Its rich cultural heritage, as well as its natural beauty, predestine Romania to be a country that attracts and delights the tourists who want to enjoy the picturesque and mysterious Carpathian landscapes. Although plenty of lovely things can be said about Romania, the country does not bear the best image amongst foreigners.

Shortly after the fall of communism in 1989, Romania faced a state of economic isolation followed by a massive residents’ emigration to other European countries to achieve a better financial situation. After reaching more economically flourishing states, Romanians were immediately labelled as beggars, criminals, or thieves outside its borders, mostly for not-so-commendable actions of a minority of their people.

Now, it is mainly up to Romanians to prove us otherwise and to establish what their real spirit is. Their duty to change the way they are perceived by other nations inspired McCann Romania to design the first virtual ambassador of Romania, a learning machine app, which further tells the story of the Balkan country, also written by its own citizens.

Originally launched in 2016 for local chocolate brand, ROM Autentic, the artificial intelligence bot, dubbed as “ROMBOT,” aims to bring Romanians together by making users actively participate in creating a better image of the country and contributing in developing the bot’s balanced knowledge.

The AI, which learns and feeds itself on information received from tens of thousands of Romanians, managed to accumulate enough data, and starting from May, the bot takes the assimilated material to the next level, displaying its updated knowledge to foreigner visitors. Being an ambassador, and therefore a representative of the country, ROMBOT learned English, so that anyone can discover Romania’s treasures that make the country so beautiful.

Being a social experiment, ROMBOT invites Romanian fellows to chat and asks them to answer some of its questions. More than 30,000 Romanians were involved in the educational process, with the purpose to revive the way foreigners see the country and its inhabitants. The bot pushes Romanians to join forces and build an ambassador that shows the true colors of the nation that dwells around the mystical Carpathian Mountains.

Talking about the robot’s purpose, Cătălin Dobre, chief creative officer at McCann Worldgroup Romania, spoke about the bot that mirrors Romanian society, saying how it “is like a child. A child that is raised by 19 million people. Each of us can teach it about what they consider to be important. […] If [Romanians] always complain about the bad image abroad, here is [their] opportunity to change it. But there’s only one condition. [They] can do this only together.”

The knowledge of the Romanian intelligent platform can be completed daily as Romanians are invited to join an open chat with the bot. At the same time, foreigners can access its official English page to find out what’s so special about Romania and learn more about it, exactly as the users present it. So, if you’re thinking of visiting, don’t hesitate and try to ask to Romanians yourselves – it might provide you with some interesting answers.

Before developing the chatbot, the chocolate brand was concerned with another Romanian issue: the national anthem. Because the lyrics of the national hymn continue to be unfamiliar for many, ROM launched an intelligent initiative to educate Romanian citizens. Released right in time for National Anthem Day, the company challenged Romanians to learn the lyrics of their national hymn, from strangers. Although the brand’s move offended some online users, it had reached its true goal: during the campaign, more than 700,000 people were exposed to the national anthem, making Romanians aware of the importance of knowing the lyrics which define the history of their proud country.

Credits:

Client: ROM Autentic

Advertising Agency: McCann, Bucharest, Romania

Executive Creative Director: Ioana Filip

Chief Creative Officer: Cătălin Dobre