THANKS GOD IT’S 16

Sixteen years old. Only remembered by seconds. In fact, it’s a long journey for Matamera.

Just like a boy. A boy becomes an adult when he realizes that he has a right not only to be right but also to be wrong. The only courage that matters is the kind that gets you from one moment to the next.

Thanks God and to the families, friends and colleagues whose very patience with us for so long time. Hmmm… Without all of you we are nothing! Happy 16th anniversary Matamera Family. Let’s celebrate with a self reflection. It’s not bright enough now. To light up the world.

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INDONESIA BRANDING STRATEGY. A LEARNING PROCESS

Again, about branding and vision. And it’s about Visit Indonesia 2008, part of destination branding for Indonesia. And again it’s all about learning process.

Before I put my opinion, this Monday I have this article from Bali Discovery. Happy reading!

And Deliver Us from Amateurs…
Editorial: Is Someone Asleep at the Wheel When it Comes to Marketing Indonesian Tourism?
(12/23/2007)

Oops!
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced last week that the slogan “Visit Indonesia 2008 – Celebrating 100 Years of Nation’s Awakening” is going to be quickly revamped. No doubt, this decision is accompanied by no small amount of panic as airplane fuselages must repainted, letterheads reprinted, brochures reformatted and republished, and television adverts re-edited before January 1, 2008 when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to officially inaugurate the Visit Indonesia Year 2008 (VIY 2008) promotion.

Meanwhile, the international press, together with many members of Indonesia’s tourism industry, are wondering how Indonesia managed to find itself in such an embarrassing and potentially expensive position.

The current imbroglio of “bad advertising copy” traces back to a decision to link VIY 2008 with the 100th anniversary of Boedi Oetomo - a movement deemed by the program’s innovators as the start of Indonesia’s “national awakening.”.

While the sense of nationalism behind the current promotional program is laudable, the suggestion is that the creator’s of the VIY 2008 tourism promotion logo may be ill-informed and inexpert on matters both a grammatical and historical level.

Some Indonesian historicans point out that Boedi Oetomo was, in fact, an elitist movement restricted to East Javanese and Madurese aristocrats dedicated to seeking personal parity in educational rights and privileges then enjoyed by Dutch colonialists. With Boedi Oetomo judged not to be nationalistic in its platform and goals, these same historians point to the founding of Syarikat Islam (1905) and the Sumpah Pemuda movement (1928) as points in history more appropriately signaling nationalistic aspirations for a future Indonesian Republic.

Against this background, quckly announced plans by Thamrin Bachri, the Director General of Marketing for Indonesian tourism to change the sloppy slogan to “Celebrating 100 years of national awakening” is wrought with danger in failing to address the historical debate surrounding linking “national awakening” and the year 1908.

There is No Easy Fix
No less than former head of the Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board and a retired official of Ministry Tourism and Telecommunication, Wuryastuti Sunario, told Balidiscovery.com: “the term ‘national awakening’ is also wrong, because in 1908, the Boedi Oetomo movement was aimed at fighting for equal education for ethnic Indonesians as given to Dutch citizens. At that time there was no concept as yet to create the Indonesian nation…It was only in 1928 with the ‘Sumpah Pemuda’ that Indonesians envisaged the birth of the Indonesian ‘nation’ through the Youth pledge: ‘Satu Nusa, Satu Bangsa, Satu Bahasa’ : One Country, one nation, one language’”.

Given these historical and grammatical obstacles, it will be extremely problematical to “fix” the current VIY 2008 logo, also raising questions on how much of the Nation’s precious tourism promotion budget will have to be spent to correct this error.

Perhaps the most effective solution offered to date is to consider losing the by-line completely and going solely with “Visit Indonesia Year 2008.”

Ouch!
The current fiasco surrounding this poorly executed tourism marketing campaigns has drawn widespread criticism in the international and national media on how Indonesia promotes its tourism fortunes, including rebukes from the Financial Times (who broke the story), Associated Press, and International Herald Tribune.

Speaking to the Jakarta Press, Bachri defended the work of his team and advertising agency saying: “Our colleagues tried their best not to be reckless in creating the slogan, I’m sure. But we have been advised by several people to change the slogan.”

Because the historical link between “national awakening” and the 1908 Boedi Oetomo movement is, at very best, tenuous and that little fanfare or ceremony accompanies the commemoration of the movement’s founding; the linking of VIY 2008 to what is largely a little celebrated and largely not understood historical date is surprising.

TV Commercials Questioned
This latest faux pas in promoting national tourism has also given the press pause to question the wisdom of the country’s tourism TV marketing. The Financial Times said: “The accompanying television adverts are equally incomprehensible. They feature young men jumping over a stone altar on the island of Nias, horsemen riding through an unidentifiable quarry and a Papuan tribesman paddling down a jungle river at night: activities that 99 per cent of tourists are unlikely to experience.”

Does Indonesia Tourism Need a New Ad Agency?
These latest embarrassing chapters in tourism promotion comes on the heels of a series of full page display advertisements from the Ministry which have been placed in the international media that contained grammatical discrepancies and poorly conceived selling messages.

One ad carried an emotive message showing a picture of the earthquake-damaged Central Javanese Hindu temple of Prambanan, proclaiming a national commitment to “someday” rebuild the monument, no matter how many years it takes. That message prompted one foreign travel agent to quip: “Give me a call when you are once again open for business.”

