Re:thinking Marketing

MarkPlus Midyear Gathering 08: Being a MarkPluser !

On 11 and 12 July, we hosted our MarkPlus Mid Year Gathering at Garden Hotel, Surabaya. This event was attended by over 150 MarkPlusers from Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, Medan, Semarang, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

In this midyear gathering, we discussed the 4P core values of MarkPlus that has been used for years but this time will be even more developed. Why is it so important? Because core values are the elements that builds the corporate culture of MarkPlus that differentiates us from others. This is the corporate PDB. But, the 4Ps are not marketing mix. It is the four passions inherent in every MarkPluser: Passion for Knowledge, Passion for Business, Passion for Service and Passion for People.

What is unique this year is that this time we invited our client to give input and even critique. Mr. Suwito Sumargo from GBT and Mr. Ahmad Rusdifahmi from Indosat graced our event and gave their insight. So we do not just preach the value of listening to customers, we practice it too! Kiai Adib, my friend from Islamic Boarding School Pesantren Langitan, was also invited to give spiritual guidance at Friday’s prayer for our Muslim MarkPlusers.

In the evening, we hosted our very own MarkPlus Idol. At this event, every MarkPluser showcased their talents at singing our new theme song “Being a MarkPluser”, specially created by Jacky Mussry. Every MarkPluser from various divisions competed to present their unique talents. It was such a joyous event!

Kiai Adib (left) from Pesantren Langitan

Mr. Ahmad Rusdifahmi from Indosat and Mr. Suwito Sumargo from GBT

MarkPlus Festival 08

MarkPlus Festival 08 “Marketing in the Challenging Landscape, Are You Creative Enough?” in Surabaya was a success. It is quite possibly the biggest Marketing Festival in Indonesia, and perhaps in ASEAN, with more than 1500 participants attending.

Prof Dr Ir Muhammad Nuh DEA, Minister of Communications and Information, commenced the festival with an official welcome. After giving his keynote speech, he presented the Surabaya Sparkling Award to six winning varsity teams from Surabaya. Following which he awarded the Surabaya Brand Awards to 21 brands in local, national, international and legacy category.

Overall, there were a total of 21 speakers and moderators from Jakarta and Surabaya including those from MarkPlus Inc themselves, disseminating presentations over three parallel sessions simultaneously. This event was ended with another plenary session graced by Dahlan Iskan, head of Newspaper Publishing Union (Serikat Penerbit Surat kabar / SPS) and seven leaders of various industry associations in East Java. I chaired as moderator for the last plenary session.

Earlier in the first morning session, I explained about the 8 marketing phenomena in the first semester of 2008, 8 reasons to forget the price war and 8 creative strategies to use in the second semester of 2008. With this festival, I urge fellow marketers to move away from the price war. We have to be even more creative entering this second semester.

One month before the MarkPlus Festival begun, I wrote an article every day for Jawa Pos and Radar Surabaya for over three weeks. I was given generous permission by Mbak Nany Widjaja, director of PT Jawa Pos, to write for both newspapers. The result was very effective looking at the enthusiasm we received from arek arek Suroboyo - the people of Surabaya - towards our column. They’ve even kindly requested for me to continue to write for both newspapers.

My hope for this Markplus Festival is that it would rouse the marketing spirit, not only in Surabaya, but so that its echoes can be heard throughout Indonesia.

me gave a presentasion during the plennary session

Minister of Communications and Information, Prof Dr Ir Muhammad Nuh DEA, opened the MarkPlus Festival 08

Founder and CEO of Jawa Pos Group, Dahlan Iskan, one of speakers in panel discussion session

Judging for the fifth time for Abang None 2008

For the last few days ago, I was buried by my routines as always. But there was one surprising moment, since I was chosen to be one of the judges of ABNON (Abang None) 2008 for the FIFTH time. Led by Mr. Rusdi Saleh, I together with Mr. Robert P Silalahi, Mrs. Rae Sita Supit, Mrs. Okky Asokawati, Mrs. Ratih Sanggarwati, and Mrs. Tity Koesoemo were responsible to deliver some material for all the Abang None’s contestants based on each of our expertise. We were lecturing as well as sharing our passion to them.

On 28 – 29 July 2008, these two days full of excitement. These days were the beginning of serial judgment for all the contestants. They were asked one by one by each judge. Not only to know their skill but also their knowledge. They are in fact the “ambassador” of Jakarta. Broad and wide knowledge must be blended together with interpersonal skill, to promote Jakarta to the world.

As I told you at the beginning, I have been being the judge for the fifth time. Each year I noticed, there will always changing among all the contestants. Enthusiasm and teamwork spirit are very strong this year. They all young generation of Indonesia evidently gave me back some kind of emotional support and strength.

However, the final judgment hasn’t come yet, all the contestants should wait until fourth of July, where I and the other judges will need to decide one couple (Abang & None) Best of the Best to promote our Jakarta city.

