Cheil | Centrade Is Only Romanian Agency Awarded at MAD STARS

Integrated communication and data intelligence agency Cheil | Centrade, the hub for Southeast Europe of the Korean network Cheil Worldwide, is the only agency in Romania with two trophies at this year's edition of MAD STARS.

The 301 preliminary juries from 85 countries selected 1,745 finalists. Although the event is held in Busan, Korea, non-Asian countries that entered the top 10 exceeded 30% of total finalists. This festival is the only one in which both agencies that win Grand Prix of the Year trophies, also collect a cheque of 10.000 USD.

“This year, the quality of our entries is truly remarkable and shows that creativity can come from anywhere in the world and from any industry. We have finalists from more than 58 countries, a record in the history of the festival which shows that we have truly achieved international reach,” says Hwan-Jin Choi, chairperson at MAD STARS.

Romania is represented on the list of winners by the Cheil | Centrade and the 'Some masks remain' campaign for the ANAIS Association, which scooped two Crystal trophies. One in the 'Craft: Photography’ category and the other in one of the most contested categories – 'Charity/Government’.

March 8th, International Women's Day, coincided with the last day of the alert period in Romania. As the number of COVID-19 infections decreased, the authorities decided to lift, starting from March 9th, a series of restrictions, including the obligation to wear a mask.

Conceived and executed in just 4 days after the authorities' announcement regarding the lifting of restrictions, the 'Some masks remain' campaign reconstructed real episodes of abuse as experienced by victims who asked for help from the ANAIS Association.

The message of the campaign emphasises the fact that many Romanian women will continue to have their noses and mouths covered, either by the palm of a violent partner or by their own palm, scared or lost in the dramatic situations triggered by the other pandemic - the domestic violence pandemic which will, unfortunately, continue in many forms, from physical violence to psychological, economic, cyber, social, sexual or spiritual.

The initiative drew attention to this menace and helped raise donations with which ANAIS Association offered support, legal and psychological counseling to the victims of domestic violence.

“We are honored to represent Romanian creativity at one of the most important global festivals, especially when it comes to a campaign for such an important social cause for Romania as the fight against domestic violence. Thanks to the brave client and all the partners involved in this contextual project who helped us bring craft excellence to light in record time: production house Almost Ready, studio Balinth and post-production studio Chainsaw Europe,” declares Mihai Gongu, executive creative director, Cheil | Centrade.

“We appreciate the constant support of the Cheil / Centrade team for ANAIS initiatives. Their passion to help is visible both through the many trophies at prestigious festivals that recognize creativity and efficiency, such as London International Awards, IAB Mixx Europe, Cresta Awards, D&AD, Effie or, here, MAD STARS, but above all through the many lives saved with the help of funds raised and prevention solutions shaped for the support of the powerful ideas behind these medals,” adds Carmen Nemeș, president of Asociației ANAIS.

Download the full list of MAD Stars 2022 winners here: https://www.adstars.org/winner/Index.do