Maverick Indonesia

AAS 2007 Journalistic Photography Judging Day

Last Friday, the porch of Maverick’s office house was transformed into a gallery of photos chronicling the best, worst, peculiar and heart warming images of Indonesia over the past year.We were displaying more than 600 astonishing entries from this year’s Anugerah Adiwarta Sampoerna(AAS) 2007. AAS, now on its second year, is an annual competition held by our client, HM Sampoerna, to recognize the best Indonesian journalistic works, including photojournalism.

The purpose of the display was to allow AAS judges, veteran photojournalists Oscar Matuloh (GFJ Antara) and Firman Ichsan (professional photographer) to evaluate the photographs. Oscar focused on the journalistic value while Firman focused on the aesthetic value of the photos.

The entries were in six categories: Law, Politic, Social, Economy, Music and Art, and Sports.

The judges took the entire afternoon to come to a decision on the photos and I can say that these are superb photos indeed that tell the human story of Indonesia eloquently with power, with empathy and sometimes also with humor. Which are the photos and who are the winners?

You’d have to wait for the AAS Grand Final and Awarding Night on Friday, December 7th. Watch this space for news of the awarding night and the results of the AAS awards.

by: Finnie

Another Visit of Atmajaya Students

Maverick this week again played host to visiting communications students from Jogjakarta’s Atmajaya University. The first time was almost exactly a year ago. It must have been a good experience because they were back for more this year.

The visit is part of the student’s program to learn about PR as practiced rather than as in theory and we feel flattered that they chose to come back to learn more about Maverick.

These times around there were enthusiastic 28 students who wanted to know more about one of Maverick’s specialty practice areas: crisis management. Shilla from our office, who has been embroiled in a few crisis cases recently, spoke to them and was in turn peppered with questions from the students. The lively exchange of views made the two-hour session fly by.

We then took the students for a tour of our office. We introduced them to our associates, and to the most dynamic division, Media Monitoring. Riri, the lead person for the division, welcomed them and briefed them about what her “troops of editors, media trackers and analysis” do daily.

Reviewing more than 60 newspapers and magazines daily, summarizing all the articles related to our clients into good English, and updating it into Gauge, our online media monitoring and PR measurement system, before finally sending it to our clients – and all that before 10.30am each day.

Quite a few of the students had surprised looks on their faces when Riri told them that the media monitoring division started work at 6am each day, everyday so long as newspapers were published. Riri also dropped a few jaws when she told them that she was planning to shift the starting time to 5am.

At the end of the visit Maverick surprised them with a gift each: a “Snakes and Ladders” game based on PR activities. In return the students gave us a pair of binoculars which they said symbolized their credo of learning to look beyond books and theory to actual practice in their learning. We thought it was quite a neat gift and it now occupies a place of pride in our gifts shelf.

Thank you for visiting us, Atmajaya students! We look forward to welcoming you again sometime in the future. Perhaps as part of our Maverick family ? We hope that with such visits we can help ensure a good supply of PR practitioners into the market as all of us are hunting for good people.

Another Maverick walking down the aisle

This Saturday, one of the Mavericks will enter the for some mystifying and yet wonderful world of marriage. Marini Sastri, our petite drill sergeant in Gauge Media Monitoring division, is the lucky girl.

“It’s still like a dream come true that I’m getting married this Saturday. I still can’t imagine that I’m going to have a new position [in life] as a wife,” Rini said on Tuesday (6/11) before she started her wedding-leave. We didn’t believe it either until we saw the invitation.

In Maverick we have a tradition of taking any excuse to throw a party. And of course we didn’t miss the opportunity to celebrate her upcoming nuptial. So, we threw Rini a Maverick style bridal-shower, where we teased her with a package of items to prepare her for her wedding night. They included a very skimpy thong, a see-through negligee, various “instructional” booklets and VCDs as well as various dietary supplements to put her in a good mood.A good sport that she is, she took in all the naughty items and jokes with an easy laugh.

