EQUIL clarifies

We wish to comment on the article Build strong local brands before going regional, warns Kotler, which appeared in The Jakarta Post on Nov. 25.

We fully concur with the writer that indeed some local and regional events still use imported water as a sign of their inferiority complex for local products, and their esteemed regard for things imported.

However, the article has erred on two counts:

* "Foreign bottled mineral water was served to the panelist..." The natural mineral water served to the panelists was indeed and proudly, the product of Indonesia with its strong brand already well known in the ASEAN region. The product, EQUIL, was born and grown in Indonesia, and has also been exported to Europe and the Middle East. EQUIL also won the Laurent Perrier Champagne Award in the Netherlands in 2004.

* "...host Indonesia has many local mineral water brands attractive enough to prompt ..." The sentence should read "... host Indonesia has many local bottled drinking water brands to prompt..."

Reason: There is only one natural mineral water in Indonesia with the brand EQUIL. The other so called "mineral waters" that the writer has in mind are just bottled drinking water, or Air minum dalam kemasan.

Here, once again, the Post has failed to differentiate natural mineral water from bottled drinking water, thus perpetuating the confusion that has long existed in the minds of many Indonesian consumers.

We have written to your paper several times on this issue, and we even offer to do a presentation before your editors and reporters so that similar mistakes can be avoided. Our offer is still open.

MORGEN SUTANTO, EQUIL, Jakarta

Note: Thank you for the clarification.

--Editor