Bird Songs of Love Put a Playful Twist on Tradition

Spring has sprung in Romania, and for the men of the country that means one thing. Present-buying pressure. Every year on March 1st, tradition demands that they give the women in their life a Martisoare, or small trinket, to symbolize the changing of the season. Women will wear these for at least a week, if not the whole month. And just a few days later on March 8th, they have to do it all again, giving small gifts, flowers and chocolate. 

These Martisoare are the inspiration behind a delightful social activation for ING Bank. Instead of physical gifts, people have been encouraged to share ‘Trilling Trinkets’ (or MartiSOR Incantator in Romanian), which are little animated films of native birds with a sweet bird song. 

“Every year there is this ‘couple’s problem’ – him thinking what to get for the loved one(s) and how can he reinvent the same tradition every year. Should it be a small gesture or a big statement?,” says they team at Bucharest-based agency Jazz of the thinking that led to the idea.

Across the world, the idea of cutting back on consumption and finding alternative, non-physical gifts has gathered steam as people become more aware of the severity of plastics in the ocean and the climate crisis. The idea of sharing bird song taps right into that.

“We wanted to convey that in this first week of March is more about joy, nature and serenity and that spending money is not necessarily implied,” they explain. “So, while everyone was communicating with flowers and gifts, the songbirds were closer to the hearts of people who were waiting for the spring and its messengers. It fits with a brand that has always been friendly and had a unique tone of voice on the market.”

In order to bring the experience to life, Jazz partnered with the Romanian Ornithological Society, who helped them pinpoint the sweetest tweets.

“The songs of the birds come directly from the Romanian Ornithological Society we collaborated with. They have this huge sound bank of bird trills. So, what you hear there are real songbirds and their trills announcing the spring,” says the team. “The whole sound project was created to make people think of spring, sunny days and to send good vibes.

Local illustrator Ioana Parvan was brought on to illustrate the birds and Jazz praises her as one of the best illustrators in the market, able to capture the easy, breezy vibe of the campaign as well as the playful illustration style that has been specific to ING Romania for some time.

And it turns out that this romantic twist on tradition really did capture peoples’ hearts. It’s had an organic reach on Facebook and Instagram of 75,000 and the brand has seen a huge increase in engagement, with a 174% increase in average interactions per post.

Why does the team at Jazz think these lovebirds have taken off? “Because it gives you such a good vibe and it’s easy going and it captures the spirit of spring perfectly. We were also excited to see that people related very well to the chosen birds, with their colorful plumage, likable names and wonderful trills,” they say. “We couldn’t translate into digital the smell of spring flowers, but at least we gave people a bit of the sound of spring.”