Opinion

24 Hours with… KapanLagi strategy director Rubin Suardi

Rubin Suardi24 Hours With… spotlights the working day of some of the most interesting people in Mumbrella Asia’s world. Today, we hear about a day in the life of Rubin Suardi, director of strategy for Indonesian digital giant KapanLagi.

4.45am Friday. My wife wakes up and gets ready to drop my son off at school. Too early! Time to wake up my five and three-year old boys. Hmmm, why don’t they continue sleeping like this at the weekend? After 15 minutes of calling his name, turning up the room light seems to do the trick.

6.00am “Bye dad! Have a great day at the office. You too Ryan!” The sun just came up and my son and wife have already left for school. Time for a bit of me time. Breakfast of coffee, toast and fruit while checking out the news on TV, Facebook and the newspaper.

6.30am Take a shower while thinking about an idea for a client’s workshop. Aha! Where is a pen and paper when you need them?

6.40am Open my laptop and jot the idea down. But how to bring it to life? Grab a pen and paper and sketch an outline of the campaign.

7.00am Take a picture of the sketch and Whatsapp it to our CMO and provide a short explanation.

7.30am. I am finally fully awake, ready for work. I turn to my phone. Check messages in the work Whatsapp group: Update from our developer on our apps. They seem to be on track (relieved). Replied to a direct message from our CEO about our plan in Q3. Download my emails. Check if there is any important ones from my boss or clients. Check my calendar for today’s agenda.

8.00am Going to the office. Jakarta traffic, please be kind!

8.15am Still in traffic.

8.30am Still in traffic.

8.45am Finally reach the office. Traffic seems to be a bit kinder today. Pick up a cup of coffee before going to my desk. The usual, please.

9.15am Con-call with the client to prepare for the workshop. She seems to be excited by the plans. Minutes the meeting and share it with their agency.

9.30am Back to my laptop, reviewing quarterly business review presentation. Provide some input to our VP of sales and create some slides for the latest market and consumer trends on digital. The adoption of ad blockers is rising in Indonesia, so here are some branded content solutions.

11am Get a call from one of our VP of sales. We’ve won a project from a local bank in Central Java. We are now able to expand our footprint in local areas. Confirm a time to fly to Semarang and meet the client. Hold on, when is the date for the celebration dinner? Check the invitation from our CEO.

A visit to KapanLagi's production office in Malang to discuss 2017 products and marketing campaigns

A visit to KapanLagi’s production office in Malang to discuss 2017 product and marketing campaigns

11:50am Check my phone. 55 Whatsapp messages from several groups, mostly about weekend plans and today’s news. Anything interesting on Facebook? My old colleague Jayne Leung posted on my wall. Was it that long ago that we worked in M Digital? Time flies.

12pm Lunch with the finance and HR team. We went next door to Ambassador mall. This mall always amazes me. Today, there is a sale on sneakers and perfume in the same corner store, with loud trance music banging in the background. Had a simple food court lunch while listening to a manga story from my colleague.

1pm Back to my desk. Time to write up the consumer trends report, and build on those ideas for the workshop. Earphones on, #DoNotDisturb mode

1.47pm Our CFO calls to discussed some process improvement (Does it have to be now?). Some of our latest verticals and ad formats are showing soft growth. How can we fix this? How can we market this to clients and agencies?

3.00pm Head to our editorial office to meet our CMO and our new chief commercial officer to discuss the workshop, and demand and supply data. We discuss potential execution ideas for our sites, and social platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and YouTube. Call some content creators to join the workshop and share their point of view of the branded contents.

4.30pm. Back to the numbers game. Explain to our CCO how the dashboard works and opportunities and challenges to consider. Our new mobile creative format seems to get a warm welcome from the board. Let’s see who’ll be the first to try it out.

An afternoon visit from a 79 year-old street photographer who captures images of the street around Jakarta.

An afternoon visit from a 79 year-old photographer who captures images of the streets of Jakarta.

6.30pm. Reply to emails from the rest of today. Replied to Whatsapp messages from an agency head and office working group. Hmmm, it looks like my wife and sons had a good time in the pool this evening.

7.30pm. Time for dinner with an e-commerce client. Talk about an opportunity to join up our audience data for a certain interest category. Hold on. Why don’t we also create a new product feature format in our fashion section of #OOTD? They are interested. Let’s plan to launch at the end of the next quarter.

9pm. Heading home. Have a quick call with our CCO on the way back. Ask him to contact his colleague and set a date for a media day.

9.30pm. The boys and wife are in bed and I continue to let the TV watch me on my couch.

11pm. I’m headed to bed..Give my boys and wife a good night kiss and ZZZZZ..

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