Saturday, December 04, 2010

Youthful zen like hotel – W. Seoul Walkerhill Hotel

A very stylish hotel for the young at heart! Relaxed and youthful team, plus a trendy, simple, Zen like design. The music beat welcome you on the lobby entrance.

The bar at night


the lobby in the morning will convert into trendy bar at night


the DJ spot


the lighting inside the lift


the lighting around the corner


the restaurant installation


restaurant corner


the room corridor


inside the room, with red highlight


the display at gift shop


small detail for glass mat

Food & Drink from Korea

Street snack at Insadong, singing a song about Kkul Tarae (or κΏ€νƒ€λž˜), a traditional Korean snack made from ripened honey and malt, stretched into 16,000 strands and wrapped up around a small filling (chocolate, peanut butter, etc). The 16,000 strands suggest the prayer for longevity, health, good fortune and wish-fulfilment.

Afternoon snack with ginger tea... good for your health

 Makgeolli, also known as Makkoli or Makuly(takju) (and referred to in English as "Korean rice wine"), is an alcoholic beverage native to Korea.



Friday, December 03, 2010

Inspiration from Korea




Ssamziegil Building is a remarkable complex in Insadong filled with design and handicraft shops. The complex is arranged as an upward spiral.










 


Shin Young Mi's "Artger" at Ssamziegil Insadong offer textile art, including ties and scarves. Unique digital print textile design.





Doota chair in front of the shopping building



Riverview from Walkerhill

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Plasa.com di Webicara



Saatnya kita belanja online lewat Plasa.com

Makin menjamurnya website-website e-commerce di Indonesia kadang-kadang membuat bingung kita untuk percaya akan layanan jual belinya. Plasa.com lahir kembali dengan slogan yang membawa kita untuk mulai mempercayai bisnis dan layanan transaksi online.

Bagaimana cara pakainya? dan apa saja yang ditawarkan oleh Plasa.com? Simak reviewnya di Webicara episode #017!

Stay Alive and Stay Online!

Interview by Notsogeeky



Topik:
  • Tren industri kreatif saat ini, terutama bila dikaitkan dengan perkembangan di bidang teknologi informasi
  • Dengan semakin banyak yang mengadopsi media digital, bagaimana pengaruhnya terhadap media konvensional?
  • Hal apa yang harus diperhatikan sebuah brand untuk pemanfaatan media online



Topik:
  • Cerita dibalik rebranding plasa.com dan konsep baru yang diusung
  • Solusi plasa.com untuk menjawab konsep e-commerce dalam arti sesungguhnya
  • Mekanisme pembayaran dan model bisnis yang diterapkan oleh plasa.com

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Can We Turn Ecommerce Lifestyle to Become an Economic Powerhouse?

A current study by BBDO, our morning ritual consists of brushing teeth, taking shower, having something to eat, talking to family members, shaving (for males) and having make up (for woman). Most of this is not part of our daily lifestyle just a hundred year ago. We take a bath once in a week. And we don’t differentiate soap and shampoo. Guess who is responsible for making this become a lifestyle–our way of living? Consumer brand of course!

For GAP, creating a new lifestyle has made the brand become an icon. A new tradition in many American corporations is changing the way we dress for work. The dress code will vary for every company, but ‘Casual Friday’ is becoming a popular trend. In general, employees will dress up in ‘business’ attire on Monday through Thursday. Then they are allowed to dress down on Fridays. Many people say that this casual trend allows employees to feel more relaxed and be more productive. It is sweeping through America and becoming very popular.

Not only brand that is able to create such an influence. Ali Sadikin – the legendary Jakarta major is the key figure to make Friday to become Batik day. By doing that, an industry is born overnight. Before that, practically there’s no dress code that represents Indonesia.

Similar case study happened in food industry. Rather than selling instant coffee to a country dedicated to tea, NestlΓ© created desserts for children infused with the flavor of coffee but without the caffeine. The younger generation embraced these desserts. Their first imprint of coffee was a very positive one, one they would carry throughout their lives. Through this, NestlΓ© gained a meaningful foothold in the Japanese market.

Hoka-hoka Bento and Pizza Hut in Indonesia introduce Japan and American food culture to the local scene. The food has been localized to suit the local taste. It influences the Indonesian generation to make them as part of their food vocabulary. And later opens up the door for more exotic Japan and American food respectively.

Dendy Darman, co-founder and owner of Bandung’s best-known independent clothing label, Unkl347 (or just 347 for short) is one of hundreds of independent clothing labels popping up all over urban Indonesia that use international commercial culture as the visual vernacular in their designs. Kickfest, the celebration of this new urban culture that attracts hundred thousands of visitors, has cemented indie clothing from a mere trend to mainstream market, that culminates in the new form of urban lifestyle.

We can trace a lifestyle today was a trend yesterday. So, can lifestyle be designed or it’s just happened by accident? Previous study shown that it can be created. This is when design thinking plays its role. It starts with a problem, then turns this insight to become an empathic solution for consumers. Instead of relying on analytical solution, design thinking offers more, it gives an emotional touch on the solution.

