McCann’s Catalin Dobre Inducted in The Golden Drum Hall of Fame

The Golden Drum has welcomed Catalin Dobre, co-CEO and chief creative officer of McCann Worldgroup Romania and regional creative director McCann CEE as the newest member of the Golden Drum Hall of Fame.

Established in 2010, Hall of Fame celebrates those who have, through their professional career and personal life, influenced our creative minds and souls. Creative leaders who have inspired and motivated us, and who now guide us to move forward in our endeavours. 

Catalin Dobre, McCann, said: “It’s a huge honour to enter the Hall of Fame of Golden Drum, the most important creative festival in Central and Eastern Europe. I’m humbled by the company, all of them true giants of the industry. I was always proud of the creative DNA I inherited from this region. The day to day life in this part of the world made us find lateral solutions to problems. It trained us. It built us to be challengers, to think in an innovative way. I feel Golden Drum celebrated and promoted this type of creativity. I’m proud to become part of the Hall of Fame of this unique festival. It helps me further in being a promoter of the authenticity of this region and celebrate the special type of creativity that comes from here.”

For many years, Catalin has been an integral part of the festival, consistently demonstrating extreme ambition, talent, and hard work. He was never short of praise about Golden Drum and its importance for the development of the region, community and young talent. With the full support of the McCann network, Catalin has played a strategic part in the festival’s development and place on the creative industry’s map.

Catalin has been a speaker, jury member, Young Drummers competition jury member, a collector of Golden Drum awards and multiple times crowned Creative Director of the year. Under his guidance, McCann Romania has won the title Agency of the Year and McCann Network become the Network of the Year at Golden Drum, several times.

Taking the creative culture in the CEE region to the next level

A Philosophy graduate, Catalin Dobre, the 39-year-old chief creative officer and co-CEO of McCann Worldgroup Romania started working in advertising as a copywriter, 20 years ago. 

He has won two Cannes Lions Grand Prix and a Titanium Lion, the total count of Cannes awards reaching 39 Lions. Also, he scored awards in all the major international advertising shows including D&AD, Clio, One Show, Eurobest, Lia, New York Festivals, Cresta and Golden Drum. 

He was proud to serve in the juries of D&AD, Clio, Eurobest, Dubai Lynx, NY Festivals and Golden Drum. 

Catalin was part of the first Romanian Forbes 30 under 30 Edition and received, two years later, the Excellence Award. Also, he received the IAA excellence award, for creating the campaign that brought the first Cannes Grand Prix in Eastern Europe and was part of Adweek's Creative 100 in 2019.