Advertising icon loses fight against cancer

Indonesia advertising industry pioneer Ken Sudarto passed away at 65 on Saturday at 6 a.m. Singapore time (5 a.m. Jakarta time) after being treated at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital for lymphatic cancer.

His remains were taken to the Gatot Subroto Army Hospital later in the day and would be buried at the Tanah Kusir public cemetery in South Jakarta on Wednesday.

Born in Kebumen, Central Java, on March 16, 1942, as Kenneth Tjahjady Sudarto, Ken created leading local advertising agency Matari Inc., was a founding member of the Association of Indonesian Advertising Agencies (PPPI), and the Indonesia chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA). He was also a member of Indonesian Corruption Watch.

He had been ill from cancer since January last year.

"Ken was indeed a visionary. He had given us a lot of surprising ideas that later became trends," Matari Inc. deputy chairman Wisaksono Noeradi said.

In 1978, he recalled, Ken proposed the first public service advertising in a bid to help promote environmental sustainability.

"Ken has a lot of different areas of interests, such as sports when he initiated private company participation in sponsoring sports events and tourism by taking Indonesia for a trade and tourism promotion to the United States, Europe and the Middle East," Wisaksono said.

Ken and boy-scout buddy Paul Karmadi broke new ground in the country's advertising industry in 1971 by setting up an independent, privately owned advertising agency -- later known as Matari.

He founded the company, currently in the top three by billings, based on a simple principle that advertising only involved people and communications. "We believe that no one can understand and communicate with Indonesians, like other Indonesians," he said, as quoted on Matari's website.

Among Matari's long-time clients are the nation's largest food producer, Indofood, Astra Honda Motors, Bank Internasional Indonesia and fast moving consumer goods producer Procter and Gamble.

Ken graduated from the Indonesian University's School of Economics in 1965. He was also an alumni of the INSEAD Fountainebleau (France) Indonesian Senior Executive Program in 1982 and Owner-President Management Program (OPM) of Harvard Business School in 1985.

His dedication in the industry had granted him a lifetime achievement award Anugerah Darmanyata from the PPPI.

Friend and spiritualist Gede Prama cited Ken as a humble man. "For a man as rich as he is, he dresses and drives modestly," he said on his website.

Ken is survived by his wife, Sylvie, and three children, Michael, Glenn and Cynthia.-- JP