Kenapa manusia diberi emosi?
Kenapa benci bisa mendominasi?
Kenapa cinta ngga sekuat benci?

Aku bertanya,

Siapa mereka yang menyerah pada kekuasaan?
Mereka telah melupakan kemanusiaan.
Akankah mereka dibimbing pulang?

Aku bertanya,

Kenapa manusia kerap menengadahkan kepalanya ketika mereka telah diajarkan untuk selalu bersujud?
Mereka menatap langit dengan angkuh
Sesekali menatap tanah hanya untuk meludah.

Aku bertanya,

Kenapa perang ada mengatasnamakan damai?
Tumpah darah menyebut Tuhanmu
Membinasakan perempuan dan anak untuk alasan cinta

Aku bertanya,

Sampai kapan neraka ini terjadi di bumi?
Yang kuragukan adalah apakah benar adanya surga?
Kemana sebenarnya manusia berpulang?

The days where I have to listen same old crap and be in a frustrating situation are those days where I always ask HIM to give me more strength.

Not food
Not money
Not success
Not even solutions
But STRENGTH.

An old story that I wish I could leave it all in my back but the fact that it holds my feet from moving on makes me despair. I don’t want it yet I can’t take it off. It will always be with me, attached on me, drain my head and heart.

Because it is the life HE wants me to live and to learn.
Because I count on HIS promise to always walk with me side by side and hold my hands no matter what.
Because in my deepest fear I fall, HE never leaves me. HE always sits on the top of the cliff encouraging me to climb.

For all the life I’ve been given
For all the precious moments I’ve been bestowed
For all the time I’ve been set

For all the tears in my cheers
For all the sad feelings behind my singings of happiness
For all the cracks well-hidden under the surface
I’m rest assured I can live longer and stronger.

Those are the days I know I have STRENGTH.

I wish so many things in life. The more I get exposed to other people’s lives, the greater my jealousy.

I wish I had a great job that can make me provide my family.
I wish I don’t have to struggle hard and be in pain to attain what I want in life.
I wish I had a perfect family.
I wish I have more chances to see and travel the world.
I wish I have smarter brain.
I wish I’m skinnier.
I wish I’m more popular.
I wish life was a lot more easier…
And somehow I still can grow the list.

These wishes sometimes pull me under, but more often than not, they keep me stand up on my both feet. How? Each wish requires battles and even conflicts. Endeavor is what makes every wish so valuable to be attained. I feel extremely grateful that God gives me the hard way so I can be a stronger person each and every day.

We are often too occupied with our wishes until we forget why they are even here for. Wishes are here to support our lives…

“Dreams are the reason to wake up each morning and to get up from every fall.”

Apakah begitu seharusnya agama diperlakukan?
Apakah dengan penderitaan atau bahkan kematian manusia lain sebuah agama dibenarkan?

Gw di sini bicara soal agama mungkin dipikiran kalian gw ‘sok tau’ atau ‘sok kritis’ atau ‘nggak pantes’ bicara soal agama karena gw bukan ustadzah, bukan hajjah, bukan suster atau biarawati atau pemuka agama lainnya yang dianggap paling kenal dengan Tuhan dari segala umat.
Gw juga bukan orang religius yang berdoa atau shalat rutin. Menyentuh sajadah dan mukena aja bisa dihitung dengan jari dalam seumur hidup gw.

Gw dibesarkan oleh keluarga penganut agama Islam yang bisa dibilang cukup fanatik namun hanya dalam ucapan, tidak dalam perbuatan (dalam hal ini shalat, ngaji, atau puasa). Tapi apa gw merasa malu? Nggak tuh. Keluarga gw yang jauh dari sempurna ini mengajarkan gw apa arti sesungguhnya dari keluarga dan apa arti sebenarnya dari cinta kasih untuk anggota keluarga.
Gw pun melaksanakan wajib belajar 12 tahun gw di sekolah Katolik di Jakarta dan gw merasa senang belajar di sana karena gw merasa diterima apa adanya tanpa diskriminasi terhadap agama gw.
Gw tidak hanya diberi pengetahuan mengenai dunia tetapi bagaimana menerima dunia apa adanya dan mencoba untuk mencintainya sebagai bagian dari hidup gw.