Indonesia currently was swept away by Facebook. 30 millions Facebook accounts to date. Why people use it? Some use it just for fun, some use it for friendship and networking, but some use it for business. They tag their friends and use it for selling clothes, accessories, electronics and many others. Suddenly the empowerment of small business born through their fingertips. As we know, Indonesia needs entrepreneurs. A lot of them!

Is this just a trend or is it a potential to change the way we do the transaction? Is this trend happened only in all connected society? And how to turn this trend to become a lifestlye? If this lifestyle enabling entrepreneurs to sell products and services, is this really build their economy? And can this be a sustainable and scalable? If so, what is the key factor to make this ecommerce lifestyle to really become economic empowerment? What kind of ecosystem need to exist to support this lifestyle?

This is still an open ended question, that I want to find out. How to turn a simple trend to become an economic powerhouse.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

SITTI – Indonesian Answer to Google Adsense

 

I got a invitation to attend SITTI Open House. What is SITTI?  I believe SITTI got its name from Siti Nurbaya, a novel created by Marah Roesli. Ask Andy Sjarif (@andysjarif) why he picked that name! I believe he is related to this legend somehow ;) 

What interest me the most is that SITTI will share its finding how they compare to Google for the past 3 months since their inception.

Basically SITTI is a contextual advertising platform very similar to Google Adsense. I have heard this team working on this algorithm for the past year and met a few times with Max, the genie behind the algorithm. At that time, I mention that this kind of technology will be useless without proper services. Turns out that this team manages to build a challenging one like this! A service that challenge the mighty Google. If Google build its engine around 129 language, they concentrate only one, Indonesia. Focusing their energy only on one thing, building a network of content publisher that use their contextual advertising platform. So far, the giant of Indonesian media like Detik and Kompas has given them a chance to prove the technology, not to mention hundreds of bloggers.

In the past six months, their engine manage to index 600 millions Indonesian web site and in the past month, they are able to serve 3300 ads from 529 brands. A good start!

An interesting facts is that SITTI claims to have 88.5% impression over Google Adsense 11.5% during the test and click through rate 64.06% over 20.87%. It means that they their engine is more relevant and people click more to see advertising served by SITTI over Google Adsense. Nice number!

In some of the vertical market, Andy Sjarif admits that Google Adsense is better for travel and real estate industry compares to SITTI. In a discussion with Google, turns out that Google is really concentrating on servicing this vertical industry, since this industry have the most lucrative advertising budget on Adsense.

Is good technology and services enough? I believe is not a matter of which one is better, or which one should we pick over the other. The market will decide. And I believe Indonesia is big enough to have a very long tail market in which some platforms will coexist.

Is Google notice this? Exactly! Is Google able to build such an engine? Certainly! But, the most important is not only the technology, it is the network of publishers and advertisers that gives the real value. SITTI real challenge is to build this as fast as possible. They need to get big fast before Google step its giant foot.

Now, comes down to the monetizing. Who will use this services? By seeing the invitation list, I see numbers of advertising agency, media agency and brand to attend this open house. Meaning that SITTI trying to engage the big advertising spender to use their services. The one that bring the assurance and weight for the brand owner is not necessarily the numbers. Having Ibu Artine Utomo, former CEO and Marketing Director of TPI as SITTI Commisioner, certainly brings credibility to this team. 

Back to Google, I see that Adsense and Adwords truly excel on SME market instead of aiming only the big advertisers. In my opinion, concentrating too much on the web and take on Google is one thing, but if SITTI wants to monetize the SME market, it needs simpler way in which people can put contextual advertising through mobile connectivity and mobile payment.

Anyway, I wholeheartedly congratulate this brave team to challenge the big guy! Way to go Andy, Rene and the rest of the team!


Antonny Liem (@antonnyliem) of Semutapi, me, Andi Sadha (@andigudip) of Activate and Gunawan (@gunawanX) of MediaX. Thanks to Rene the Career Coach (@ReneCC)!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Adi Panuntun, the creator behind Kota Tua video mapping

Adin Panuntun, the creator behind Kota Tua video mapping.

Desain ID at JCC








As the largest interior design event in Indonesia, Desain.ID offer myriad of products for interior decoration, home designing, furniture and furnishings, etc. This event held on November 18 - 21 at Jakarta Convention Center. The major theme of the event is “Decoding Space+Experience”.

In the Plenary Hall, I find fascinating interior display featuring some interior designer. I even bought the wooden tree installation to be put at IDS|international design school :)

Friday, November 19, 2010

Give Blood with Charles Bonar Sirait




The idea came from Charles Bonar Sirait (@charlesbonar), who works with IDS|International Design School and Kerja Kreatif (@KerjaKreatif) to have this as a Creative Social Responsibility event. Number of artists, including Dennis Adhiswara, Maylaffayza (@maylaffayza), Stinky bands, Andrie Djarot (@andjrot) from tvOne and writer Clara Ng (@clara_ng) give blood on this event. Thanks to Indonesian Red Cross and Prodia, this event runs smoothly.

We see so much disaster in our country, Wasior, Mentawai and Merapi. As a creative community, it's our responsibility to be able to contribute to our own family & friends. Giving blood is a way to express our concern and responsibility. Not to mention that we are able to contribute to Thalassemia patients.

Thanks to all who participate in this wonderful event. We are planning to have this as a regular event, in which we can contribute and be responsible for others.

Teknopreneur – November 2010