Jakarta Undercover and Marketing

Jakarta is a capital of sex entertainment, and in this workmanlike account, Indonesian journalist Emka offers a pleasure tour of some of the rarefied adult venues. He assumes a grating, disingenuous tone as he gains access, via friends and professional contacts, to the naked parties and sex-for-hire clubs that require an inexhaustible supply of beautiful native women and foreign currency to keep afloat. Arriving at one underground party, thanks to the exclusive membership (costing $5,000 for six months) of an acquaintance, Emka pulls back a curtain at the nightclub to behold this sight: "Nobody was wearing anything!" The author indulges in a "Triple-service VIP Sauna Special" (bathed and massaged by two women who vie for his attention while telling him, "We're stupid because we're willing to be used by men") and observes a "Squeals on Wheels" transaction (sex in a moving car). He's seated in the front next to the driver, while his friend enjoys the action in the backseat. There are no surprises, as Emka barely scratches the surface of the sordid Indonesian sex industry fed by the sad legion of bored and desperate mammies (older procuresses), prostitutes, gays, foreign sex workers and wealthy fetishists.

The first paragraph is quoted from the publisher review on the Jakarta Undercover book which took Indonesia by surprise approximately 3 years ago. Over 200,000 copies sold in Indonesia since it was launched. The book even spawned the sequel (Jakarta Undercover 2), comic, and of course the movie. Moreover, this book also available in English and currently being sold in Amazon. It also attracts a lot of attention to be reviewed by the third parties on the internet and the printed media. In Australia the movie would be showed shortly and I have the privilege to be trusted in reviewing the movie from the marketing point of view by the management.

I met Moammar Emka a couple years ago before he became famous and we even played a game of billiard at Gardu Billiard Jakarta. He probably does not remember me after all this year. I personally think that he is a great marketer. As a marketer I always try to analyze the situation and wondering why this book could be such a phenomenon. Is it the controversial content that invites the curiosity? Is it the right product in the right market?

The answer is “yes” to both of the questions. Perfect timing of a perfect product in the perfect market, that what I perceive Jakarta Undercover is. With the background of the eastern culture we cannot deny that the older Indonesian generation still perceives sex as a taboo topic to be discussed in public. However, the globalization era and information age really shift the values within the society which creates a perception that sex topics to be in a grey area (not white and not black).

Consequently, the society becomes more curious in regards to this issue. Being left by a huge curiosity, of course Jakarta Undercover is a great product. In the sex industry Indonesian society is like teenagers. As a teenager we always try something new, have a huge curiosity, and try to find new information as much as possible.

It has the differentiation compares to the other books, the controversial content which discusses the sex and metropolitan life in Jakarta. It has the clear unique positioning, as the first book that gets into its reader’s mind in its category. The story visualization through the flexible and easy language also fulfills the need of its target market. Moreover, it has the public relation (PR) power that attracts the media attention due to the controversial content.

For every one in Australia that have not read the book, or just curious about the Jakarta’s sex life, or just want to have fun then come along and watch the movie in Sydney and Melbourne. It will be good!!

In Sydney the movie will be showed at the University of New South Wales, Kensington Campus

Where: Rithcie Theatre, Scientia Building
When: Wednesday, 12/05/07
with three different sessions: 3.00 pm, 5.30 pm, and 8.00 pm
Ticketing and Enquiries: Grace - 0415 441 717
How much: AU$12.00 (Presold), AU$15.00 (At door)

David Herlambang
MarketingFirst

The deepest condolence to all Virginia Tech Shooting Massacre

On behalf of the MarketingFirst Group I would like to express my deepest condolence for all the family and friends of the innocent victims of the Virginia Tech Shooting Massacre. Be strong.

The Media Power

Approximately a month ago I went to a website called http://www.oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/ which is run by a Canadian, named Kyle MacDonald. He practically traded a small paper clip for a house. Of course it did not happen in one trade. In the website you could see how he started his journey with the paper clip and 14 trades later he managed to obtain the house. What impress me the most is he did it only within a year. WHAT A STORY!!!

He also admitted that he did not spend a cent of his money to advertise his intention. He started the trade from the craiglist website in the barter section. He basically started to tell the world about his intention from his blog. It was probably his unique story that attracted the media attention. Almost all the media from around the globe discussed about him in the middle of last year. In Australia, all the television station was talking about his incredible story. This media euphoria then further stimulates more attention from the society.

To fulfill my curiosity I further browse the internet and accidentally hit a website that asks us to vote for the most popular internet celebrity http://www.webjunk.tv/gis/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_meme. Of course these people are actually famous in the global internet community. They managed to obtain the attention from the society through YouTube, MySpace, Friendster, etc. Some of them even managed to obtained 1.7 million hits within 3 weeks. This is amazing. And hell yeah!!! This is the power of the media.

