The backstage story of the newest BT. Zanul and The Shepherd Ghita campaign, UNLIMITED cute together

Jina, Sibiu County, +30 degrees. Zanul BT and Ciobanul Ghita, well known from telecom commercials and who brought us so many times the smile on our lips through its naturalness, film the newest video advertisement for Banca Transilvania, right in the mercy of nature, in Ghita "home". On the left a sheepfold, in front of a flock of times, hills and a fairytale setting. Almost 20 people – from the director to the choreographer – put everything under the magnifying glass, for hours, so that everything comes out by the book. 

Let's find out the behind-the-scenes story of the video spot through which Banca Transilvania announces something unique in Romania, dedicated to entrepreneurs: the UNLIMITED package in the BT Network, which reduces business costs and the possibility to make unlimited operations at BT. Everything, without additional costs for online transactions and through debit instruments, made between SME customers and with a modest subscription, of 21 lei/month.

How the idea of the bank's advertising came about and what is the connection between the telecom industry and BT:

The idea came in-house, at the bank, in a meeting at the office, at marketing and communication, about the UNLIMITED Package and its advantages. So, talking about unlimited, freedom of movement, network and coverage, the thought led us to the telecom-friendly industry and, naturally, to Ghita the Shepherd. We found ourselves very much of everything precisely because:

• Unlimited we have, at BT: in our network, means zero additional bank costs for online transactions and through debit instruments made between SME customers
• We also offer freedom of movement, at BT: our SME clients (and not only) have the opportunity to receive and make any payments at Banca Transilvania, without extra costs. 
• The largest coverage is also in the case of BT: we have the largest coverage of SMEs in Romania because almost 230,000 entrepreneurial clients work with our bank. In other words, 3 out of 5 SMEs choose BT. Well, aren't we the Bank of Entrepreneurial People? J
• Network, obviously, we also have at BT: it means over 500 offices and over 7,000 ZamBT.
• Others had Ghita the Shepherd, we have Zan.
• Only one thing differs, that's how it is in banking: it's not about "unlimited minutes", but it's with POs :), with payment orders.

3 variants of scenario, all with Zanul BT and Ghita the Shepherd

Once the idea was born, the BT brief for advertising agencies followed, making scenarios for video advertising, and Next Advertising and Three came up with three options for the TV spot. It was chosen the option in which Zanul BT and Ghita the Shepherd greet each other in an interesting and long way, as two old friends who meet in the hills of Jina. The greeting between the two was inspired by the hip-hop culture and adapted by the team with which the bank collaborated in this regard, to be as memorable and fun as possible; in other words, to bring ZamBT.

12 hours of preparations and filming for 30 seconds of advertising

The actual filming of the advertising spot on the hills of Jina took about 5 hours. Besides these, there were the rehearsals of the two characters – Zanul BT and Ghita the Shepherd – for the greeting to come out as good as possible: the day before the shooting there were about 4 hours of "training", and the rest, on the day of filming. Detail by detail, frame by frame.

Challenges: +30 degrees and tasty food from Jina

For the almost 20 people who took part in the filming of Jina, the main challenge was the heat and almost an entire day spent on the hill, directly under the sun. Our collaborators from the production house Greenmind Studio and from the agencies Next Advertising and Three told us that they had another hop :)  "We think the challenge was not to explode because, filming at Jina, we received only on the spot: fatty cheese and meat kept in lard. "

Ghita The Shepherd, bio to date

Ghita the Shepherd, who, on his real name is also Ghita (Gheorghe Danuletiu), is now 32 years old. He lives in Jina, a village in Sibiu that became famous because of him. He is married, has 3 children, a little girl and two boys, aged between 4 years and just over 1 year, house and car, but also over 2,000 sheep. His saying: every day "he leaves home when he wants, he comes back when he can" considering that he "deals with the management of sheep and transhumance", which means including moving them to different places, depending on the season.

Very joking and most of the time with peonies in his cheeks - we do not know if from the emotions, from the sun or from the good cheese in the area, but we think that all together J, here's what he told us after the filming for the BT commercial: "I'm glad I had the opportunity to meet Zan and film together.  It wasn't too hard because we reconcile very well and I'm used to filming. As you can see in the BT commercial, the greeting between me and him means several schemes that we both had to learn for hours in a row because around here, in the village, we have never seen anything like this. Thanks to the team that came to Jina, for the filming and for me.

The BT fairy has been part of the unconventional communication of Transilvania Bank for 11 years. Read his story here : "When he doesn't have a wand, he's a BT entrepreneur and client."

BT thanks the team that contributed to the video spot: Zanul BT, Ghita Ciobanul, the hosts from Jina, Sorin Popescu (Managing Partner, Next Advertising), Andrei Tripsa (creative director, Three), Sabin Staicu (copywriter, Three), Radu Sorescu (Account Manager, Three) and Francisc Zinz (Art director, Three), Monica Jitariuc (Managing Director, MSLGROUP The Practice), Greenmind Studio Production House - Radu Barbulescu (director), Stefan Anger (producer), Ioana Macarie (choreographer), Manole Sava (photographer), Alex Negulescu (assistant photographer), Nela Frunza (costumes) and Dora Codita (makeup).

With the realization of the video advertisement for the UNLIMITED package in the BT Network, part of the communication campaign with the same name, Banca Transilvania brought a surprising combination of characters: Zanul and Ghita Ciobanul. The first has a wand and is with banking, the second is in love with nature. Both, UNLIMITED cute.

Editor: Laura Petrehus, Deputy Director of Communication & PR, Banca Transilvania