CRM or Customer Relationship Marketing is yet to reach its true potential in Indonesia, which is no surprise really, that currently there are only a handful of companies that include it as part of their marketing plan. Over the last few years relationship marketing has steadily grown, mainly because it offers very high accountability and also because it offers measurable results. When used as a business tool it can give you the power to justify campaigns and promotions. At times, it is the tip of your sword that cuts you away from the clutter of your conventional competitors.
ADOI met with SHALINI GOPALAN who pioneered relationship marketing in Indonesia. She is now the founder & president director of Interact Carlson Marketing Group, which is a joint venture company with Carlson Marketing Group, the number one marketing services company in the U.S.

So really, you are the 'Godmother' of relationship marketing in Indonesia?
Interact was started way back in 1996 with the intention of starting Indonesia's first relationship marketing agency. I had informal talks with Rapp Collins. The tie-up happened early 1997 and we developed 'Passport' one of the first full-fledged customer loyalty programs for 'Pasaraya Grande'. In those days, most clients felt having a database and sending mail surmounted to a 'Loyalty Program'. Thus, we started capturing the right data, segmented customers based on their individual profitability and performance and created individual programs that focused on developing their potential to the company.
But supporting RM (relationship marketing) development was very expensive and time consuming. Clients, especially local ones, were hard to convince. Experience was nil. RM specialists were non-existent. RM infrastructure, pathetic! We brought in credibility, expertise and experience through Rapp Collins' experts. But we subsidised our RM development through our advertising business. Handling ATL(above-the-line) campaigns for clients like Mustika Ratu, The Indonesian Observer, Seven Seas, Standard Chartered Bank etc, helped pay the bills.

As a company what does Interact do?
Relationship Marketing. We have an integrated image in our positioning. Until now RM (or direct marketing agencies as they were called ) were 'divisions' attached to the main agency to be able to fulfill client expectations. We decided to integrate it all. Our basic philosophy is that "Relationships Always Drive Business Results" and we have all the tools, resources and experience to help do that with customers, channel or employees. That meant if a client was in an acquisition mode we used advertising or promotions but if he was in a retention mode we used database marketing. It also helped us differentiate ourselves from other advertising agencies whose thought process begun and ended with television!
In fact, we got the Pasaraya business through a pitch. A creative pitch. Each agency was given 20 minutes and told to present on creativity. We went in with a power point Loyally Program Strategy. We got to develop the program and they handled the advertising. Guess we answered their problem.

Tell us about the set up, who are the key engines of Interact?
I started Interact. My experience includes JWT, India; Matari, Bates Backer Spielvogel & Impact, Indonesia. I was the creative director and co-founder of Impact. Late 1995 I decided to go on my own and move into RM, because I felt it would give me the accountability sometimes media advertising lacks. While it was very much against my 'creative grain' I liked the surety, or at least the attempt to be more accountable which RM does.
Interact started with one account - Mustika Ratu. Initially 14 people joined me, mostly my creative & production team who have moved with me from agency to agency, some going back as far as 18 years. They're a great bunch. Except for two we are all still together.
We pitched Mustika Ratu from my dining table and I committed to our shareholder that if we got the account I would set up the agency. We got it and were billing clients within the first month. Again, while we ended up doing Mustika Ratu's media campaigns we won the pitch with a CRM strategy!
During the crisis, Rapp Collins and us decided to part. It was initiated from our side because they were holding back on RM support and we were raring to go. We were approached by the Carlson Marketing Group and did a joint venture with them in mid 2001. CMG had decided to expand aggressively in Asia Pacific. They had offices in Australia, New Zealand & Singapore. Interestingly enough, their first joint venture was in Indonesia.

Give us some examples of a few happy clients?

• An Education initiative for Unilever.

• A customer loyalty program for Pasaraya called Passport, (we don't work on it anymore only because they have been facing financial difficulties.)

• Programs to build better relationships with Dealers & the Community for Samsung Electronics

• A Channel Loyalty program and Farmer's Clubs for FMC Pesticides

• TVC & Promotions for Silver Queen, TOP, Cha Cha

• Campaigns for Standard Chartered Bank, ACCENT, etc.

You used to be a creative director and have a few awards underto your belt, ever think of going back to mainstream advertising?
Contrary to popular belief, I haven't given up 'mainstream' advertising. But I am doing what I always wanted to do - develop creative solutions to client problems. That excites me now and gives me more satisfaction as this includes doing TVCs too. We just finished a promo TVC and are shooting next month, one in Queensland and another one in Jakarta.

Is direct marketing effectively used in Indonesia?
It has progressed greatly in the last five years. The establishment of so many RM agencies, software companies, call centers etc are proof enough. Everyday there is some new technology being introduced or tried. But RM hasn't reached even a fraction of its potential here. It is amazing to see the kind of stuff we see around the world, even in markets like Japan and Korea But I am sure we'll get there and the process will be fun.