Matari Advertising has won the Rp35 billion (about US$4.1
million) Garuda Indonesia account, following what was described by the
advertising industry as the "pitch of the year" which involved 16 local
and multi-national agencies.
The account is one of the largest handled by any agency in Indonesia for
a single product.
Matari, which has been tasked with running a two-year marketing
communications campaign aimed at improving Garuda's image, took a bold
approach when pitching for the account.
"While the other agencies tried to sell how beautiful Indonesia is, we
told Garuda to admit that they have big problems, to invite customers to
keep telling them how unhappy they are with Garuda, and to commit to
change," said Ken T. Sudarto, the chairman of Matari Advertising.
"We did warn them that the approach could backfire if they don't deliver
what they promise, but I think they have reached a stage where they
don't have a choice."
The state-owned carrier has been suffering from a bad image due to
inefficiencies blamed on corruption.
In 1998, a decline in the travel business amid the regional economic
crisis forced the airline to axe unprofitable routes and reduce its
fleet size.
Last year, the company began operating on a profit again after a new
management took over and introduced measures to improve its
services.
Matari's advertising strategy for Garuda, said Mr Sudarto, is to
pre-empt the audience with a series of full-page ads in major
newspapers, accompanied by longer-than-usual TVCs, using the tagline
'Garuda is now different'.
He explained : "In the first ad, Garuda will thank its customers for
their complaints. The second ad will state the improvements Garuda has
made and its commitment to bringing more improvements.
"The third ad will invite the audience to try them out. By the second
year, the ads will feature the public stating that 'Garuda is indeed
different'."
Below-the-line communications will focus on training customer relations
staff to handle complaints at every airport in Indonesia.
"They need a complete overhaul to their image," said Mr Sudarto, adding
that although Garuda has made significant improvements in their
operations, they fail to be convincing.
"No one believes it," he said.
However, he praised Garuda for making the pitch transparent.
Matari had pitched for Garuda several times in the past, but Ken said
that this was their first fair pitch.
"They had 20 or 30 people in the room explaining how the points were
scored," he said. Several consultants were also brought in to assist in
the selection process.
