The Romanian government has recruited Ludgate Communications to
help foster understanding of the country’s privatisation process and the
notion of private share ownership.
Officially appointed earlier this month by the Romanian National Agency
for Privatisation, Ludgate has teamed up with specialist East European
PR outfit Woodstock Leasor in London and advertising parent
McCann-Erickson in Bucharest to explain the workings of capital markets,
and the stock exchange in particular, to Romania’s 17 million
people.
Around half a dozen other consultancies tendered for the contract in
November.
Funded by the European Commission’s Phare programme, the 12-month
campaign carries a budget of 750,000 ECU (pounds 536,000) and is part of
a 25 million ECU (pounds 18 million) European Union package of financial
and technical assistance.
The communications campaign is also linked to the economic reform
programme of Romania’s new prime minister Victor Ciorbea. The government
has pledged to speed up the privatisation of banks as a way of winning
back loans frozen by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in
1996. It also intends to sell off other state-run firms, including oil
refineries, and reinvigorate popular interest in share ownership.
The previous government’s mass privatisation programme proceeded slowly
and the old system of distributing vouchers to the public failed to
elicit much enthusiasm.
Ludgate managing director Tony Friend, who is leading the account, said
that the project in Romania would allow the agency to broaden its areas
of capability.