Intentionally or not I have to salute them from the marketing point of view. They have managed to utilise the power of public relation (PR) as one of the marketing aspects. In this modern society penetration through our target market could be done by different approaches. They have also fulfilled one of the basic human needs, curiosity. As human we always want to see, hear, and read something new in our daily routine. We are always curious about a lot of things. That is why we cannot be separated from the news, TV, and of course internet.

Do you have another experience or story in regards to this phenomenon? Please share. Probably you could be one of the internet celebrities =)

David Herlambang
MarketingFirst

Salesman 101

I had a small experience that happened approximately two months ago. I was actually being a door to door salesman. This was done in order to get rid of the unwanted items from my warehouse. This is due to the fact that online market has a totally different nature with offline market. Hence, not all items that sell very good in the conventional store could behave similarly in the online store. Being desperate by the condition, I decided to give it a go.

It was the first experience for me and it was very very very exciting, depressing, frustrating, and also full of fun. It was exciting and full of fun because I met a lot of people in that particular day. Of course I could understand the market condition better from the conversation with the people. However, it was depressing and frustrating since I was rejected for so many times in a very short period of time. Honestly, I have never experienced that many rejections in such short period of time in my life before.

At the end of the day, I forced myself to extract the essential lesson from that particular experience.

• Try to study the market first before you actually become a salesman. One of the biggest reasons why I did not sell was actually my products. As Mr. Pontoh said, a product should have a unique selling point and provide reasons for customers to buy.
  
• Just do it!! It was really hard for me to actually start the initial conversation in selling the products. I was worried that I would be thrown away from the stores. The fear of being rejected would always keep you under pressure and might lead to the result of not selling any of the products. But do not let this feeling overtake your guts.
  
• The last lesson is: Do not think about the rejection too much =). I think being rejected is totally normal. Instead of thinking about the rejection, control your energy to speak with the people that reject you and ask them why they do not want the product. Find out the best solution from your customer in order to make your sales rolling.

In conclusion, I give all my salute to all the salesmen out there. It is not an easy task to be done. Keep your head up!!!

Please share us your unique experience as or in facing a salesman in your life.

David Herlambang

MarketingFirst

Meet Me in Media Kawasan

To the great Media Kawasan that creates a Blue Ocean market in the Indonesian media industry. Thank you for giving me the great opportunity to contribute and share my marketing knowledge and experience to the society. Thank you for giving me a chance to learn more about marketing. Thank you.

I am now a new contributor for Media Kawasan in the marketing section. The first column was published publicly in last March.

The basic idea to start writing is to share my knowledge and experience in marketing and business. I personally believe that I learn more by sharing. I do not call myself a marketing guru therefore I am more than happy to hear any feedback from my fellow readers.

Secondly, I would like to create a new image of marketing within the society. Most of the time people always relate marketing to salesmen-ship or advertisement. They are one of the ingredients of marketing but not the whole lot. In fact, marketing is actually needed by everyone. It has an important role in many life aspects such as career, business, fund raising, social works, and of course love.

I am still trying to write more in the other media such as Australian Marketing Magazine and newspaper. Therefore, wish me luck guys =)

The next column in Media Kawasan will be in May 2007. So, check it out!

David Herlambang
MarketingFirst

PS: This column is in Indonesian. Should you need me to translate it, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Price War…It’s everywhere!!!

I would like to share a living situation in a business environment. I suppose the majority of the members are or have experienced this phenomenon called price war. It is so human that we could be trapped in the price war within our business environment. Price war sometimes could be healthy to the market. However as the old one said enough is enough, there are some limitations that should be set in order to allow us to still obtain profit.

As I said before, I was working in my own restaurant at the early age. We were the first restaurant in our area. Within five years a first competitor occurred and positioned very close to us. They declared the price war and I have to admit our sales dropped. The young David can only see the sales plummet.

After ten years, I started my own business, Klick ‘N Save. We mainly try to focus on the nursery industry. We started to sell the baby furniture, such as rockers, strollers, cots, and swings. In the market we respect our competitors and try to keep the price stable. We did not destruct the price by selling branded items at a very low price. However, new competitors always come to business. Somehow, they think that the only way to crack the market is through price. They sell the items at a crazily discounted price even though they obtained the items at the same price with us. Honestly, the older David is still confused in facing this situation =)

At the end of the day they always give up in the price war. Usually, they decide to increase the price eventually. This is totally understandable since they surely also need profit to keep up and running the business. However, what about the heavily capitalized competitors? Surely they still have a lot of capital and able to afford selling items at the discounted price for the long period of time. How can we beat this price war?

As the Indonesian said “malu bertanya sesat di jalan” in English “shy of asking for assistance would make us fail”. In this very good opportunity I would like to ask the forum for suggestions in battling against this business phenomenon.

Any opinions, suggestions and questions will be appreciated.

David Herlambang
MarketingFirsthttp://www.marketingfirst.blogspot.com/