Hermawan, the marketing guru
Hermawan, the marketing guru
Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
There is never a dull moment in listening to Hermawan Kartajaya
talk about marketing. His original jokes, easy to understand
explanations and poise blend with his high-spirited gestures to
make him part teacher, and part entertainer.
The uniqueness of his character has made Hermawan stand out
among Indonesian marketing experts and has earned him his own
fanatic fans -- not only among professional marketers, but also
laymen -- who seek out the Indonesian marketing guru for even the
smallest of marketing tips.
"Marketing is so exciting; it's like planning a battle,
because one has to develop a strategy to win," Hermawan said.
Hermawan may not have revolutionized marketing strategy, but
he has certainly opened people's minds to the idea that marketing
is more than selling -- it is a business strategy that every
single person in an organization should be able to apply.
"Marketing is too important to be restricted to a marketing
department. Everyone in a company should be a marketer.
"It's about winning market shares, consumers' minds and hearts
by choosing our market, targeting and positioning our company
above others. Without these concepts, a company could not be said
to have a marketing strategy," Hermawan explained.
It was these concepts that prompted renowned global marketing
guru Philip Kotler to work with Hermawan to write Rethinking
Marketing: Sustainable Marketing Enterprise in Asia, which has
become a regional bestseller.
"Hermawan Kartajaya is a world-class marketing modeler, who
has blended the latest marketing trend with a conceptual
foundation. He shows the other side of marketing in this
interactive world. The reading is easy, fun and provocative,"
Kotler commented about Hermawan latest book, Marketing in Venus.
Nowadays, Hermawan said, Information Technology had made
consumers more emotional as IT products such as short message
services (SMS) and cellular phones provided more room for
individual expression.
"Information Technology allows people to express their
emotional side. One can send love messages, prayers from the
Bible, the Koran," he said.
"So, today's marketing is emotional marketing. How to make
customers feel good is more important, as the key to marketing
now is winning the consumer's heart."
In Indonesia, Hermawan said that marketing had yet to reach
this level as prices, contents and benefits were still the main
considerations for consumers.
The life of Hermawan, born in Surabaya on Nov. 18, 1947 as Tan
Tjioe Hak, is a classic rags-to-riches tale. In an interview with
Matra magazine, he told how his mother had to rent a room in
their house to help out his father, a civil servant.
During the interview, Hermawan said it was his father who had
pushed him to be more Indonesian, by not allowing him to spend so
much time mingling with his Chinese-Indonesian friends.
Because of this upbringing, it is not surprising that Hermawan
can be very patriotic at times. Every achievement he has made on
the international stage, he deems as a way to honor the country.
"Everywhere you go and everything you do, we must never lose
sight of our country, Indonesia".
Humility is one of Hermawan's strong traits, even though he
has a vast international experience in teaching marketing at home
and at various universities in Asia, the U.S. and other
countries.
Becoming the first Indonesian to lead the World Marketing
Association -- with 300,000 members around the world -- did not
make him arrogant. He continues to share his knowledge and does
not mind answering even the most menial of questions such as
"what is marketing?" and does so with the same enthusiasm and
generosity he displays in answering other questions.
Hermawan did not start in marketing, but began his career as a
teacher in his hometown for 20 years.
His affair with the marketing world grew during his teaching
years, as he pursued economics at Surabaya University and later,
as he worked at PT Panggung Electronic Industries and cigarette
maker PT HM Sampoerna in the 1980s.
Hermawan decided to set up his own strategy consulting firm
MarkPlus & Co. in 1989 in Surabaya when he felt himself to have
gained enough experience and skills as an entrepreneur.
Many frowned upon his chosen profession, because business
competition was minimal in the late 1980s -- most major companies
had grown because of their close ties with then-President
Soeharto family and his cronies. Some of those around him had
even suggested that he become a tax consultant instead.
"Anybody could be a tax consultant. There's no challenge in
that. I'd prefer to be a big fish in a small pond than the other
way around," Hermawan recalled, and so he began his business in a
very limited market.
After the ups and downs of running a business in an
unfavorable business climate, the late-1990s reform era finally
opened the door of opportunity for Hermawan. The government was
stripping away monopolies in various sectors, thus forcing many
companies to deal with competition for the first time, instead of
colluding with politicians and other figures of the state
apparatus for their business success.
"In an open market where competition exists, one needs a
strategy consulting firm," he said, and these words have turned
out to be prophetic in hindsight.
His company is now expanding with 140 employees, branch
offices in 14 cities throughout the country and a client list
stretching into the thousands.
Top executives and upstart executives are both keen and eager
to attend his classes to learn marketing.
Despite his success, Hermawan still has many plans in store.
"I'm never satisfied with one obsession. If I manage to
realize one, then it will continue on toward an even higher aim
and so on. Just keep going," Hermawan laughed.
One of his current goals is to have his recently released book
Marketing in the Capital Market published by the prestigious
Harvard Business School Press.
"I think I might become the first Indonesian to have a book
published by Harvard," he chuckled at the thought.