Another full page advert in the Australian edition of Time Magazine tried to persuade surfers to come to Indonesia, saying surfers will encounter “the same wave everywhere,” cryptically tossing in the grammatically suspect non sequitur, “all the islands that have coastlines facing in those directions(sic) get waves.”

A more recent full-page advertisements used the device of asking a rhetorical question, but somehow omitted the mandatory question mark.

All of which prompts us to rhetorically ask: “Are we being too finicky?
In the private sector such glaring mistakes in product presentation, branding and campaign execution would almost certainly result in the advertising agency being shown the door. Given the fact that public funds and the nation’s reputation are at stake in the current instance, should the standards applied by Minister Wacik be any less rigorous?

The business of Indonesian tourism is too vitally important to the national economy to be left in the hands of bumblers and amateurs. Hopefully, Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik will exercise his mandate and get the national tourism marketing house quickly back in order.

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DARI PROTOKOL KYOTO KE BALI ROAD MAP

Sungguh berkah luar biasa bagi Bali menjadi tuan rumah UNFCCC selama dua minggu pada penghujung tahun 2007 ini. Terlepas dari tingkat kepuasan akan hasil yang dicapai dan tidak semata melihatnya dari sisi perjuangan terhadap “lingkungan hidup” yang sangat esensial, tapi juga mencermati side effect yang sangat besar bagi kebangkitan kembali Bali di sisi yang lain termasuk soal “branding”. Bali telah menjadi pusat perhatian yang sangat penting untuk ditindaklanjuti dengan pembangunan lainnya dalam berbagai bidang.

Bukti bukti nyata tersebut terangkum dalam beberapa hal seperti dibawah ini: Pertama dari sisi keamanan. Untuk mempersiapkan keamanan bagi acara ini, Bali secara bertahap telah “disiagakan” untuk “steril” baik oleh TNI maupun POLRI serta keamanan internasional. Berlangsungnya acara ini hingga selesai telah mencitrakan di sisi keamanan menjadikan kelangsungan acara menjadi sukses.

Kedua, dari sisi publikasi. Pemberitaan internasional secara marathon selama hampir sebulan baik sebelum maupun sesudah acara menjadikan ingatan dunia terhadap keberadaan Bali hadir kembali sehingga memunculkan kembali pencitraan Bali.

Ketiga, kehadiran delegasi, pengamat dan jurnalis internasional ke Bali dalam menghadiri acara ini telah menggeliatkan perekonomian Bali baik langsung maupun tidak langsung secara signifikan. Industri pariwisata, kalangan seni dan budaya, serta sector lain nampak sibuk mensukseskan acara ini melalui pemenuhan kebutuhan akan akomodasi, transportasi serta keperluan sumber daya insani yang memadai bagi suksesnya acara ini.

Keempat, pesan yang terkadung dalam misi acara ini menjadikan pendidikan masyarakat akan arti pentingnya menjaga lingkungan semakin meningkat. Hal ini tidak terlepas dari gencarnya pemberitaan media terhadap kandungan bahasan dalam pertemuan. Setidaknya dalam tingkat masyarakat awam beredar bahasan Bali akan tenggelam 50 tahun lagi, tapi jika manusianya mampu menyadari dan melakukan pencegahan hal itu tidak akan terjadi. Pesan moral dari kejadian ini telah membangun kesadaran terhadap peran penting manusia dalam menjaga lingkungannya.

Kelima, Dalam perannya masyarakat sipil telah berhasil menyampaikan sikap dan dorongan mengenai perannya dalam countering climate change. Salah satunya adalah dengan mengedepankan kearifan local atau local wisdom yang terbukti semenjak dahulu kala telah mengakomodasi filosofi menjaga lingkungan secara terus menerus yang dilakukan dalam ritual maupun tradisi. Bahkan konsep hari Nyepi yang bagi umat Hindu adalah ritual perenungan menjelang tahun baru Caka diajukan menjadi World Silent Day karena berhasil menghentikan pencemaran secara signifikan dalam dimensinya yang lebih universal. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa “Negara Timur” atau development countries telah memiliki pemikiran global dalam eksistensinya selama ini. Jika konsep local wisdom ini juga dapat menjadi landasan penting bagi pembangunan di Bali niscaya akan membuat Bali menjadi lebih “long lasting”

Keenam atau yang terakhir adalah result dari acara ini dimana menjadi keputusan penting untuk menuju keputusan yang lebih besar. Telah terjadi kesepakatan-kesepakatan yang mampu mengakomodasi kepentingan yang lebih besar manfaatnya bagi masyarakat dunia. Jika kita menjadi kenal istilah “Protokol Kyoto” selama konferensi ini berlangsung maka sebentar lagi ada istilah baru yang juga akan selalu disebut oleh dunia internasional yaitu “Bali Roadmap”. Penggunaan istilah ini adalah pencitraan positip yang juga berpeluang dunia internasional “memetakan” kembali Bali dalam ingatannya.

Jadi, marilah kita juga menyambut berkah dan hikmah ini menjadi sesuatu yang berarti bagi pencitraan Bali yang lebih baik. Setidaknya menindaklanjuti apa yang telah dicapai oleh Bali dan mewujudkan program yang mungkin masih menjadi agenda selama ini. Senantiasa berpikir positip berinovasi bagi kehidupan yang lebih baik. Mengembangkan “responsible tourism” misalnya atau menggerakan “ekonomi kreatif”. Pastilah kebaikan akan datang dari segala penjuru.

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