Brand awards should be praised and criticized

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Uci Sanusi, 45, would never smoke anything other than Dji Sam Soe clove cigarettes, which he has smoked since he was 18.

Uci, who works for a printing company on Jl. Percetakan Negara, Central Jakarta, has also spent 15 years driving a Toyota Kijang van that has been the choice of his extended family for decades.

His wife, Siti Saini, 40, also has her favorite brands. She has never bought toothpaste other than Pepsodent and has always opted for Olympic home furniture.

"I have known these brands for years; they have been around for years. I don't think I can turn to others," said Uci, a resident of Cimanggis, Depok.

The brands favored by Uci and Saini were among those that have won the hearts of Indonesians. Various awards have been presented to these brands.

Along with 60 other brands, Dji Sam Soe, Toyota, Pepsodent and Olympic received the Indonesian Golden Brand 2005 certificate for retaining their positions as the most popular products in this country for three years in a row.

Toyota and Olympic, meanwhile, were recently named among the 22 Superbrands in Indonesia.

Asto Subroto, the president director of MARS, a marketing research institute which has been handing out Indonesian Best Brand Awards since 2002, said that the award was a token of appreciation for enterprises that have managed their brands well.

"Giving out awards to these brands has surely been worth it because maintaining brand values is a tough job that requires companies to have a good strategy in marketing and promotion," he said at the award ceremony for the Indonesian Best Brand Award 2005, held recently.

He mentioned the case of Sampoerna, which succeeded in creating an excellent brand image for its products that boosted its market value to five times that of its book value.

Sampoerna was acquired in March by U.S.-based cigarette company Philip Morris in a transaction worth US$1.8 billion (about Rp 17.6 trillion).

Marketing expert Rheinald Kasali said some of the brands awarded did indeed deserve them, but others might have been given awards purely because market research companies, or marketing consultancy agencies handing out the awards, might have had a certain vested interest in them.

Rheinald's doubt arose from his observation that there were differences in findings by the agencies.

"If a brand is widely accepted as the most popular, other research findings should also say the same thing. But here, the findings vary," he said.

However, Rheinald agreed that some brands have succeeded in staying on top in the minds of Indonesians and deserved to be praised.

"Decades ago, it was unthinkable that a piece of furniture could have a brand. But now, Olympic has been at the top of the minds of many people," he said.

While Asto and Rheinald had different views on brand awards, Uci and Saini insisted that their choice of brands were the most qualified.

"I'm not the only one who chooses these brands. My grandparents, my parents and my relatives also have the same preferences as I," Uci said. (006)