The Alternative School students are performing at Cannes Lions 2010

Cristina Blanaru Creativity, Marketing, PR

The new generation of The Alternative School, selected after trainings and internal competition, is representing Romania at Cannes Lions 2010.

This is the 5th generation and includes the best students qualified after competitions of Creative Media, Creative OOH, Strategy & Branding, Creative PR or Design.


More or less surprising, the most awarded team of the year includes two talented, serious and ambitious juniors – Nico Ivascu and Alex Oprita. Their results were rewarded with the presence at Roger Hatchuel Academy.

In 2010, PR Team of the Year is sponsored by The Practice, Strategy Team of the Year – by me.alchemy, Creative OOH Team of the Year – by Impression and Design Team of the Year – by HP.

The Alternative School’s students’ backgrounds are very different, from marketing and architecture to communication and public relations, journalism and design. Some of the students already work as freelancers or employees in media or advertising agencies such as Optimedia, Wunderman, Mercury 360 media, BrandsTalk, Mindshare and Media Direction.

Alex Oprita is sponsored at Roger Hatchuel by BCR, client that had the “Money School” campaign qualified on PR Lions’ shortlist. On the other hand, Nicoleta Ivascu’s presence in Cannes is sponsored by personal branding project realized by me.alchemy and oriented to Romanian middle and top management. The resources needed for Nicoleta to be present at Cannes were gathered during an auction of the best photos that were published in Business Women Hall of Fame, with an important contribution from Manuela Necula – Ogilvy Group, Carmen Tanasie – OMD and Nicoleta Padure.

Dragos Grigoriu – Tempo Group financed the trainings during festival in the last years, paying anually so that 15 young people can be present at the festival and benefit of the knowledge shared at Cannes.

“The financial contribution in educating a new generation, coming from Dragos Grigoriu in the previous years,resetted the HR standards when it comes about training the young Romanians that dream about a career in advertising and communication. Dragos’ help was the equivalent of a Silent Revolution. It is now the time for this revolution to benefit of the applauses and the supporting program for the students to become a priority for more players in the industry”, Teo Migdalovici, founder of The Alternative School for Creative Thinking, said.

If The Alternative School made partnerships with new sponsors when it comes to financing, it continued to value the niche in study disciplines when it came about competitions.

This year is for the 1st time when there are 2 Romanian representatives at Roger Hatchuel Academy, after the success Ioana Halunga had in 2009, when she was awarded with Gold.

Impression Graphics is sponsoring for the 3rd consecutive time Young Lions, competitions where Romania gained access in 2005 and where, last year, was awarded Bronze in Print competition, for the evolution of the team Alex Strimbeanu and Gabi Gherca made.

About The Alternative School for Creative Thinking

The school was founded shortly after the opening of Cannes Lions Romania. The Alternative School for Creative Thinking is the only form of marketing and communication specialization that offers anually, starting 2005, competitional and study experiences in Romania and abroad for a consistent number of young students.

In the last five years, over 120 students and young creatives, selected after inetrnal competitions, were present at Cannes Lions, Eurobest or Dubai Lynx.

The Alternative School, through its founder and students, is associated to numberous local and international awards such as: Global SuperAchiever Award from Indira Group of Institutes, India (2007), Gold at Roger Hatchuel for pentru Ioana Halunga and her team (2009), Bronze at Young Lions Print for Alex Strimbeanu and Gabi Gherca ( both working for Grey last year), Private Diplomacy Award for the founder of the school from Business Women Hall of Fame (2010) and Incredible Angel, offered to the founder of the school by Brainswork Vienna (2010).