Sector 7 HUB, an advertising agency with a unique kick in every execution

From viral videos to full digital campaigns, Sector 7 HUB’s teams create branded content that people actually want to consume. All innovative. All in-house. AdHugger set down with Roxana Andrei, Managing Partner Sector 7 HUB and Raul Gheba, Creative Director Sector 7 HUB, and talked about how they agency evolved since its launch, the best campaigns, positioning and creativity.

AdHugger: What were the most important moments since the launch in June 2020?

Roxana Andrei: As you might know, we were a commando advertising team, working on project based tasks. The first moment when this took a turn was when we hired a client service person and started to act like an advertising agency. The mind set started to switch, the approach was more long term relationship than one creative stunt, the team got bigger, the briefs got thicker and we became more mature. So, for the past six years we learned to become more responsible and resilient with the work, while transforming a cool project into a business and growing and consolidating partnerships.

Raul Gheba: Well, given the fact that in 2020 we were literally 3 people in a basement and now we’ve grown into a fully fledged company means that every step we took forward was an important moment. Every new hire, every new campaign, and every pitch won that showed we were punching way above our weight in creativity and ambition.

AdHugger: Has anything changed in your positioning since then? If so, why?

Raul Gheba: Of course. If back then we were known for doing mostly comedy, internet slang campaigns and content, our creative ambitions widened exponentially. We’re more strategically focused, we’re more aware of the way our campaign integrates with other comms of our clients. But I still think we’re striving to have a unique kick in every execution that we put out.

Roxana Andrei: We grew up. We were rebels and now we are responsible adults, but with the can do spirit still alive. It’s a new era for us and we strive to keep our curiosity awakened, to be brave and sometimes ‘crazy’ enough to say it’s impossible to do it, but we have to try.

We did an internal audit and we realized that what we best to is to help brands find or rediscover their mojo – meaning we ask the uncomfortable questions, when necessary – we challenge traditional thought patterns and way of doing things, we bring fresh perspectives. We are leaders by nature, not followers and in turn we also empower clients and brands to lead. With strategic insights and tailored creatives.

AdHugger: What do you offer differently in the industry?

Roxana Andrei: We are multitalented and it’s not just the bla bla. Each one of the members of the team has their role, but can do lots of different others, meaning, under one roof we have copywriters, actors, producers, directors, set designers, editors and photographers and even a tarot reader :p

For each project we aim to give 110% and we are very involved in the process, from the idea – to budgeting and implementation – which can be sometimes tricky cause we are all very passionate about our jobs. However, we always decide what’s best for the brand, not for us. We take ownership of a project from the idea until the final export. And we’re all seniors. 

Raul Gheba: I think we’re combining the skillset and mindset of a guerilla freelancer, with the discipline and professionalism of a bigger agency. When you’re coming from a field where we were copywriters, producers, directors and hairdressers, nothing scares you when it comes to a big campaign.

AdHugger: What are the campaigns that you are most proud of and why?

Roxana Andrei: We like all of our work because we flex our creative muscles for each one of them – all our babies are beautiful :)) buuuut… Creating a miniature garden for Sabon’s Winter Collection was one of the most beautiful and challenging projects from idea to the execution. We reimagined the scale, we did a lot of research, we brought a van full of props from Timisoara, we had hundreds of flowers and miniature props to build it. It was full of excitement and exhausting.

Raul Gheba: LUCA – Thank you for waiting in line for 15 years. Really strong insight, fun execution.

Roxana Andrei: Shooting in Mexico for Paralela45 was a new level of experience. We had to adapt on the way, understand the new culture, keep the pace to shoot at sunrise and sunset, keep the brand message in mind and have fun in the meantime.  And we just launched a boardgame called Imopoly for Imobiliare.ro. All of this in an AI era because we are stubborn and still want to experience the work, not just prompt it. 

Raul Gheba: I personally like the smaller budget projects. They are really bad business, but I feel that with constraint comes the most insightful, creative work.

Imobiliare.ro – Rug or Rent – an interactive social media choose your own adventure game. 

BT Mic – The biggest fan of your business. Right after your mom. Really cute, wholesome small campaign. 

BT Employer Branding – Putting the clients team to good use in our approach.

AdHugger: How was 2026 so far for the agency?

Raul Gheba: If I were to use one word to describe it it would be: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! But I’m a man of words so I’ll say that it has its ups and downs, and I never know which way we’re heading at a certain point. I’m only getting a clear picture of what is happening after three months.

Roxana Andrei: Instability is the word describing this year. Projects got delayed or cancelled due to all the crises happening all over the world and… AI.  However, our mind-set is that we need to get past this and use all of our resources and skills to push forward. I mean, there’s no other way, right?

AdHugger: What are the campaigns you admire and wish you created and why? (a Romanian and an international one)

Roxana Andrei: I’m a fan of everything Liquid Death’s releasing. It’s madness and you never know what’s next. Of course, now it comes from product launch, but everything about the brand challenges all we know about communication. Locally, Voxa. I’m also a fan of the app, so I’m biased. And lots of others, Netflix campaigns are strong, Storia’s.

Raul Gheba: Locally, I’m a big fan of Luca, which we had the pleasure of doing a project with. But I really like their use of contextual OOH, their tongue in cheek tone and overall cohesive and fun communications.

Internationally. I really like how Uber uses big people in really silly ways and how it ties into the brand. Think the “Brian Cox Uber for students campaign”, or the “Valteri Bottas uber carshare.”

AdHugger: How important or not are the awards for you? What is your strategy moving forward, from this point of view?

Roxana Andrei: There’s no strategy. If we have the right brief and good results, then we submit entries. Awards are a sign of recognition for our work, we take pride in receiving them, we like being in the spotlight, but they’re not what motivates us to push our limits.

Raul Gheba: Of course, I’d love for us to have more of them on our shelves, but the reality is that you really need to invest a lot of work and money in building strong cases, which sometimes is not feasible for a small business like ours. But we are trying to build cases as early as possible in the year so we don’t have to endure the awards season rush in full force.

AdHugger: How would you characterize the creativity in the Romanian advertising industry right now?

Roxana Andrei: It’s at a crossroads between the AI trap, the tight timings and social media pressure. Creativity is a bit strangled due to a push for incremental results. We need to harmonize more, look for balance between a good creative idea and data, and find a way to make them work together, complement each other. The current feeling is that there’s a battle and creativity has lost some points.

Raul Gheba: It’s had better days. I’m not complaining, there still are a lot of cool campaigns, cool creative work, but I’d point out the trappings of AI Slop-ish creative work. Not only in the visual field, where it’s obvious, but in ideation and copywriting. Because it’s not just bad, it’s counterproductive (wink, wink)

AdHugger: How do you intend to change it / what do you want your input to be in the industry?

Roxana Andrei: To keep up the work and not get lost in the crowd and not to be afraid to say no to  a client.

Raul Gheba: At this point i’m not sure if I should change it and embrace it. The only thing that is keeping me on the human made path is that i’m too reluctant to change.  I use AI just to test out if my ideas are hack.

AdHugger: Where do you see the future of creativity?

Roxana Andrei: In the human mind. The great ideas come from experiences, debates, brainstorming, nerves, frustrations. We are blessed to feel, even if sometimes we envy the robots. I think we need to fight to keep it alive.

Raul Gheba: I see it expressed in ways that we’re not really aware of. AI is both gonna shake it up and expand our horizon of what we can do.