As competition grows fierce, homes turn into billboards

Competition between telecommunication companies is so fierce that they are resorting to extreme forms of advertising in Jakarta, including painting private homes with bright colors and turning them into giant billboards to promote cellular services.

Just like regular billboards, telecom companies compensate homeowners for the advertising space.

Yuan, 31, a resident of Rawa Belong, West Jakarta, had his front wall painted red by a telecommunication company in a six-month contract with a telecom company, he said.

“People from the company came and offered me the deal. I agreed, and the company paid me Rp 700,000 (US$81.90) for a six-month period,” he said.

Yuan said it was the first time he leased his house for advertising. “As you can see, there are traces of old ads left on the wall,” he told The Jakarta Post.

Yuan said workers hired by the telecom companies did the painting.

Homes are not the only targets being used by telecom companies.

In Kemanggisan, West Jakarta, one company managed to persuade locals to do the work for them by asking residents to paint their company’s logo on the gate to their neighborhood.

Ahmad Saipul, a resident in the neighborhood said he and local youth were asked to paint the gate green, yellow and red, the primary colors of one telecom logo.

“The neighborhood head came to us and asked us to do the painting,” Saipul said.

Neighborhood head Abdul Salam, 54, said a telecom company employee paid him for the project.

“He gave me Rp 400,000 and told me how I should paint the gate, with colors and patterns suggested by them,” Salam said.

Salam did not consider the colorful gate as a form of advertising.

He also said there was no written contract for their partnership.

“There was no agreement about when we could change the colors of our gates. After giving the money, the man from the telecommunication company never came back,” Salam said.

The head of the Jakarta Tax Office, Iwan Setiawandi, told the Post recently that telecommunication companies should pay taxes for this form of advertisement.

Iwan, however, added that he had not found any indications that telecommunication companies had resorted to the extreme form of advertising in Jakarta.

“I have often found such advertisements along the toll road in the Greater Jakarta areas such as Bekasi, but I have yet to find one in Jakarta. I will check the conditions, and if I find that they aren’t paying taxes, I will issue reprimands to the companies,” he said.

He added that the Jakarta administration could resort to punitive actions if the companies failed to pay the taxes.

“If they refuse to pay taxes, we will just whitewash them,” Iwan said.

Iwan said that companies could pay between Rp 5,000 and Rp 15,000 per day for that kind of advertisement.

He added that companies resorted to painting homes because it was deemed cheaper compared to paid ads in conventional media.

According to the survey conducted by Nielsen that was presented in February, telecom companies were the largest advertising spenders among all the media, with a total of Rp 5.55 trillion spent.

PT Excelcomindo Pratama Tbk. spent the most with Rp 595 billion, up 66 percent from 2009, followed by PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel) for all SIM card products, spending Rp 538 billion, up from 2009’s Rp 300.56 billion. PT Telkomsel spent Rp 438 billion on its primary product, Simpati, up from 2009’s Rp 146.98 billion. (aaa)