Tapi ketika gw membuka mata untuk melihat apa yang ada di dunia untuk gw belajar, gw malah hancur, sedih, dan kecewa luar biasa. Karena dunia tidak seindah dan seromantis yang dibayangkan. Melihat perceraian orang tua ada di mana-mana, kemiskinan, peperangan antar-negara, pertikaian antar umat beda agama, dan lain-lain. Gw mencoba untuk menerima perceraian sebagai bagian dari filosofi “jodoh”: kalau ngga jodoh ya mau gimana lagi, even when you’re tied in marriage. Gw berhasil keluar dari itu.

Pengalaman yang bikin tidak nyaman pernah gw alami ketika berjumpa dengan beberapa teman baru dan mereka bertanya kenapa gw tidak shalat sebagai seorang Muslim? Dan mereka pun mulai mengejek gw kalau gw Islam KTP and so on. Tapi apa dengan dihina begitu bikin gw jadi mau shalat? Jawabannya nggak. Gw malah merasa semakin jauh dari kemungkinan itu. Kenapa? Karena gw melihat orang-orang yang shalat itu mengejek orang lain dan merasa dirinya lebih benar dan suci. Karena gw melihat orang-orang yang mengaku beriman dan bertakwa itu tidak peduli dengan keadaan orang lain. Karena gw melihat orang-orang yang mengaku Islam itu menganiaya dan membunuh sesamanya karena beda keyakinan.

Apa karena seorang beragama Katolik sedang duduk minum alkohol di bar maka dia lebih buruk dari seorang muslim yang tidak pernah ketinggalan shalat lima waktu tapi tidak pernah mau menafkahi anak-anaknya?

Ketika seorang perempuan menjajakan harga dirinya demi pengobatan ibunya apakah berarti dia lebih buruk dari seorang biarawati yang selalu membicarakan keburukan orang dan selalu dengki dan iri hati?

Gw tidak mengecap agama Islam itu baik atau buruk, begitu juga dengan agama lain. Gw pun tidak berpaling untuk memeluk agama lain dan meyakininya karena hal-hal buruk itu tidak dilakukan oleh umat beragama Islam aja. Gw tidak menyalahkan kenapa agama harus ada macem-macem atau kenapa yang namanya agama harus ada kalau hanya untuk membuat orang-orang di dunia bertikai. Gw percaya agama-agama itu diciptakan atau tercipta dengan tujuan yang baik yaitu harmonisasi umat manusia.

Sampai saat ini pun, tahun 2011 ketika gw menulis blog ini, gw masih sering mendengar bagaimana seseorang didiskriminasi karena ras atau agamanya. Seorang ibu berjilbab dengan hasil / prestasi kerja yang luar biasa tidak dinaikkan jabatannya hanya karena dia berjilbab. Iya, masih ada kasus seperti itu. Amazing ya?

Gw tidak mengerti bagaimana orang bisa menilai atau menghakimi orang lain hanya karena keyakinan hidupnya berbeda yang sesungguhnya sama sekali tidak merugikan keberadaan atau mengusik kenyamanan orang lain.

Dari agama-agama yang gw tahu dan sempat gw pelajari, semua itu ngga ada. Interpretasi dan keegoisan manusia yang bikin itu ada. Semua agama yang gw lihat mengajarkan orang untuk sayang dengan orang-orang yang ada di kanan kirinya. Untuk selalu bantu mereka kalo kesusahan terlepas dari apa keyakinan mereka. Yang beda hanya cara lo menjalankan ibadahnya.

Jadi kalo lo tanya agama gw apa, from now on gw akan jawab kalau agama gw adalah “kasih sayang”.

So, yeah.. I basically learned few things about brand (of course) on our first class. I think with sharing it here in my blog will make me remind it and be able to recall it whenever I want.. (Besides sharing it to whoever read my blog).

3 factors that build a strong brand in my understanding:

1. Uniqueness / differentiation: you need to make your brand distinctive from other competitors brands. We’re not talking about the product.. Other competitors may copy-paste your products specification easily.. But not your brand.

2. Relevant: there’s no use to be very distinctive or innovative if it’s irrelevant to your market. Time to lower your ‘ego’.

