Interview Violeta Niculae, We Rent Bucharest

Any marketer is a calculated dreamer, said Violeta Niculae, a practitioner with over 20 years of experience in strategy and organizational development, marketing and innovation, in multinational companies from various fields such as agribusiness, FMCG, printing and publishing. She worked for brands and companies such as KWS, GoodMills Romania (formerly Titan S.A.) Exact Business Solutions, a top local market research company. She launched products and campaigns awarded with Effie, she was also marketing director, but also general director, she has and had a voice at the board level. How is she now innovating as a business model and communication in real estate at the American company We Rent?

Violeta, you are part of the team that brought an innovative business model to the Romanian real estate area. What is it about, what is the concept, how did you translate it into a value proposition and how do you support it?

Our innovative and unique concept in Romania, at the moment, that of "build-to-rent" as well as this whole beautiful adventure which is called WE RENT BUCHAREST that includes all our rental projects, started in 2013, from the idea that the Romanian residential rental market was severely underdeveloped, leaving potential tenants practically the only option of choosing an apartment from a private owner, usually located in old buildings without facilities. In economically advanced countries, most residential rentals are located in purpose-built buildings that offer professional quality apartments, designed according to the specific needs of the tenant. Our company, WE RENT BUCHAREST, as the name suggests, brings together all our residential rental projects, more precisely the Vitan Estates residential complex and other existing residential projects as well as those in the pipeline.

Our Western concept of apartments for rent only (the company has American shareholders) is still considered a novelty in our country, even more than 10 years after its launch. How did we translate this concept into a value proposition, and do we continue to support it? Tenants see the value of our rental buildings and our rental platform: security, reliability, ease and, above all, value to live in one of our properties. We offer many amenities, such as cable TV and free internet, a laundry room with free access, a fitness center, 24/7 security, secure parking and an exceptional administrative team that meets the needs of the tenants. We have clean and hygienic common spaces, and the apartments are in immaculate condition when a tenant moves in. Any problem they may face in their apartment, our professional maintenance team will solve quickly. We also offer concierge services, which help our expat tenants to travel and move to Bucharest. Our beautiful and diverse community of tenants benefits from our planned project from the arrangement of the apartments to the facilities and retail outlets on the ground floor of the building (supermarket, restaurant, hair salon, hub that offers clothes retouching, cleaning and clothing creation), all with the aim of making the tenants' lives easier, convenient and problem-free.

All your results seem to be the fruit of a robust marketing approach. What role does marketing play in the business you work in now and what role do you have in the management of marketing initiatives? How much did it help you get from....zero - you don't exist on a crowded, competitive, fragmented market, but where there are already established brands that invest heavily in marketing and communication - (we don't have a competitor yet) to hero, a seated player, who already has waiting lists for projects.

Effective marketing in our business has an invaluable role and is truly both an art and a science. While understanding the nuances of the residential rental market is crucial, capitalizing on market research data, professional expertise and strategic planning is the key to our success. The fact that we have waiting lists, an almost maximum occupancy rate, a nice retention rate but especially tenants who return to us confirms that we do what we do well, beautifully and with passion.

What can you tell us about these initiatives? Who are you addressing? Who are your customers? How are they informed? Who influences them? How did you get to them? How do they make the decision and how did you use all this information to develop the communication mix? What role does digital play in what you do?

In order to reach an effective marketing communication, we started from the creation of a Tenant Journey Mapping, which we consider essential because it involves mapping all the stages that a customer goes through from looking for a house to rent until they decide to become our tenants, and this "journey" is not a linear path at all - everyone is different and - above all - it does not end with the signing of the contract! That is why it is essential for us to create personalized trips for tenants, depending on our target audience for each individual residential project. This personalized Tenant Journey Mapping helps us get an efficient perspective on the target's pain points, how they interact with us, what they need to sign the lease and much more. That is why, for each individual residential project, we have created a Tenant Persona, because, from practice, we have noticed that the objectives, needs, aspirations and specific requirements differ, especially from the point of view of generational characteristics. Thus, we have a better vision of the most effective communication channels, of the messages we transmit for each targeted category.

It is not the first time you are a member of the management board and we want as many marketers as possible in these positions. How do you manage as a marketing professional to have a voice at the board level? What skills help?

