Exploring the Story of Brodo, a Shoe Product Widely Known Through Digital Channels

In Indonesia, many local shoe brands have sprung up. Of all of them, the one that looks consistent and continues to show growth is Brodo. This shoe product was developed by Yukka Harlanda and his colleague Uta while studying at ITB. A decade of existence, they are quite consistent in optimizing digital channels for marketing and sales.

Yukka to DailySocial tell a story, Broth starting from his anxiety to look for local brand shoes with size 46, then combined with the ambition of his colleague who wants to become a businessman. Long story short they collaborated, trying to present shoes with attractive designs, cheap, and sold through the internet.

In its initial phase, Brodo was marketed through the Kaskus Buy and Sell Forum and Facebook Pages. Information about the product and communication is done there. If there is an agreement, the consumer will be transferred to the Blackberry Messenger channel to continue the purchase transaction.

"Over time, what was originally just a hobby to increase pocket money there are several shift what we see, it's very important that makes us feel there opportunity. Number one is digitization consumer, the targeted market share is students; they will continue to grow by preference, the first in brand local, quality products can be obtained from onlineand brand is cool."

He continued, "Secondly, Indonesia is one of the premier shoe-producing countries in the world. We are not aware of this because we are used to being a nation of tailors. I think there is an opportunity here for us to make high quality products and be able to compete globally with angle different, namely digitalfirst, whether for marketing or the transaction."

Long story short, Yukka and partner started "full time" run Brodo. As of 2019, Brodo claims to have succeeded in producing hundreds of thousands of pairs of shoes. For its own operations, Brodo now has 140 employees, 8 stores, and 20 network vendors for raw material, skin, and others.

Consistent on digital channels and brand identity

Currently Brodo is present on various digital channels. Be it social media like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook; also a personal website that provides complete information about brand, including facilities for transactions. Brodo is also available as official merchant in a few E-commerce local.

"Angle we always brandfirst. So what's the name? hard selling we really try to reduce it, even though it's a component that must still exist. Until now social media should be the number one focus. Unfortunately [on social media] it is like we are limited by the 'host' who owns the platform. One side we really have to take advantage of, the second we have to aware that social media is not our own platform so we have to diversify in terms of how we deliver our marketing messages," explained Yukka.

Yukka added, to be able to optimize social media, product owners must be creative in running campaigns or advertisements. Including reducing paid advertising, because organic consumers have been proven to have a long-term impact on business in general.

The brand building process is also carried out by Brodo through collaborative activities, collaborating with the public with well-known figures such as athletes or artists. Those who are partnered by Brodo are certainly not arbitrary, they must represent the spirit that Brodo has composed, possess awareness which is no less pending is being able to impact user perceptions of the Brodo brand.