3D/4N in Malaysia

In this first week of April, I had a very busy schedule in Malaysia. In the first night, after landed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) from Jakarta, I straightaway fly to Kuantan airport, and then go to the ClubMed in Cherating, a quiet small town in the East Coast of Malaysia. This trip took around 2 hours; 1 hour from KL to Kuantan by plane, and 1 hour from Kuantan to Cherating by bus.

After enjoying the beautiful scenery of night, and chats with some friendly people at ClubMed Cherating, the next afternoon I lead an in-house seminar for Carlsberg Malaysia. I was invited by Mr. Ole S. Nielsen, the company’s General Manager Marketing, to share my experiences and knowledge. It’s quite an interesting discussion about how to market a beer, a “sin product”, in a country with majority of its people are moslem. It’s a tough challenge. But, I saw the 25 participants—most of them are still young—were very energetic and creative. At the end of the event, we try to generate some ideas to handle the challenges.

In the evening, on the same day, I went back to KL. I had to facilitate a 2-day Advanced Professional Development Program (APDP) for Lion Group in the next morning. I arrived at Nikko Hotel, KL, at around 11.30pm, and having a discussion with my KL team to better prepare for tomorrow’s activities. When I went to the bed, I saw the clock was already at 2pm.

The next day, at 8am, I started the APDP for Lion Group at Menara Citibank, just next to Nikko Hotel. The program was attended by 30 participants, including Datuk Albert Cheng, Group Executive Director of Lion Group. For those who are not familiar with the company, Lion Group is a diversified company with business in steel, automotive, tyre, computer and communication, plantation, property, retail and trading, lubricants, and other services. They are the biggest steelmaker in the country and also managing Parkson, a famous department store in Malaysia.

APDP itself is based on Program on Case Method and Participant-Centered Learning (PCM-PCL) of Harvard Business School Executive Education. This program is intended for high-level executives and generally discussing about Strategic Marketing Trilogy, i.e.: Product Management, Brand Management, and Customer Management. We’re analyzing 4 Harvard Business School Case Studies, and try to draw the relevance between the cases and Lion Group’s situation. It’s a lively discussion, and the participants were very enthusiastic. From the participants’ testimonial that I read after the program finished, all of them were very satisfied and acknowledging the value of this two-day APDP.

After the two days APDP with Lion Group, I had a dinner with my close friend, Dr. Zakaria, Senior Advisor of MarkPlus, Inc. Malaysia, at Malaysian Petroleum Club (MPC), Petronas Twin Towers. We discuss about the current landscape in Malaysia. For me, as a marketing guy, this kind of information will be very useful in helping our Malaysian clients in growing their business.

And lastly, but surely not the least, my very busy schedule in Malaysia was completed by visiting MarkPlus Malaysia’s new office. The office—or I also like to call it “Campus”—is located at prime business area, Wisma Selangor Dredging, Jalan Ampang; just across Petronas Twin Towers.

Indeed, due to our growing business in Malaysia, we moved to better office building. The building itself is equipped with supporting facilities such as 40-seat class room, focus group discussion (FGD) room, and wifi Internet access. It’s a nice and comfortable place in general. Therefore, if you’re in KL, please visit MarkPlus Malaysia Campus. I’m inviting you!!!

So, what is the lesson that we can drew from my short—but surely a very memorable—trip to Malaysia?

It shows that ASEAN as a region is growing, and will become more borderless. There are many—and many more to come—Malaysian companies that have business in other ASEAN countries; and vice versa. Therefore, as businessmen and marketing guys, we have to broaden our perspective. We have to watch closely the market in other ASEAN countries apart of our country. We also have to develop a better collaboration with other ASEAN companies and businessmen. By doing this, as I wrote in my book with Philip Kotler “Think ASEAN”, the region will become more solid in facing a competition from other regions such as China and India.

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How small thing can create big thing

Have you read the book of V.J. Smith “The Richest Man in Town”. Last week in my service-marketing workshop in Aryaduta Hotel, one of MarkPlus extended family, Mr. Sanjay Bhojwani was lending me an inspirational book about Marty. Marty was an elderly cashier guy (now deceased) who worked for Wal-Mart in Midwestern. The book with 104 pp was so simple yet profound driving people to transform their life.

V.J Smith developed relationship with Marty and he was astonished by Marty’s behavior and out look on life. In every encounter with people around, you could see a kind attitude and sincere smile of him. I set tears while I was reading the book. I was touched by the story on how ordinary man with less means could have such huge unstoppable energy to serve others and make a difference to the people surround him. He was truly happy serving and helping all the customers. Take a minute to think of ourselves. Can we do the same thing like Marty? Do we “want” and ever act simple thing like him? We sometimes put the blame on business or self-selfishness. In fact by all means possessed and knowledge we have, we could contribute more. Start from the simplest way but will give tremendous impact to others. A lesson from Marty : to make this world a better place to live in.

Sacred Moment

Yesterday has past, today is a brand new day... And with the spirit Jesus Christ's resurrection, I would like to say HAPPY EASTER to anyone who celebrate it. Three holy days (Tri Hari Suci) were sacred moment for every Christian people. At that time my whole mind and heart were unconditionally touched. We were reminded of how small we were. Things could suddenly happenend at a blink of an eye, without you realize. Thugh believing will always be the source of strength to my life. HAPPY EASTER, and God Bless You all....!

