Romanian advertising agencies McCann Erickson and Saatchi&Saatchi were among the winners in the first round of the Cannes Lions awards, the global communications industry event currently on in Cannes, France.

McCann Erickson's campaign “Romanians are smart” started late last year, won the Silver Lion Award in the low budget campaigns category. While Saatchi & Saatchi won a Bronze award in the PR category with their "Plant the bill" campaign for Enel Romania.

"We excelled at Cannes last year with nine awards. We have shown that Romanian advertising can be great, we have been pioneers for other agencies in Romania, as confirmed by the large number of entries and the shortlist campaigns at this year's edition," said Adrian Botan of McCann Erickson.

He hails the 'Romanians are smart' campaign as the first example of a whole country's internet image being changed by advertising and suggested that his company's awards and recognition have had a salutary effect on Romania's advertising   industry as a whole. "A Silver Lion for McCann Erickson Romania confirms that the decision to aspire to international standards was the right one," added Botan.

The "Romanians are smart" campaign has also won awards this year in the New York Festival, IAB Mixx Awards, Effie Awards and BestAds.

Ioana Toader, ioana.toader@romania-insider.com