1. THE ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL FOR CREATIVE THINKING
Change climate change
ANDRA APREOTESEI
MONICA GRAMA
ADINA STANESCU

2. Chapter I
The challenge
A major problem that threatens humanity as fiercely as wars and terrorist attacks is Global Warming. Our
worst enemy is coal-fired electricity, the major contributor to carbon emissions into the atmosphere, which,
ultimately, leads to Global Warming and Climate Change. The bright side is that, unlike terrorism, we do
know our enemy, its attacking strategy, its weapons and what we’re standing against of. The dark side is that,
even though our enemy is at the gates, nobody fights against it.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to rend people conscious of the real dimensions of the danger that threatens
them through a 360° campaign to shake them and turn their world upside down, thus changing their
impassibility mentalities into pro-active perspectives over climate change.
Studies have shown that the household sector is the most prone to decrease CO2 emissions on the short run, as
20% of the energy used in households is wasted by leaving lights on, taking long showers, using appliances
which are not energy efficient and leaving their gadgets on standby.
Chapter II
Background
In Romania, people are even less aware then in most countries, as they imagine Global Warming is none of
their concern, it’s just something that might happen after a couple of hundreds of years when there will be
nothing left of them or their offspring. Most of the Romanian say to their selves “Why should I care? Until
things stop working up there, my children and I will be looking at the sky six feet under.”
The largest city in Romania, where things actually happen and our events can have a strong impact on a large
mass of people is Bucharest, the country’s capital city, with more than 2 millions inhabitants, which makes
Bucharest the 6th largest capital in the UE.
In Romania, in 2008 we have had a reported 28304.7 millions of KWh of electric energy resources, with a
growth of 2494.6 millions of KWh (+9.7%) comparing to the same period in 2007. The increase in electric
energy resources is due to the growth of the production, with 2652.2 millions of kWh (+10.5%).
The final consumption of electric energy in this period was 22424.8 millions of KWh, and it has increased
with 5.4 % compared to the same period of last year; the public lightning also got higher with 8.3% and the
public consumption increased with 9.7%. These are some alarming figures.

3. The drinking water quantity distributed to Romanian consumers decreased last year with 4.6 millions of cubic
meters (0.4%) compared to 2007 and it reached 1 billion cubic meters, according to the National Institute of
Statistics. The consumption of drinking water for household use represents 2/3 of the total amount of drinking water
distributed last year. Unlike the national average amount of drinking water for household use in cities increased
with 2.4 % last year, up to 123.8 liters/inhabitant.
According to the National Institute of Statistics, the drinking water waste was really high, reaching a reported 41%
of the national consumption. In cities, the waste reached an astonishing 44%.
The Romanians reportedly consumed in September 2007 944 cubic meters of natural gas, 94 millions more than in
August of the same year, according to the National Authority of Regulation of Energy. 85% of the natural gas
provided to consumers in September was national production, while 25% were imported.
Romania is one of the countries with the highest level of fuel in Central and Eastern Europe, together with
Poland and Hungary,, according to Energy Business Review quoting a Data monitor study. As they say, the average
consumption increased with 3.4 % in the last for years, unlike the other countries around that reported a 2.8%
growth.
Chapter III
Are the Romanians aware?
Over the last few years, there were a few attempts to bring the concept of eco-friendly to the inhabitants of
Bucharest and to make them environmentally conscious. Most of them got unnoticed among the consumers as
they kept lacking interest in the environmental issues.
One of the most successful campaigns was “The Paper Tree Campaign”, a truly innovative project that aimed a
better environmental attitude by decreasing the average quantity of paper thrown away to garbage and increasing
the quantity of recycled paper. Sort was also a highly successful campaign aiming to sort the rubbish in the
Universitary Dorms under the headline “ changing Climate is down to you”. More Green is a Eco association that
has many high profile people in Bucharest as members and founders. Last year, they led together with Ursus, the
local beer manufacturer, two campaigns, thus trying two clean up the Danube Delta. and they also launched the
project called “The garden on the block of flats” that was meant to raise the number of green terraces in Bucharest.
The National Agency for Environmental initiated the “Shut down! Turn off! Recycle1” campaign for creating
awareness, educating and stimulating the employees of the environmental agencies in Romania to decrease their
water and energy consumption.

