What People Forget About Brand

Look yourself in the mirror and utter three words that you think would best describe you. Now open your social media account and try to find what your network of friends have posted which describe who you are. Lastly, sit down in a cafe, have a drink, and think what other people are thinking when they are looking at you.

From that little exercise, do you find a match or a resemblance between what you think of yourself and what other people think of you? Is it three out of three, or two out of three, or one out of three, or no resemblance whatsoever?

If there is a resemblance, congratulation because whether you meant it or not, you have successfully done a form of branding. If there is no resemblance and you are essentially a lone wolf, then it’s alright because that won’t bother you. However, if you are up at night thinking why don’t other people think of you as you think of yourselves, perhaps you might want to start considering a little bit of brand strategy for your life.

Wonder Woman: Simbol Feminisme yang Tidak Pernah Bisa Lepas dari Stigma Dunia Maskulin

“Salah satu simbol feminisme telah dilucuti kekuatannya”, itulah kalimat yang diutarakan Gloria Steinem, editor majalah Ms. dan aktifis feminisme ternama di Amerika Serikat, tentang Wonder Woman di tahun 1968. Steinem mengatakan ini ketika DC Comics waktu itu memutuskan untuk mengubah cerita Wonder Woman, dari seorang superhero keturunan Amazonian menjadi wanita biasa yang menguasai ilmu bela diri. Pernyataan ini didokumentasikan dengan baik oleh Les Daniels, salah satu pemerhati Sejarah buku komik Amerika Serikat, di dalam bukunya “Wonder Woman: The Complete History” edisi terbitan tahun 2000.

Memang Steinem beberapa kali mengakui bahwa dia sering membaca komik Wonder Woman di masa kecilnya. Bahkan di bulan Juli tahun 1972, Wonder Woman, seorang tokoh fiksi di buku komik, dijadikan gambal sampul depan majalah Ms. Oleh Steinem sang editor. Padahal Ms. adalah majalah bertemakan perjuangan feminisme di dunia nyata (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Steinem ), tapi sang editor sangat nyaman menjadikan seornag tokoh fiksi sebagai salah ikon kebanggaannya. Bahkan Steinem menganalisa cerita Wonder Woman sebagai salah satu narasi yang mewakili perjuangan kaum perempuan dalam dunia yang begitu paternalistik ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_impact_of_Wonder_Woman ).

Indonesia Is Outpacing the World in Trust

Amid hoax scare and political noise which have been occupying Indonesians’ recent everyday life, an optimistic and scientific view arise showing that Indonesia is outpacing the world in trust. This data comes from Edelman 2017 Trust Barometer survey which sees the Index being announced for the 17^th year, since it started in 2001. While the main finding of the survey show that there is a global decline, and perhaps even crisis of trust in 28 countries they surveyed, the data shows Indonesia becoming the anomaly as it sees high improvement of trust toward Government, media, business, and NGOs.

In the word of Edelman Indonesia CEO himself, Raymond Siva, Indonesia 2017 Trust Barometer result is an “enigma”. As while Global Trust Index declined by three percent, Indonesia saw a seven percent increase in average trust compared to 2016. Looking that number by the sector, there is 13 percent increase of trust towards the Government, which is the highest performance in the Index, putting Indonesia at the fourth place with the score of 71. Trust in media sees a four percent increase, again the highest performance in the Index, putting Indonesia at number one with the score of 67. Trust in NGOs sees a seven percent increase, only tied by India, putting Indonesia at number three with the score of 64. Lastly, trust in business sees a five percent increase, again only equalled by India, putting Indonesia at number one with the score of 76.

Are Brand Consultants Safe From Robot Replacements?

Right off the bat I am telling you the conclusion of this article is that we cannot know for sure whether brand consultants are safe from robot replacement or from automation. This conclusion comes from part factual observation, part science-fiction imagination of what a robotic future would look like.

Robot replacing humans in workplace has long become a comic book and science-fiction movie premise that captivates audience. Look at Wall-E movie, where human becomes lazy and their body overweight due to robots taking care of everything for them in the spaceship, even for the simplest task of walking. Now life begins imitating art as one can read in Martin Ford’s analytical book of “Rise of The Robots: Technology and The Threat of A Jobless Future”.

The Age of Browsing Dangerously In Indonesia

Certainly, the hoax or fake news phenomena in social media is not exclusive nor new in Indonesia. But when it comes to nationwide impact of those hoaxes, they are. This piece argues that recent hoax with nationwide impact have brought Indonesia to an age of browsing dangerously.

The fresh memory of smear campaign utilizing hoax flying around social media in Indonesia during the 2014 presidential election would be prime example. Since those smear campaign often provokes horizontal conflicts such as race division and intolerance. Topics that go against Indonesia’s proud value of unity in diversity (Bhinneka Tunggal Ika).

State of Hoax Emergency

After the 2014 election is over, one expected the smear campaign through hoaxes to stop. Unfortunately, that is not the case in Indonesia. Even more unfortunate is those hoaxes have evolve being more creative and compelling in their presentation and narrative.

But make no mistake, they are still hoax, meaning they are false and often preposterous. We learn from the Indonesia Ministry of Communication and Informatics data, there are at least 800.000 Indonesian websites participating in disseminating hoax. It should be noted that not all those websites have ill intention.