The jokes aside, however, we did prepare a serious present for the lucky couple. After we had our laugh, Maverick Partner Lita presented Rini with a ‘Honeymoon Fund’ voucher worth Rp3 million. The fund is to be used by Rini and her future husband in any way they wish during their honeymoon.

The big family of Maverick is very excited for Rini and we all wish her a wonderful wedding on Saturday and most importantly a happy marriage for years to come.

Happy Ketupat Holiday

It has become a tradition at Maverick to send out a simple e-greeting card each Lebaran with a quiz that involves people identifying hidden objects. These keeps our clients, supplier and partners occupied.

This year we sent out a ketupatgreeting twith smaller ketupat hidden within images of client’s products. Although it looks like there are only four ketupat, as most of you guessed, there are actually five. Why five? Because that is the number of years that maverick has been around.

The winners of this “contest” were the first five recipients of the e-card who got back to us earliest. They are:

1. Mukti Argo Pambudi - Unilever
2. Agus Nugraha - Unilever
3. Evi Nurulita - Spice
4. A. Rovi Setiawan - Pas FM
5. Nandari - Bobo

Congratulations to the five winners. Each of the them are entitled to one beautiful parcel from Maverick. Welcome back to Jakarta and the never ending traffic jams.

Maverick On CSL Program

A week ago, we completed our first media handling skills training workshops for non-profit organizations under Maverick’s 2007-2008 Corporate Social Leadership Program.

The program is Maverick’s way of giving back to society and has two components. The first is a 10-month course on how do do their own PR for two selected organizations. The second is a series of one-day media training workshops for 12 NGOs. All the training is provided free as we believe that we can use our expertise and experience in communications to affect society positively, even if the impact is a small one.

Starting last week, we will hold media training workshops for two NGOs once a month for two NGOs for those getting media handling skills training and a session every month for the next 10 months for the two NGOs in our capacity building program.

The first media training workshop was conducted by Maverick Partner Lita Soenardi and involved the Jaringan Nasional Pendukung Usaha Kecil Menengah (JNP) UKM and Yayasan PITA. JNP UKM is a network of the SME supporters who are focused on the issues of small and medium enterprises with the emphasis on deploying regulatory impact assessments in regions to ensure favorable business climate. Yayasan PITA is a nascent organization supported by young activists who focus on helping youngsters infected with the HIV/AIDS virus.

Even though the training was held during fasting period and almost all of the participants were fasting, it was really a lively experience as found out how difficult it could be to deliver your messages and control an interview situation when you are faced by aggressive reporters (role played by maverick associates).

The Mavericks also learned a lot about small businesses and the issues related to HIV/AIDS. We were most impressed with their spirit and drive for the betterment of others. Such dedicated and idealism is heartening to see among the younger members of our society. Hopefully, with enhanced media handling skills they will be able to more effectively deliver their messages through the media and conscript more people to their causes.

There’s no party that has no end. But we believe that the relationship among us will always be in a tight knot. We look forward to hear and to see more on the growing of both JNP UKM and Yayasan PITA. Group of young and talented generation who are not only dedicated to what they have started, but most, having the spirit to serve the community for better place and better environment.

Finally some words for our participants:

1. Buat Mas Agus dan Mbak Risma, maintain that infectious enthusiasm to spirit to serve those 40 millions SMEs in Indonesia. Maverick was proud to be able to assist you today, we hope that JNP UKM would remain a constant partner for SMEs and continue advocating for economic reform and development in Indonesia.
2. PITA guys! You are all are fun to be with! As you learnt from us, we also learnt from you. You blew us away with your dedication, commitment and youthful exhuberence. We hope other youngsters learn from you and stay away from drugs and habits leading to infection by the HIV/AIDS virus. Healthy life, healthy generation, and healthy nation! Don’t forget to make anything complicated sound simple; anything simple sound important.

New Faces in Maverick

(from left to right: Dian, Finne, Joyce, Mila, Lia) 

Just within a month, we have five new faces in Maverick.

