Bancherul - BANCI / ENGLISH / The corporate social responsibility campaign “Right to Read”, by OTP Bank Romania with Nicola Porter Novelli, “Best campaign in Balkans”

Right to Read – Awarded with Gold at
EMEA Sabre Awards 2011
(Superior Achievement in Branding and Reputation Excellence)

The corporate social responsibility campaign “Right to Read”, by OTP Bank Romania with Nicola Porter Novelli, “Best campaign in Balkans”
2000 entries were registered in the competition, with an average of 20 entries in each category, said the bank in a press release.

How did the story begun

OTP Bank Romania constantly supports corporate social responsibility programs across the country, but did not yet had a national wide social responsibility project. In 2010, the team developed a long-term CSR project that was to have a real impact on the future generations.

The team came up with the idea of a campaign to support the children’s development by giving them a better access to books and reading, and so the Right to Read campaign was born. Its aim was to supply primary schools in disadvantaged rural areas of Romania with books to create their own libraries. A research study showed that pupils in rural areas have limited or no access to books, as there are few libraries in villages, so not only was the skill of reading dying, but children were missing out on a crucial element of their education and development.

OTP Bank Romania decided to directly donate, by the end of 2010, more than 10.000 carefully selected books and the appropriate furniture to create libraries in 20 rural schools recommended by the Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sports. In the same time, OTP Bank asked the public to also donate books, so as to collect further donations of at least 15,000 books throughout 2010, for at least 15 additional libraries.

„Children are the future of tomorrow. Let’s give them back their Right to Read!”

„Reading gives future generations a healthy education – donate a book!”

Book donation points were set up in all branches of OTP Bank in Romania, as well as in the Humanitas public libraries. Many other partners also hosted book collection points and donated a lot of books.

The team set up a Right to Read Facebook page, a CSR dedicated website, www.estedreptulmeu.ro and channels on YouTube and Flickr. Media partnerships were formed with TV stations, print and online media. Romanian bloggers were also involved in the campaign and wrote about their favorite childhood book and the importance of reading.

Results and Outcomes

The Right to Read campaign was a success, so the results in 2010 were way beyond expectations: more than 30.000 books were donated until the end of 2010, to 11.000 children from 53 schools.

In a relatively short time, the team made a huge number of people aware of how disadvantaged school children are in rural areas of Romania. The campaign really resonated with the Romanian people, so, starting March, 2010 and until May, 2011, more than 40,000 books were donated by the public, publishing houses and other stakeholders. Thus, more than 12.500 children from 72 schools in rural areas benefit from books, up to the present moment. The campaign was so effective that many organizations, publishers and celebrities offered their help without it being solicited.

The dedicated campaign Facebook page currently has almost 17.000 fans that also helped us by recommending more than 20 schools for the campaign, while the YouTube channel has been viewed more than 1.200 times.

Marcela Grigoriu, the headmaster of Coropceni School, one of the many beneficiaries of the campaign, said: „Our 198 pupils were more than delighted that they would have their own school library and would no longer have to walk five kilometers to the community library to borrow the books they needed. Thank you from our hearts for this wonderful gift you have made us and we wish you that the New Year brings you light in your hearts just as the 500 volumes shine our way to completely new horizons.”

EMEA Sabre Awards 2011

With such outstanding results, the subscription to one of the most prestigious competition dedicated to the PR industry came naturally. The news that the Right to Read campaign was shortlisted at EMEA Sabre (Superior Achievement in Branding and Reputation Excellence) Awards 2011 came as a true recognition of the CSR program. The Right to Read campaign was shortlisted in The Balkans Geographic Category, along with other 4 programs: OMV Move and Help – Moving on with reading (OMV); Live Actively! (Nestlé, Bulgaria); Talents on Board (Coca-Cola) and Cross on Safe (Postbank).

The Gold award received by the Right to Read campaign, for the „Best Campaign in Balkans” emphasized the campaign’s impact on local communities.

The awarding ceremony took place on May 18, 2011 at Prague Castle.

And the story goes on...

The campaign successfully continues in 2011 as well!