Renault
"Drive the Change," localized for the Romanian market
In 2009, Renault launched its new global brand vision "Drive the Change" and consequently looked for a credible manifestation of the new spirit on the local markets. Brandient was commissioned to localize the new global brand platform and to find its sustainable expressions on the Romanian market.
The Renault brand was audited across all points of touch with the consumer, including an analysis of the historic performance and a review of several years of local communication. The work rested on a simple fact: in Romania, Renault and its public are not strangers. The two had effectively traveled together for more than four decades, a shared history that no purely competitive or feature-led message could substitute for. Rather than argue the brand against German rivals on their own terms, Brandient rooted the local platform in this affinity — a relationship of partnership and shared progress rather than a list of product claims. The Romanian consumer’s traditional attraction to German cars was answered not by contest but by familiarity: a brand that had been part of local life long enough to be trusted to help move it forward.
From this affinity idea, the team built an argument on four pillars tuned to the Romanian context: the pleasure of driving as a source of everyday gratification and respect; greener, cleaner cars framed as a matter of collective wellbeing in a dense, congested capital; safety as Renault’s under-leveraged advantage in a market with acute road-safety needs; and progress positioned as a necessity for the country, not a luxury. Together these reframed the relationship as one of people first, machine second — "from cars to people" — and gave the global "Drive the Change" spirit a distinctly local, emotional grammar. The platform translated into territory and tonality the local market could recognize as its own, spanning marketing communications, corporate messaging, the showroom experience, and word-of-mouth.
The local platform was concluded with a workshop for top European managers of the Group, securing strong brand engagement and commitment toward the local implementation of the new Renault spirit. The case illustrates a principle that recurs across cross-cultural brand work: the global platforms of cross-cultural brands must inspire localization, so that the brands would meet not only competitive and economic criteria, but also the cultural and emotional expectations of the local consumers.
Client:
Renault
Industry:
Mobility
Project type:
Brand Localization
Date:
2009
Services:
Brand Audit, Brand Positioning, EVP and Employee Brand Engagement
Other featured projects
News radar
Join the Brandient community! Stay in the loop with innovative branding insights, exclusive design content, and inspiring case studies.
Stay in touch with Aneta's latest opinions — articles, interviews, and podcasts — on entrepreneurship, marketing, branding pioneering, leadership, and culturally meaningful current events.
Brandient Radar is a select and non-intrusive, low-volume newsletter.
Follow our flight path — sign up for our Radar newsletter today!
get in touch
Client? contact us
5 Mendeleev Street, 3rd floor,
Bucharest 010361
Expert? Join Us
Are you brimming with talent and unshaken by challenges? Then, consider this your invitation to join our elite team, dive into complex problems, and have the opportunity to see your work make a mark far and wide.
Please submit your cover letter and relevant credentials:
Click to e-mail Brandient Careers.
friend? follow us
Copyright © Brandient 2002–2026. All Rights Reserved.