The ninth year of partnership between Dacia and Gaudeamus International Fair has just ended, with the fair held between 19 – 23 November 2014 at Romexpo – Central Pavilion, which enjoyed a record number of 117,000 visitors.
Several events, launches and activities took place at the Dacia stall, under the "Scent of a Book" concept. The idea of this edition's campaign came from the readers' ritual of smelling the books as soon as they open them. During the fair readers could thus associate at the Dacia stall various book titles with perfumes sprayed from bottles on blotters, just like in a perfumery. Thus participants who properly associated the smell of grass with the cover of “Childhood Memories”, cinnamon with “A Christmas Tale”, vanilia with “Hansel and Gretel”, tea with “Alice in Wonderland” or a cock with “Robinson Crusoe”, automatically received a car air freshener inspired from their beloved stories. Moreover, a QR code is provided on the back of every air freshener, which gives access to a mini-library of audio books. The books are translated in Romanian and read by known voices such as Marius Manole, Gabriel Liiceanu or Rodica Mandache. In other words, with the air fresheners offered by Dacia at Gaudeamus, books can be listened to and smelled while driving.
The campaign concept was also present in the social media, through various contests held on Dacia's facebook page and on daciagroup.com site, with participants being awarded Kindles and book packages offered by our partner for reading, tea and music, Cărtureşti.
The "Scent of a Book" concept was accompanied by a film produced by the car manufacturer to show the public how odour tests are performed by panel specialist teams within Dacia. Since 2009 a team specialised in analysing odours in the passenger compartment of cars performs tests and analyses to improve the quality of Dacia products and to offer passengers a pleasant environment on board of Dacia cars. The film can be seen here:
In addition to the continuous activity related to "Scent of a Book", appraised and tested by many visitors, Friday was exclusively dedicated to children. Given the strong connection between Dacia and the Francophonie, the day of 21 November started at Dacia stall with an art moment with African music performed by the Francophone Cultural Centre in Buzău. The children planned a flash mob and then played on African instruments within the workshops organised at the stall. After the workshops children continued to be kept interested by another programme especially designed for them: the Flavour Factory, a workshop powered by Fun Science, where children discovered how interesting science is. Experiments, reactions, transformations, all these fascinated the little ones and made them all say, at the end of the workshop, that when they grow up they want to become savants, professors or inventors.
Saturday 22 November was dedicated to launches at Dacia stall. Whether we speak about the 4th volume of “Povestea trecătorilor din Bucureşti” ("The Story of Bucharest Passers-by"), of “Educaţie şi leadership. Realităţi şi experienţe româneşti” ("Education and leadership. Romanian realities and experiences") by Mariana Nicolae (the Academy of Economic Studies) or by “Medaliile succesului. Marele muzeu al cărţii.Volumul III” ("Medals of Success. The Great Museum of Books. Volume III") by Georgeta Pânişoară and Ion-Ovidiu Pânişoară (from Polirom and Cartea Românească publishing houses), people queued for autographs, newly published, purchased or debated books, and readers asked questions in their areas of interest.
The last day of the fair, Sunday 23 November, was also the busiest of the whole programme. Like any final day, it included many diverse activities and various prizes. In this line, 26 pupils who received medals at international contests in various disciplines, beneficiaries of the "International Olympic Distinction" scholarship, were special guests of the Fair and were awarded prizes by Radio Romania and Automobile Dacia for their achievements.
Another event held at the Dacia stall was the presentation of Goncourt List - the Choice of Romanian Students, organised by the French Institute. The winning volume, announced by Denisa Comănescu, president of the jury, was "Meursault, contre-enquete", by Kamel Daoud.
However the most important moment on Sunday was by far the Gaudeamus tombola draw, where the Big Prize was a Dacia Logan 10 Years car, offered by Dacia and won by Mr. Nicolaie Istode.
Dacia rejoices in supporting this event for so many editions now and strongly believes that one of the most powerful means to build firm characters is reading.