The first one is Dian I. Kartikasari, who joined us on August 15. Dian joined Maverick with 8 years of working experience at PT Levi’s Strauss Indonesia, handling various aspect of its business, such as product development, retail services, as well as advertising and promotion.

“What I really like about Maverick is its openness and flexibility. Another thing that struck me is the way each individual shoulders their professional roles individually yet able to work as a cohesive team and to celebrate each other’s uniqueness and differences,” said Dian.

Dian holds a BA degree from the Faculty of Mass Communications, Padjadjaran University and was a student in the AFS intercultural learning exchange to Australia.

Just one day after Dian, we were delighted to welcome Lia Marpaung. Lia came with seven years experience in development work, most recently for The Asia Foundation and Unicef. She assisted in managing program implementation on health and education for children and women in the most eastern province in Indonesia, Papua and Papua Barat.

“I’m glad that my previous experience in media relations and in the development sector has come in handy. Maverick has given me the framework and better understanding of what I learnt and experienced before. I am now looking forward to learn more with Maverick.”

Lia obtained her bachelor degree from the Faculty of Social and Political Science, University of Indonesia, majoring in Business Administration. She is currently pursuing her master degree majoring in Planning and Public Policy Program at the Economics Faculty of University of Indonesia.

And early this week, we have Finne – Azalea Firnindya – joining us. Finnie is a fresh graduate from the Extension Program of Faculty of Social and Politic, University of Indonesia, majoring in Public Relations. She’s been working as a freelance reporter and fashion stylish of Seventeen Magazine.

The Mavericks are also thrilled to have an intern joining us. Karmila Wijayanti – Mila - is a 7th semester student of Social & Political Science Faculty, Communications Department Atma Jaya Yogyakarta University, Yogyakarta, Majoring in Public Relations. She is going to enjoy and experience the consultancy work for a month from early this month.

Last but not least, by the end of this week, we will also have Joyce Hutapea joining us as Associate. Joyce is a familiar face in Maverick as she’s been working in the media tracking division since January this year. Joyce, a graduate of Parahyangan Catholic Universtity (UNPAR), majoring of Economic Science and Development expressed her interest to learn more about public relations and we are giving her the learning opportunity by seconding her to the consultancy.

Welcome aboard, girls. Enjoy the ride….

Our Thanks For 5 Years of Support

As we reach the end of July, Maverick is officially wrapping up the two-month celebration of our 5th anniversary.

In June, we focused on the Maverick Movie Award to celebrate the anniversary internally. This month, we turned our focus to our dear clients and partners that have contributed to the growth of Maverick for the past five years. To show our appreciation for them, we sent them some chocolate specially shaped to resemble the “Punakawan” – Wayang Kulit characters better known as Semar and his three children: Gareng, Petruk and Bagong.

The Punakawan were magical beings, who counseled Laksmana, a wise and beloved leader of a great and prosperous country called Ayudya. Laksmana greatness as a leader was derived from the fact that he got solid support from the Punakawan.

Semar bestowed on him cipta, an ability to think clearly and strategize to achieve any desired goal. Gareng gave him rasa, the passion with which to realize his ambitions and dreams. Petruk gave him an iron-will that is deterred by no one. While, Bagong’s gift was karya, the ability to execute flawlessly against his strategies.

In short, the Punakawan were effective consultants and Laksmana probably was one of the first leaders to benefit from that. We’d like to think that we have been good Punakawan to our clients who have benefited from our counsels in the past five years. With this special chocolate, we thank them for their support.

Here are some of the comments from those who received the Punakawan chocolate:

Daisy Primayanti, Public Affairs Director, Pfizer
“It was indeed an unexpected gift at the end of business hour yesterday. I only opened the bag this morning and was inspired by the cipta, rasa dan karya-nya. Dirgahayu Maverick. Semoga sukses selalu dan senantiasa tajam cipta, rasa dan karyanya. In short, efektif dalam memerankan Punakawan bagi klien-kliennya.”

