A cultural change does not happen overnight, but there must be a start. A noisy one.

This is the story of how Tazz, the only local player on the food delivery market in Romania, during a time when women were pressured to cook both by cultural and financial factors, decided to take a risk and spark a progressive, much needed conversation about dividing tasks.

The message “Your place is in the kitchen only when you want it to be” was delivered through a viral music video that reached 6 weeks in Romanian YouTube Trending and shook Romanian wedding traditions and rituals, empowering both women and men to split cooking responsibilities and order without guilt or shame.

The content that took a stand on the obsolete role of "a woman's place is in the kitchen" became an anthem of the new generation of newly-weds and not only.

While international competitors focus on a functional and promotional message, Tazz’s strategy is to have a strongly locally relevant approach and insightful communication, with potential to leave a mark and influence perceptions.

Since Romanian women (53%) spend the equivalent time of a part-time job cooking, and only 27% of couples share this cooking task, gender equality education on this topic was an extremely important mission. Not an easy one though, since Romania ranks 25th in the EU in terms of the gender equality index and considering the emotional involvement that Romanians have towards cooking.

Since data suggested that the increasing inflation put even more pressure on women to cook, Tazz decided to take a risk and create a new tradition through a piece of content for a key moment in couples’ life: their wedding - a moment when all the stereotypes and old norms regarding cooking are officially passed on.

With a score of 54.5 out of 100, Romania ranks 25th in the EU in terms of the gender equality index. Its score is 12.9 lower than that of the European Union. Romania is advancing towards gender equality at a slower pace than other EU member states, most people considering that the ideal woman prototype is the housewife (63%).

Another study made by Tazz revealed that only 27% of couples share household responsibilities, while women are responsible for preparing meals in 53% of the cases, compared to men - only 5%.

Another aspect is the religious one. According to the last census made out by the Government of Romania, Orthodox believers represent 86.5% of the population, and most of the sermons emphasize a female-male hierarchy. Cooking is a woman's responsibility, not only on holidays when special dishes are made, but also every day, as a way of showing care and love to the family.

Taking these aspects into account, starting a discourse of gender equality and sharing household responsibilities (including cooking) is an extremely sensible topic for a brand to address - even in 2023.

A sensitive topic like this could not be treated superficially. It needed a bold approach, with potential to generate a transparent and genuine conversation, since the problem was deeply rooted in local culture and traditions.

What if we started a new tradition and shook all the obsolete perceptions?

“All you want” is a music video, an unexpected collab of two Romanian artists - Delia, a mainstream pop singer and Adrian Despot, a local rock star. A song that would enter local pop culture and all wedding playlists with a bold and educational message: “Your place is in the kitchen only when you want it to be”.

The song had to convey in a memorable way that a good wife doesn’t have to cook and a good man supports that. Everyone has the freedom to order without guilt when they feel overwhelmed. That does not mean we love each other less.

To better and non-biasedly understand the perspectives regarding cooking, Tazz started a study to analize the trends in terms of household responsibilities among urban Romanians, with an emphasis on their habits and perceptions in relation to home meals and food ordering.

The observations led us to the key insight: ordering makes the family “cook” feel guilty and look selfish because it’s perceived as less caring than cooking.

Thus, Tazz's challenge was to address home cooks or kitchen enthusiasts for whom cooking was no longer just a pleasure but had become an overwhelming responsibility and "put on the table" food ordering as a form of love, complementary to cooking.

Since music travels fast and easily enters pop culture and wedding is such an important and symbolic moment, we set to make an educational content with potential to become a must-play song at Romanian weddings.

The music video “All you want” was a disruptive piece of content both musically but mainly from the bold message point of view.

There were numerous executional principles that we put together to have that perfect mix that would go into “pop-culture” and seed a new tradition, like:

- The locally relevant artists mix: Delia, a non-conventional personality and a publicly declared feminist, also gourmand by nature, with numerous inside jokes about food in her community, together with two long-term Tazz brand ambassadors: rock-star Adrian Despot and starring as an actor one of the most appreciated Romanian Chefs:

Sorin Bontea.

- The portrayal of a classic Romanian wedding with a subtle “internet” humor. From the classic table set-up, to guests with stereotypical expectations, the traditional dancing moment and the household gifting. The whole creative treatment was a fine irony of traditional weddings and old norms.

The video generated over 60K organic views in the first day and was in Romania YouTube trending for over to weeks. The content went viral, with over 3 MIL EARNED MEDIA, including 5 TV appearances, broadcasts on two of the most listened radio stations in Romania and press articles.

People reaction was strong and considering the cultural complexity of the theme and the emotional involvement that Romanians have towards cooking.

In times when the food delivery service market was declining -8% YoY, Tazz achieved a historical GMV record (Gross Merchandise Value): +29% YoY, got +51% more new users, +106% more Direct traffic and a 49% higher conversion rate vs. benchmark.

Besides these results, the biggest win for Tazz is the fact that even in such a difficult period managed to maintain an approach true to its brand DNA, relevant for people and daring enough to spark a much needed conversation.

In Romania, traditional weddings are a world in themselves: they start early in the morning and sometimes end the next morning, passing through several important stages and taking the family to different places.

If in other countries there are more classical traditions, such as the dance of the bride with her father, in Romania most of the traditions are at least strange for foreigners and predominantly food-related: from breaking bread on the bride's head to be a good housewife, to a dance with chickens and the throwing of rice on the bride and groom just after the civil ceremony. Traditional Romanian weddings are an entire ritual of initiation into domestic life, in which cooking occupies a fundamental place.

In the video, we addressed such subtleties in a way that would make the content locally relevant and that would put a light on the gender inequality, passed from generation to generation.