Satya Budaya Indonesia presented "Wahyu Cakraningrat"

When I mention "Satya Budaya Indonesia" maybe not so many people are familiar with this name. This is a name of a community that are trying to conserve the cultural heritage of Indonesia through a traditional dance performance called "Wayang Orang". This community is led by Mrs. Endang Purnomo, wife of Mr. Purnomo Prawiro, President Director of Blue Bird. Last night 7.45pm sharp I was at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta, attending one of Satya Budaya Indonesia’s performance titled "Wahyu Cakraningrat", performed by around 30 persons.

The atmosphere was very ethnic, I saw many people wearing batiks for their costume, gamelan music was played during the performance. The idea to have this kind of show is very interesting. Why ? As you know that globalization, digitalization, futurization is shifting people's mind to become more western-oriented. Music, movie, food, cloths, and so many aspects of our live have been slowly dragged away. And without us realizing, we eventually might loose our cultural identity as eastern people. To keep all this thing from happen, it is good to have such kind of Satya Budaya Indonesia community.

The other interesting fact of this community is the performers. At the stage we might see Indonesian Chinese blood among them. They wore the costume and danced beautifully, as if they were immersed to play the roles. Wow ! I just couldn’t find the word to express how beautiful the scene at that night, blending of cultural ethic creating wonderful performance. You know in one of Chinese tradition dance, we call it Barongsai, not all of the players are Chinese. Some of them also Indonesian who love it and joint the Barongsai dance community to learn how to play and perform. At the end there is not really matter where you come from, but what you can contribute to make our country to be a wonderful place to live side by side together.

Dinner with my family at Surabaya

After three days with 35 leaders from Bank Muamalat, I quickly hurried home to Surabaya. The three days training session named the Chief Marketing Officer - Professional Development Program using Harvard Business Case was very exciting and interesting. For those who don't know yet, my hometown is Surabaya. I was raised there and really I can't hide my Surabaya accent, even when I speak english :)) I took the plane from Jakarta to gather with my family for a special event, the Chinese New Year. I am having dinner with my family tonight. The time of the year for a fresh start and new beginnings, many Indonesians celebrate the occasion with friends, family and loved ones. Great momentum. Gong xi fa cai!

My blog's new look

Hello everybody... I am proud to present you with a new look for my blog. Right up there you can click on the brands of my company, MarkPlus. Then, there are my books with the world's marketing guru, Philip Kotler. You can check my photo albums down to the left... I think this new look looks more fresh and dynamic... I want to know what you think about it also...

Building the Kijang brand through a 30 year story

The third MarkPlus CMO-PDP (Chief Marketing Officer – Professional Development Program) was conducted last week. The general topic was Strategic Marketing Management. I divided the topic into three parts: Product Management, Customer Management and Brand Management. As always, the MarkPlus CMO-PDP is an exclusive class available only for 40 participants. In this training, we discussed 6 Harvard Business School Cases: Bank of America and Aqualisa Quartz for Product Management part, Juice Guy and Best Buy for Customer Management part, and Gucci N.V and Steinway & Sons for Brand Management. During all three days, participants were very interactive.

Along with the six cases,we were very fortunate to be able to invite two high profile guest speakers. One of them was Pak Joko Trisanyoto, Marketing Director of Toyota Astra Motor. He spoke about the 30 years of Kijang's journey in Indonesia. It was a very interesting story. We see Kijang everyday in the street. We also know that Kijang is by de-facto known as national-car, and until now there are five-generations of Kijang. That makes Kijang brand awareness higher than Toyota's.

Each of Kijang generation has its own story. The story started from the first-generation of Kijang, Kijang Buaya, made with the concept of multi-purpose vehicle and became very famous in the class in that era. The story continued with the development of the second-generation called by Kijang Doyok, which is customized into several variants, from box-car, pick-up, public transportation, etc. The third-generation is Kijang Super, made based on the concept of family-car and was famous with its TV ad which shows the testimonial of a little boy that proclaim Kijang can pick-up his whole family at once. The ad became a popular story among its customers. Toyota also created the phenomenon tagline in this era, “Kijang: memang Tiada Duanya” which is still famous until today. The fourth-generation was Kijang Kapsul and the fifth-generation is known as Kijang Innova, the Beautiful [R]evolution.

For the last 30 years, Toyota had maintained and strengthened the Kijang image, stories and associations, through the firm activities itself, the influencers, the customer and the creation of a new popular culture. Now, we are very assured with the reputation value of Kijang. For me, there is one other value that increases the value of Kijang. Do you know that around 70% of its components were made by local? Somehow, there is emotional –nationalism - value touching my heart. That’s why I am very proud of this brand, besides it is now approaching ASEAN market. In conclusion, I just want to said that branding is not about logoing, naming or tag-lining. A brand must sound its solid positioning, and branding is a integrated function of image, stories and associations.