Irawan Kadarman, Corporate Affairs Director, Carrefour
“Congrats on your anniversary and thanks for the chocolate!!”

Yudy Rizard, Head of Brand Communication, HM. Sampoerna
“Terima kasih banyak dengan coklatnya ya!!! Good idea!!!! Tiap anniversary, maverick itu punya ide yg beda beda en unpredictable!”

Mardiyah, Sub Manager – External Affairs, Bank Danamon
“Ide yang sangat kreatif. Bagus banget. Lucu dan ceritanya bagus.”

Fransiska Sitompul, Public Affairs Assistant, Pfizer
“Thank you for the surprise we received just now.
Opening the box in order to taste the fine crafted chocolate will be the hardest part – I guess. Wish you all the best and hope that Maverick will continue supporting the client with all the ‘cipta, rasa, and karya’ just like what Punakawan did to support Laksmana.”

Aria Indrawati, Public Relation, Yayasan Mitra Netra
“Thank you very much for the nice and inspiring gift….. Many people know about the Punakawan, but, perhaps, not many realize how important their role is …. We have been learning alot from the way you communicate to your partners….”

An Intern life at Maverick

Aditya Fajar is a student in the Edith Cowan University – Australia, taking Bachelor of Communications majoring in Public Relations. He interned with Maverick for the past three weeks and this is his impression of Maverick today, his last day as an intern. We found Adit great to work with: his IT and new media especially impressed us. He also wowed us with his get-the-job-done attitude and great ideas. We look forward to working more with Adit in the future.

A Maverick Experience

“… We want people so good and so confident they can afford to take risks and be unorthodox. A maverick, however, is not a renegade.” – Maverick Survival Kit

I’ve been very fortunate to be given the chance to have my internship program at Maverick. Although it lasted only for three weeks, the experience has left me with a very favorable impression about the company.

How I got to intern there is actually a complicated path. About a year ago, I got myself a copy of the PR Society of Indonesia’s PR Directory. Going through the directory I got an idea to create aboutPR an online community for PR practitioners in Indonesia where they can share their thoughts, opinions, experiences and PR expertise.

I invited a number of people from the directory to join aboutPR. One of them was Ong Hock Chuan, the Technical Advisor of Maverick. Later on, Ong and I would communicate occasionally via e-mail. I regularly visited Maverick’s blog and posted one or two comments there.

Some time after that, I came up with another idea: to create a portal for retirees in Indonesia. I consulted Ong and he invited me to come to Maverick’s office. We met a week later.

It was a very good meeting and I was impressed with their hospitality. We had a good discussion and at the end of the meeting he offered me an internship opportunity. I couldn’t resist such a generous offer. I had to take it, and I’m glad that I did.

One thing I noticed early about Maverick is their organizational culture. They are very open and have a solid team. Work doesn’t seem to interfere with co-worker relationships. Everybody is given the chance to lead but at the same time they are expected to become good followers when required.

I’m particularly impressed with the company leadership. Mba Lita and Ong are successful in creating an atmosphere where people feel they are not just part of an organization, but also a family. Even for an internship student. I could almost immediately feel how associates are willing to help me so I can become part of the team.

Being open to ideas and to constructive criticism, willingness to share knowledge and having a good sense of humor are the things that, I think, make this company attractive.

Maverick is proud of their unorthodox approach to doing business. For example, their one-page and non-clickable website is like no other. I was confused at first, but then I can understand why they decided to use this strategy.

The slogan ‘Clear thinking. Clear Execution’ is another example that reflects their confidence in their business strategy. Maverick believes innovation and creativity (being different) are the keys to success.

I enjoyed working with the people at Maverick. Working here opened my eyes about the future of PR career in Indonesia… very bright!

Thank you Maverick for giving me such a wonderful opportunity and experience! I hope in the not so distant future, I can become part of the Maverick team (again).