Ensuring the healthy growth of the company is a top priority in companies, and, as a rule, Boards of Directors focus discussions on financial reports, reorganizations, expansions, mergers or acquisitions. This, however, has recently started to change as more and more industries become hyper-competitive and company assets such as brand image, marketing channels used, customer information and satisfaction customers become strategic. In other words, the needs of the company converge with the marketing approach and - more than that - are inextricably linked. Adapting to a constantly changing marketing environment adds new discussion points to the agenda of Boards of Directors, such as understanding the changing needs of customers or risks related to brand image, presence in social media, the use of artificial intelligence and many others. These are examples of marketing "problems" that go beyond market communication and are directly related to company strategy and risk management. Therefore, it is essential to have a clear "voice" of marketing in the Boards of companies and the marketer must have the ability to support with solid arguments and figures the importance and impact of the company's marketing and communication actions both externally and internally.

How does the experience in the other industries in which you worked, B2B B2C, help you? What is the checklist you have developed over time for project management?

Each industry and company that I have collaborated with over the years had an overwhelming impact on my professional training, and the fact that I had the chance to do marketing in both the B2B and B2C environment, made it perfect. The bond that unites most industries from a marketing perspective is the consumer experience, and in our business, it is essential for a long-term relationship. The better we understand the personality, desires, needs, expectations of our tenants, the more we manage to create an increasingly better experience for them.

Returning to the management of any project, I have in mind the same checklist regardless of the field in which I work:

• Defining the purpose/objectives of the project
• Identification of stakeholders
• Development of the project plan
• Establishing the project budget
• Allocation of resources and responsibilities
• Risk identification and management
• Monitoring and controlling the progress of the project

Applied rigorously and consistently, this checklist proves its usefulness and practical applicability every time.

Violeta, what are the most memorable campaigns and marketing initiatives you have promoted in your career?

One of the most spectacular campaigns in my career was the launch of the HapiHap toast bread brand, and the marketing initiative I'm referring to was called "HapiHap Paper" with which, by the way, we were also nominated for the prestigious Effie awards. In short, when launching HapiHap toast as the best choice of bread for sandwiches and beyond, we knew that the retail sales environment is the toughest environment, either because of fierce competition, prohibitive costs or legal restrictions. So, I invented a new context that was naturally related to the use of bread; an effective context that no other brand had used until that moment: wrapping paper for delicacies - the perfect place to meet the main consumers of toast bread. Using an extremely efficient budget, HapiHap found a place in the already crowded advertising space of supermarkets. As a result: the figures showed us a 30% increase in HapiHapi sales versus the supermarkets where we did not implement the campaign.

What communication and marketing books would you recommend? Where do you get your professional news, what sites and sources do you follow and recommend?

I follow local marketing sites such as marketing focus, but also international ones; I warmly recommend David Ogilvy - Confessions of an advertising man, which shows us how important thoughtful advertising is so that our products reach the right people, regardless of the era we are going through. It is a classic even in the digital age.

Regarding professional training, as I mention every time, personally, I am permanently in a process of continuous learning, to train myself as a professional and to always be up to date with the new changes and challenges that appear. Thus, in recent years I graduated an internal MBA, focused on Trade Marketing Efficiency, organized by one of the multinational companies in which I worked, in collaboration with two renowned institutes from Germany and Austria, I obtained a certification in Change Management, a course organized by Prosci, global leader in the field, and I recently graduated from the Design Thinking Fundamentals course, organized by Exact Business Solutions/Design Thinkers Academy. And, as always, I will definitely not stop here.

How are you preparing for the future at We Rent?

One of the many valuable lessons we have learned from this pandemic is that, in times full of uncertainty and with a low degree of predictability, the most appropriate strategies are innovation and agility; we rely on these, looking for new opportunities for development. We follow, of course, the trends and evolution of the sector in which we operate.

Our business plans for the future translate into the development of new "build-to-rent" real estate projects, but also in promoting the value that our rental platform offers to our tenants: safety, reliability and comfort. Also, our main objective - one, by the way, as realistic as possible - is to reach, just like our existing projects, a 100% occupancy rate.