OXYGEN embraces a future-looking mindset

Managing growth, identifying and attracting the right talent, and remaining agile in a highly unpredictable environment were the main challenges OXYGEN faced last year. Business Review spoke to Tereza Tranakas, Founder & CEO of OXYGEN, who highlighted the company’s key achievements last year and revealed the recipe for its success.

By Anda Sebesi

What is your leadership style and how does it support your company’s performance?

I empower people and I do my best to lead by example, setting forth a vision and series of core values that act as our North Star. I acknowledge the fact that the company’s performance is the team’s merit, under the guidance of its top management. I work side by side with my team, with continued passion and dedication for what we do, aiming to evolve and develop ourselves and our company. Last but not least, I believe Romania is a good place to do business—it offers many possibilities for growth and development. I am also happy to see that there are many women-led businesses that are thriving here, as we are an open and inclusive society.

What were your main professional achievements in 2023?

I am grateful for the fact that Oxygen has become a positive reference on the highly competitive market of advertising & communication. Fifteen years since our establishment, it is truly rewarding to see that our hard work, dedication, and strong strategic and creative forces are yielding results and bringing us to a leading position on the market as an independent, forward-thinking communications agency. In terms of numbers, we are the only agency with two offices—in Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca—and a Sustainability department, a super team of 70 passionate and creative communication professionals, a diverse client portfolio made up primarily of dozens of large multinationals from various industries as well as several local clients, and a turnover of EUR 7.5 million for 2022, which positions us among the leading integrated agencies on the market.

What were the biggest challenges your business sector faced last year and how did you navigate them?

The main challenges for Oxygen last year were managing growth, identifying and attracting the right talent, and remaining agile in an ever-changing environment. Expanding our team, using AI to streamline activities, and running a tight ship have been essential in managing growth. I am pleased that our agency’s healthy culture, built carefully over time, has succeeded in placing us as a preferred employer in our industry. At the same time, agility has been one of our core advantages—we are fast decision-makers and embrace a future-looking mindset. We always try to be prepared for tomorrow but keep things flexible in order to easily adapt to all the uncertainty.

Humanity has a tough road ahead, with the environmental crisis, the depletion of resources, threats to food safety, geopolitical tensions, migration, pandemics, and so on. All these will influence human behaviour and change the way we do business. We get excited about the impact of technology, data, and innovation, but the ability of the individual to look at all that in a creative way is key. I believe that creativity is the most powerful tool in solving problems and finding solutions. It’s the superpower of the future. The fact that we have this creative and strategic mindset in our DNA makes our business unique and resilient.

Goals for 2024:

Remain one of the top advertising & communications agencies on the market and maintain our clients’ trust;
Continue our healthy development;
Keeping creativity as a top priority.