Indonesian creativity comes of age

Y&R Jakarta's recent success at Cannes could be more than just a watershed moment for the WPP agency. The Outdoor Gold Lion for its LG GX200 campaign was not just an accolade for the Indonesian office - it was the first such award for the country.

The winning campaign's ECD, Sachin Ambekar from Y&R Indonesia says that the Cannes result was not surprising because Indonesia has been winning international awards for the past three years. "By winning the first Gold Lion in Cannes," says Ambekar, "Y&R has simply taken the competition to the next level."

Ambekar feels that creative standards are improving significantly too and greater demand for good work from clients reflects that. There is, though, a caveat. "Indonesian advertising is still finding its own style, establishing it in the market and gaining recognition," says Ambekar.

One way to push for a more defined style would be the development and support for more local talent under the guiding hand of experienced seniors. "There's a huge need for good Bahasa Indonesia copywriters, art directors and designers who can apply insightful thinking based on Indonesian culture, rather than imitating work from other countries," Ambekar says.

As a market, Indonesia is clearly primed for big things. "Our Indonesia operation's contribution to the network's overall 2009 growth in APAC was ahead of most of the other markets in the region," says Jaydeep Chaudhuri, technical advisor, MEC Indonesia. "Indonesia has been one of the saviours of global companies because the largest economy in Southeast Asia bucked the 2009 recessionary trend felt elsewhere in the continent and the globe."

However, one stumbling block could be the restrictions on the level of foreign ownership of companies in Indonesia, which prevents multinational firms from investing further. "Even with a newly-introduced law, advertising is still in the negative list for foreign investment," says Jarek Ziebinski, president, Leo Burnett/Arc Worldwide Asia-Pacific. "This is another challenge for agencies as it's harder to invest without ownership and control."

Chaudhuri notes that this issue is not unique to Indonesia and says there is hope for the future. "The Association of Advertising Agencies has been debating the next course of the action for sometime and I do believe it will take steps that will benefit the industry as a whole."

Ziebinski believes a solution is imminent. "There are many countries where legislation attracts investors and helps businesses to grow," he says. "Opening up the industry will provide the economy with additional capital and technology transfer. Change in the right direction is only a matter of time."

This article was originally published in the 15 July 2010 issue of Media.