Twenty years in advertising. A lot of it spent deep in a brief, trying to work out why a product that’s objectively inferior is still winning. That problem never got boring.
I’m Khairul Akbar, a marketing strategist and creative director based in Jakarta. I co-founded Brave & Company, a network of eight specialized agencies and 40+ people, serving Indofood (Indonesia’s largest food conglomerate, parent of Indomie), Smartfren, Hisamitsu (makers of Salonpas), Garuda Food, Hormel Foods, Mamee, and Taman Safari Group. Before that, I built Popcult Advertising from a garage to a 25-person agency with approximately $1.8M in annual billings, anchored by a 9-year Indofood partnership built on nothing but consistent work.
My earlier career ran through McCann Worldgroup (embedded with the Coca-Cola dedicated team), Dentsu Indonesia (Toyota, Honda, WWF Indonesia), and The Drawing Squad. As Creative Director there, I led the pitch that won Panasonic, the largest account in TDS history, beating multinational agencies in the final round. I started as an Art Director in 2004. One of my early accounts was Extra Joss, including a campaign with Cristiano Ronaldo.
Along the way: AdFest and Ad Star awards (2008-2009), a judging seat at Citra Pariwara 2012, and Pre-Screening Judge at MMA Smarties Indonesia 2024.
I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Advertising & Marketing Communication from Mercu Buana University, Jakarta (GPA 3.89/4.00). An MBA is next, with a PhD in marketing or consumer psychology after that. Practice without theory eventually runs out of questions. I’m not interested in running out of questions.
If you want to work together, or just compare notes, drop a note in the form below.