Clients pay much closer attention to advertising budgets, says Men in Black managing director

BTL agency Men in Black, with a fully Romanian shareholding structure, has recently rebranded and overhauled its identity. Cristian Ramboiu (in picture), managing director with the agency, tells Business Review about the various challenges on the market, among which the fact that customers are budget-conscious, and what are the plans of the agency in terms of development and strategy.

By Otilia Haraga

What was the purpose of Men in Black’s rebranding and what did this process involve?

Men in Black has evolved naturally, at the same pace with the advertising market. It made the transition from the ATL/BTL border to the entire spectrum of new communication channels and the way in which they are managed. The old signature: “Coming from below the line” had become just a clue to its origins, no longer describing current business capabilities, A research carried out among our clients and those who had contact with the organization revealed the profile of an agency that is focused on creatively finding solutions and implementing them fast and efficiently. As a result, from here to the new slogan “There, Taking Care” was just a simple step.

The rebranding required hiring an external brand consultant who helped us with the new positioning. A research was carried out among old and new customers who showed us how they perceive the collaboration with us (solutions, feedback, implementations, people, pro-activity).

Then we proceeded in-house with the creation of the new logo and headline, creating all visual identity materials, and later, brand communication.

Do you feel a pressure on prices on the market? How are BTL budgets these days?

“Pressure” is a strong word, I would say just that at the moment, clients are paying much closer attention to advertising budgets in general, and here, of course, I also mean the BTL ones.

The most used phrase by customers lately is “financial efficiency.” In a nutshell, the translation would be “good and cheap.” Whoever found the answer to this equation is definitely still on the market and still has satisfied customers.

“Cheap” does not mean only smaller fees or less coverage and inadequate quality of the materials. A correct translation of the phrase is how courageous one can be to challenge the customer’s brief and come up with alternative solutions within the given budget, and reach the targets. It’s pretty complicated, isn’t it?

One thing is for sure: customers are more and more attentive to the final figure stipulated in the budget, and even more, sometimes they are those who propose “budget efficiency” solutions. Not out of the desire to have the last word, but simply because of need.

However, the weight of the projects and the pressure to deliver results rests also on the shoulders of the agency. The cost per contract writes the law in BTL. It builds but also ruins relations.

Last year, Men in Black posted a turnover of EUR 4 million. What estimations do you have for this year?

The outlook is positive for this year as well, but the year is far from over. The business is constant, which makes us estimate we will equal the turnover we posted last year.

Currently, we have a team of 33 project managers, over 270 permanent employees, over 5,000 collaborators, over 1,500 implemented projects, 75 million consumer hits, 10,000 sqm of warehouse at national level.

We have evolved from the point of view of the space and procedures. But we have evolved the most from the viewpoint of the people in the agency.

When do you plan to relaunch the website?

We wish to have a competitive and good-looking website, which requires time and focus. By the end of the year, it will be online.

Have you received any takeover offers, and if so, would you be interested?

A suitable metaphor for this would be: we went hiking together to conquer a mountain peak.The climb was a and is hard, but we have stayed in the same formula. We have all weathered various storms, we have slipped, we have run out of supplies at times, but none of us has returned. On the short and medium term, we are decided to reach the chalet at the top. However, on the long term, the weather can change. There were moments when we were invited to take shelter at various hosts, but we preferred to continue our climb.

Will there be any changes in the shareholding structure soon?

The founders of the company- Cristian Lica, Bogdan Kisescu and Gabriel Pricop- are still involved in various aspects of the company’s activity, but their role lies rather in the strategic and development area, and less in the execution area. On the other hand, we have a very talented creation director, Sorina Pentilescu, who has a wide experience in communication (ATL, BTL and online) and manages to come up with creative solutions to the most diverse demands.

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