Marketing Protest

Maybe it’s a bit late, but I would like to highlight one of the most provocative and innovative way to market a product.

Tung Desem Waringin, titled ‘The Number One Motivator in Indonesia’, pre-launched his second soon-to-be-the-best-seller book, Marketing Revolution, in a ‘rather’ unusual way.

How he pre-launched his book

He charter an aeroplane, flew it to a field in Banten area, West Java, Indonesia, and throw money down as well as his seminars admission tickets – all valued at approximately $660,000 (with almost $11,000 in cash). Thousands of people were rushing to the area and were grabbing whatever they can.

This campaign is to create buzz for his book that will be launched on 1st of July, 2008.

Watch the coveted video… Mind the location – it’s not in Jakarta, Indonesia, but in Banten, West Java, Indonesia ;)

The impact of this campaign

Mr. Tung Desem Waringin explained that this is ‘Marketing Protest’ – Companies spend tens to hudreds of thousands of dollars on marketing campaign, that is so ineffective that, he explained, it’s like throwing money to the crater of a volcano.

In my opinion, his Marketing Protest has, by far, out-performed most marketing campaign that cost more than his money throwing stunt.

The impact? The big media guys, such as Reuters, The Washington Post, etc – as well as, of course, local media – cover the Marketing Protest and buzz up his Marketing Revolution book.

Well, it’s simply effective in creating buzz on product launch… and his seminars. I almost certain that his book will be sold way much more than his previous record-breaking 1,000,000 book sales on launching day, not to mention the reputation Mr. Tung gain by his ‘insane’ marketing campaign.

Congratulations for Mr. Tung Desem Waringin – You make Indonesia and the citizens proud! At least we have something to celebrate in the midst of one of the recession’s hardest-hit region in Asia.

Ivan Widjaya
Mr. Tung fan