3. Consistency: you can’t be good for one day and then be shitty on the next day. This part (consistency) takes time and effort. And this part, my friends.. Is the hardest one and requires your ability to pay attention to every detail of your brand attributes and play it continuously and apply it uniformly.

The consistency of a brand, this evening, was reflected on a video about a Canadian marathon runner, Terry Fox who died in 1981, aged 22 because of cancer (Please do yourself a favor: google him to find out what he did for humanity).. His consistency made him a hero and his name lasts to this very moment, especially for Canadians.

And then I wonder if whatever I’ve done has defined me as a brand? Have I been consistent?

We talked about our works and reminisced the moment we worked together for Pak Agum Gumelar in LOC. I didn’t expect him to challenge my knowledge in marketing and copywriting. We talked about brand and tagline. We discussed why Nike’s Just Do It is simply powerful and why there are so rare of Indonesian brand/product taglines that can live long in the consumers’ / audience’s mind.

Finally we agree to the fact that “Apapun Makannya, Minumnya Teh Botol Sosro!” tagline is the best Indonesian brand/product’s tagline because of its ability to attach to its brand and product and to grasp the audience’s mind even until now. Yes, the long-last impressive tagline.

I can not recall the Teh Botol Sosro TV ads, but the tagline lasts in my head until now. Same with Indomie. I can not really remember the TV ads, but its powerful jingle keep playing in my head over and over again.

The point is, we deplore that not so many taglines in Indonesia can actually last in their consumer’s head. He said that it’s because Indonesian copywriter don’t actually emphasize the brand value on the writings. It requires beyond the creativity. It’s about understanding on both sides; brand/product and the consumers. “Understanding” is not that easy and I may say that it’s expensive.

So do you agree with my friend? What Indonesian brand/product taglines do you really like best?

Among should be used when it’s followed by countable nouns or group of people or things.

For examples:

• The serial killer is walking among the crowd in Beverly Hills.
• John is an outstanding student. He’s the brightest one among the other students.

Amid is used when it’s followed by uncountable nouns.

For example:

• Greg quit his job amid the succession euphoria in his company.

IMO, engagement doesn’t always need to come along with perks.
How to engage target audience who don’t really have a clear picture of who you are or what your brand is without perks? Just some simple ideas from what I experienced in designing the content for a new product/brand’s socmed platforms:
1. You have to know who your target audience in social media first. Know them before they know you. What are their demographic informations, what are their interests.. And so on.
2. Design or determine the brand personality first. Make sure they meet your audience basic interests.
3. Generate and dig deeper from each personality of the product or brand and find out what information or content fits each personality.
4. After you determine what kind of contents that will be delivered, you need to enrich yourself with writing and communication skill
5. Fit content design with brand personality and your audience interests will make them pay attention more to your account. Mentions and Retweets and Likes are expected to make your brand get the awareness on soc med.
6. Interactive, 2-way-communication.

The “engagement” terminology is mostly perceived as the after sales interaction in order to maintain customers. But from what I experienced, “engagement” is also can be used even before the sales happen. Engagement is a strategy to attract new customers. With engagement, people or audience are getting aware of your product / brand and finally lead to purchase intention or buying decision. In this matter, socmed platforms can help your product or brand in the process of consumers’ buying decision:
1. Make sure they need your product or service OR create the needs!
2. The curious audience can go ask you directly through socmed platforms, your role is to provide them all the info they need.
3. The engagement you create on socmed platforms can give “added value” or even “competitive advantage” to your audience when they have to evaluate or compare you with competitors/substitutes.
4. Keep letting them know what other people say about your brand or product so they know how legit or reputable you are by responding and RTing.
5. A great engagement infused in every step will do more good in order to gain more followers/fans even can lead them to purchase intention/buying decision.

Now the question is: what is a good engagement? These points stated below are just my point of view:
1. A good engagement doesn’t always wait for the responses, YOU respond.
2. A good engagement doesn’t mean answering all the questions meaningless. Your audience deserve best answers so provide them the right and best answers.
3. A good engagement only happens when 2 way communication has been built.
4. A good engagement will get good feedbacks or responses

I think that’s all from me. Ideas? Feedback? Let me know
Thanks.