4. Chapter IV
Objectives
Through a totally integrated 360 campaign, we are trying to reach the consumers in Bucharest with a consistent
and compelling message – whether they taking a walk, watching TV, paying their bills or surfing the net.
Marketing objectives:
• To generate significant awareness of the real dimensions of the threat
• To provide valid reasons for consumers to decrease their consumption
• To secure decreasing with minimum 15% the level of consumption of water, gas, fuel and electric
energy in households.
Chapter V
An insight over the consumers
According to a lifestyle research that included both a qualitative and quantities stage using the Q methodology,
one of the most appropriate methods of lifestyle investigation. The study was developed on a representative
sample for the consumers in Romania and draws a portrait of all generations and their consumption habits, New
dimensions were also investigated, such as the lacks in their past that generate a certain level of consumption in
present time. Our research pointed out 6 different profiles of consumers, each of them individualized by a
different lifestyle, but what brought our attention was that their consuming habits are strongly influenced by
their attitude towards communism, as many of them had to strongly refrain before the Revolution in 1989 and
now they are somehow trying to make up for the lacks in their youth.
1. Old people that were relieved when the revolution happened, as they were strongly affected during
communism, as everything had been taken from them: their land, their possessions and they could not pursue
their intellectual ambitions. They tend to consume a lot in order to make up for their times of restraints.
2. Middle-aged people that are nostalgic after those times because they were granted a job, an income and an
apartment. This is why they tend to consume less and to be very economical
3. The entrepreneurs, also middle-aged, for whom the revolution brought a kind of freedom they didn’t hope for
and opportunities. They hated all the restraints: the national television channel only broadcasted for two hours a
day, they had running heated water in the morning and in the evening, they had to get up at 3 am and stay in line
for milk and

5. bread. This is why they tend to have a high level of consumption, as they are somehow trying to make up for all
the things they were denied.
4. The youngsters that loathe those years as they were completely denied their freedom. Some of them were
desperately trying to get out of the country before the Revolution, some had friends that were shot during the
revolution and some of them were actually revolutionaries. They are also strong consumers, and they feel they
take their revenge by purchasing everything they couldn’t afford or find before the revolution
5. Teenagers that were very young when the revolution happened and they don’t remember much from those
days; they simply can’t imagine life otherwise then free and with lots of choices. They demand a lot from their
parents and they are terrified at the idea of life under communism, without play station all day long and Internet
access no matter where or when.
First and foremost we must rend the inhabitants of Bucharest aware of the global warming threat, because they
are as interested in the environment right now as they are in the diseases of the children in Andalusia. That is not
interested at all.
Yet, why do the Romanians think and act like that? We are part of the UE, but still we think and act wrong.
Why is that?
Well, the answer is very simple. They have a mentality that was not eco educated, a mentality that
still doesn’t recover from the trauma of communism.
Chapter VI
The strategy
But all this lack of education and knowledge has it roots in the fact that Romania is a developing country, that has
had various problems and global warming is the smallest of them.
According to our research they still bear in mind the times before the revolution, the times when everything was
portioned, starting with the TV to running water, everything was given in a certain quantity and to a certain period
of time.
And all these restraints have ultimately led to an excessive consumption when the Romanians
were set free.
That is understandable, because if you want something badly enough for several years, when you finally have
access to it you get to consume it excessively.

6. Those years full of restraints and banning are in fact Romanians’ worst memories. Those are years that
nobody wants back.
However, all the inhabitants of Bucharest forget a crucial thing that might bring those years back
If you, my friend from Bucharest, keep wasting water, energy, gas and fuel, what do you think is going to
happen when we will run out if resources?
Chapter VII
Campaign
To all the inhabitants of Bucharest
We will tell a story without happy ending. A story in which the villain will be a dictator who has all the rights
to make the rules, and you my dear will have to accept that without protests. That story will be named THE
COMUNISM RELOADED (our concept)..
Twenty years ago you decided to set yourself free from the communist dictatorship because you were treated
like a puppet and your strings were pulled by the rulers. You started a revolution because of the shortcomings
and restraints that were enforced to you: two hours of television a day, heated water only in the morning and
in the evening, endless lines at 5 am for a bottle of milk, a single radio station, ratios of meat and bread,
censorship over everything that was cultural or religious.
But it seems that over the last 20 years you’ve been trying to lose everything you gained after the
communism’s fall and you’ve been trying to bring those years back.
Has it ever crossed your mind that the dictator you thought dead is right now on a yacht having a Martini and
planning his flashing comeback?
Stage 1. Teasing
We will have strategic partners with:
• Bucharest City Hall
• Nova Water
• Distri Gas
• The National Television
• Different Brands
• Hypermarkets like: Carrefour, Billa, Kaufland

