Florian Ciobanu – “seeker in the cultural-artistic realm”

Discover Florian Ciobanu’s passion for old Romanian advertising and his digital and physical museum project.

Florian Ciobanu is passionate about the past but also about the everyday present, which he savors with enough intensity to add color to his collector’s universe.

C&B: If we were to look at a narrative thread of your career or business, what were the key moments that defined you?

Florian Ciobanu: The most beautiful, memorable, but also very energizing moments were when I worked at two radio stations. I produced three weekly shows, including an entire night show, from midnight until ten minutes to six, when the newscasters appeared. But, effervescent, it was also when I worked at two advertising agencies, multinationals, where in Client Service the atmosphere was sometimes “from agony to ecstasy.” Those in the know understand! 🙂
And as a small entrepreneur, yes, a more interesting moment was being a partner at the monthly magazine Imagoo (offline and online). It was the first publication about advertising culture, urban-niche, where at that time the most notable creative directors in the industry wrote articles. Imagoo was another labor of love.

C&B: What fascinated you most about the first Romanian ads, and how did they influence your passion for them?

Florian Ciobanu: In the first Romanian ads, for example, printed ones, I discovered some from the 19th century with very funny messages.
Or some with headlines still valid today, with very clean and well-defined layouts, visually memorable.
As for local TV spots, both those from the communist era and the “primitive” ones after 1990 remain amusing.

C&B: Is there a dream or ambition that has always guided you, regardless of obstacles?

Florian Ciobanu: My vocation as a retriever of the past, of “digging through the trash” of history and collecting things “found on the ground” at fairs, has somehow nourished me. Because one of these dreams is that of my collection, which today is at the warehouse level, with the mission of being transformed into a physical museum.

C&B: What did you look like at the beginning of your journey, and how do you feel you have transformed up to the present?

Florian Ciobanu: In the beginning, I was a shy but curious child, with big eyes and alert ears. I was self-taught. For example, I taught myself to read in Cyrillic at 13. At the same time, fate somewhat “forced” me to wash the windows of the only bookstore in my hometown, Craiova. Today, I am a grown-up child who, over the past 20 years, has participated and gained visibility in forty solo shows, group exhibitions, or even permanent exhibitions.

C&B: If we were to meet your team or collaborators, what do you think they would say about you?

Florian Ciobanu: Dreamer. That, I suppose!

C&B: What is the most important decision you have made that changed your trajectory?

Florian Ciobanu: Moving 30 years ago from Craiova to the capital (having everything I needed at home), directly into big advertising, at DDB, where I learned to write my first creative brief and to-do list 🙂 I have no regrets; the bubble I live in is quite artistic, and I feel extremely comfortable with what I do today.

C&B: What were the biggest challenges in finding, preserving, and digitizing materials?

Florian Ciobanu: A major challenge was conserving materials and preserving them archivally. My warehouse is, chronologically, in its third location, and sometimes, with every move, I lost various items; some bags were even stolen. Everything is funded personally by me, a completely voluntary initiative, which I am convinced will eventually serve the community. In fact, my mini-project, the Facebook page “Old Romanian Ads 1840–1995,” today counts around 150,000 followers, organic, who came from nowhere in the virtual space. The page looks like a small illustrated history of Romanian advertising from the past. Digitization is the missing component, which is now proceeding at an accelerated pace.

C&B: How does the public react to discovering or recalling these old ads?

Florian Ciobanu: Enthusiastically. When I created the page on Facebook fifteen years ago, it was extraordinary, even spectacular. In the first month, I had 7,000 pure fans. Not stolen. Then, “some friends” reported me until the servers restricted my posting function. For two years, I suffered and posted from another profile created specifically. I never gave up. Today, I have gathered this community to which I offer approximately 6,000 scans or photographs of materials for free, which, attention, I own in the original. The page even has a nickname: Self-Service 🙂

C&B: What does a typical day look like for you now, and which moments bring you the most satisfaction?

Florian Ciobanu: The combination of a former corporate employee with a slightly bohemian independent is, at times, quite “lethal.” But I always rhetorically ask: “How much does this freedom of mine cost per month: one thousand, five thousand euros, how much could it be?”
Sometimes, the smallness of my everyday life offers much more than others’, those employed, I say from the spectator’s position, because it is visible to the naked eye. Of course, I have projects, because from them I live, extracting their quintessence, so to speak.

C&B: What values or principles guide you in what you do, and how do you apply them daily?

Florian Ciobanu: Integrity, honesty, and the way I try to keep my word, to be a person of my word.

C&B: How did the idea of founding the project “Old Romanian Ads 1840–1997” come about, and what inspired you to dedicate yourself to this niche?

Florian Ciobanu: As a general project, it was easy. Being an advertiser but also a buyer in antique shops, at some point I tried to purchase only materials with old ads, exclusively Romanian. I believe that around the late ’90s I completely specialized in this theme. But I already owned many publications, books, programs, etc., which contained ads. And so, in 2005, I had my first exhibition at the AdOr Advertising Creativity Festival. That same year, I appeared on Marcă Înregistrată/ProTV, my first “on-screen” interview.

C&B: What are your plans for developing the project in the coming years?

Florian Ciobanu: One single plan: digitization and the construction of a physical museum.
“When we leave here, we take nothing with us,” at least leaving something for the community that loves our advertising of the past.

Florian Ciobanu continues to bring Romanian advertising history to life through his passion and impressive collection.