corporate Marketing /SEROM/Principal Professional/Samsung Electronics, Samsung Romania
Simona Panait joined the Samsung Romania team in the summer of 2016 as Marketing Manager in the Southeast Europe region.
He currently holds the position of Marketing & Online Director Romania and Bulgaria, being responsible for marketing and communication strategy, digital and e-commerce activities for the entire product portfolio, respectively corporate citizenship and public affairs activities.
Simona Panait has over 16 years of experience in marketing, previously holding the position of Operations Marketing Manager for Romania and Moldova at Coca-Cola Company, as well as the position of Global Marketing Manager for Ilko Coffee International, a joint venture between Coca-Cola Company and illy Caffe. In the past, she coordinated the marketing and management team in Coca-Cola HBC Romania as National Marketing Manager.
Bianca Mănescu – Head Of Strategy, Kubis
For 12 years I have strongly believed that I have advertising in my blood, and my obsessive passion for strategy has grown day by day. I have the good fortune and the opportunity to grow an ambitious and talented team of strategists and to help brands in various industries to show empathy and a dose of courage.
Effie is the annual strategy review and the most desired scene for my team.
Adrian Tuluca – Managing Partner, Propaganda Creative
Adrian Tuluca is the entrepreneur who founded in 2002 the Propaganda agency, one of the most well-known independent creative agencies operating in Romania. In 2013, the company had 5 divisions, including the media, digital and branding division. The advertising agency has several important competitors such as the companies that are part of Leo Burnett & Target and Ogilvy & Mather Advertising. The founder of Propaganda also worked for McCann Erickson for five years, gaining experience in advertising.
Mircea Stăiculescu – Founding Partner, Headvertising
Strategic thinker with a solid background in business and communication.
Having worked with most industries in the 25+ years since in marketing & advertising, I have developed a knack for tackling challenging projects in order to find effective solutions.
I have completed a wide range of advertising projects which contributed to increase of sales and marketing figures for various clients in most industries: agriculture, automotive, banking, beverages, construction, consumer foods, health care, hospitality, household goods, insurance, media, pharma, real estate, telecom, transportation, utilities.
Catalin Albu – Head of Client Business Management, Publicis Groupe
One of the old (literally) guys, celebrating 18 years going on 50 at Publicis. Currently Head of Client Business Management, managing the entire client portfolio of the agency and leading a team of 30+ professionals.
A long-time Effie lover, contributor and winner. A strong believer in #EffieThinking. For the first time in the Steering Committee this year and looking to bring my contribution to what I consider the most relevant Marcom competition in Romania.
Have climbed a few mountains over 5.000 meters and have run a few marathons (OK, just one and it was really a semi), not counting the ones at the office.
