Jakarta Tales Vol 3 (contd)

TRAFFIC ON THE ROAD, TRAFFIC AT WORK!

Anyways, the last two weeks have been just as good as the previous ones. I realize one month has already gone by and I'm thinking I need more time here :) Work's been very very hectic and equally exciting so haven't had much time to do anything else.

Our agency is now growing like never before. We've had 3 pitches (the non-ad guys don't even bother figuring out what this means;)) in 3 weeks, 2 prospective biz opening-meetings and 5 new biz opportunities are on their way next week - one of them being Coca Cola, the other SmithKline Beecham (below-the-line activities for both, again non-ad guys, I know this is Greek to you but I'm enjoying making you feel ignorant...hehe, hmmm, I never knew I was a sadist). So late nights, no nights (we went home at 8am next day) are now becoming part and parcel. This excludes weekends because no one works on weekends in Jakarta.

Now, for some culinary delights. I've become addicted to Bakso (meatball curry), Nasi Goreng Kepiting (Crab Fried Rice) and Wendy's hamburgers, A&W Chicken and iced tea. Btw, this might sound surprising but the reason why Coke is looking for new, aggressive marketing is because it's losing market share steadily and has been running losses for the last 3 years! Coke... and losses? And to whom? To Pepsi? No. Because Pepsi has very low market share here. Coke is losing out to iced tea, juices, energy drinks, mineral and ionised water.

And it's not just in Indonesia. All over SE Asia, the cola giants are getting flushed down the toilet (and literally) simply because people are waking up to the fact that colas can now be used to clean their toilets (a TV expose in Singapore revealed that colas and aerated beverages contain ingredients that kill bacteria thriving on urine and human excreta!) Secondly, Indonesia is the world's second fastest growing market for energy drinks. People out here are health conscious and that's because the energy drinks add lesser calories than colas and are good for the body. So goodbye colas, hello health drinks!


A healthy goodbye
From ur favourite diet watch expert
Yousuf