7. We start the campaign with a one month teasing, spreading the news that Ceausescu, the dictator we’ve all
thought dead, is coming back.
So...
We raise the interest among the inhabitants of Bucharest.
How do we do that?
We start by spreading leaflets at the subway stations, bus stations, public squares, pieces of information that will
spread the rumour that Ceausescu is planning his comeback.
All the leaflets will differ from one week to another and will gather information about where Ceausescu is at the
moment, about where he was last seen, about a leek of information in his antourage. Furthermore, for the teasing
to sound authentical, all the information will be spread as to appear as secret information.
We will generate articles in the press announcing a so-called comeback of Ceausescu.
We will broadcast on the news programs testimonies of whitnesses claiming to have seen Ceausescu.
We will also create a blog for people to write about where they have last seen Ceausescu, about their memories
from the time he ruled them and about who they think is guilty of setting up his death and helping him seize
power again.
Just a few days before ending our teasing period we will make an announcement on the press, TV, leaflets and on
the blog that Ceausescu will most certainly be back in Bucharest on the exact date we will launch our campaign
and that he lives on a certain steet in Bucharest.

8. Stage 2. Campaign
On the day of the so-called comeback of Ceausescu in the city, the inhabitants of Bucharest will have a shock:
 When they turn on their TV in the morning on TVR (the national television) they will hear the national
anthem, they will only see on their screen the Romanian flag all day long, and they will only have two
hours of broadcasting in the evening.
 When they listen to the radio, they will hear the national anthem every half hour and ‘Long live
Ceausescu!’
 They will only have heated water during the morning and the evening
 When they enter a hypermarket, they will only find the basic products, such as milk, bread, meat, water
and soap.
 When they are walking down the street, they will see that Dambovita, the river that crosses Bucharest, our
artificial Seine, has run out of water.
 When they are walking in public squares, they will see that all the fountains have stopped working
 When trying to get a cab, they will see that a new taxi company has been founded, that instead of cars uses
horse-drawn carriages.

9. In the evening we will anounce on the news, on the Internet and on our blog that we have launched the
campaign to decrease the level of consumptionfor water, energy, gas and fuel.
Furthermore, in order to gain awareness in the first evening:
 All the important buiduings that are symbols of communism, such as the Parliament Palace,
Ceausescu’s Palace, The National Museum of Art, Casa Scanteia, Cotroceni Palace will be lighted
only with candles and torches.
 In all the clubs, the music and light will be suddenly turned off for a couple of minutes, and on the
background everybody will be able to hear the following message: “ This is a censorhip moment
against the high level of consumption of energy, gas, fuel and water”
On the same day we will launch on our blog an experiment, We will set a number of people in a house
somewhere in Bucharest that will live exactly the way they used to ;
ive in communism; in order to gain more hours of running water, gas, internet or light they will have to
overcome some daily tasks. Everything will be broadcasted on the Internet, live, 24/7, on our blog, during our
entire campaign. Each and everyone in the house will have their own blog in order to communicate with the
world outside the house.
After the launching day, we will attack Bucharest by direct marketing:
 All the electricty, water, gas bills will have the censorhip stamp on them

10. On all electrical equipment in companies, such as Xerox machines or printers, in shops, such as freezers,
in beauty salonsor in dry cleaner’s we will mark the censorhip tamp
 On all the blocks of flats with high level of consumption we will mark the censorship stamp
 We will launch a play station game and online games in which the player can be the actual dictator
and play with the lives of other.
.
Chapter VIII
Results
The campaign will be highly succesful and meet its objectives, as it will reach the whole Bucharest.
• Daily thousands of people pass through all the points where we develop our campaign.
• As the traffic statistics provided by the National Institute of Statistics show, the activities at the
subway station will reach 25% of the population of Bucharest (500 000 people).
• On the main public squares there is a daily traffic of 10 000 people and the public buildings are daily

11. We will also measure the impact of our campaign on blogs, by counting the views and setting a site traffic.
Each and every person that uses energy or water or gas receives bills, and evry single one of them will be
reached by the personalised bills with the censorship stamps on them.
After 6 months the inhabitants of Bucharest will have lowered their level of consumption by more than 15 %,
as our campaign will reach their innermost fears and each and every time they turn their water or leave their TV
on they will insantly think about how their lives would be if they could only watch TV two hours a day or have
running water only in the morning, like they used to to have before the revolution.
You can find more information on our blog, http://www.thealternativeschool.com/, or
mailto:roxana.balan@canneslions.ro