Out now: Dwi Sapta’s founder Adji Watono (left) poses with his biography’s author Agung Adiprasetyo. (JP/Frederica Sizilia Priyanto)

His desire to get rich inspired Adji Watono — a penniless young man from the Central Java town of Kudus — to become one of Indonesia’s advertising giants.

Life moves in cycles and so does business. Sometimes they go up, yet at other times, they go down.

Advertising agency Dwi Sapta, however, has gone against the grain. The company has always been on the list of the country’s best advertising agencies and the man who makes that possible is Adji Watono.

His success story has been made into a biography, titled Kisah Sukses Tukang Foto menjadi Bos Advertising (The Successful Journey from Photographer to Advertising Boss).

Penned by Agung Adiprasetyo, former CEO of Kompas Gramedia publishing company, the book, which was recently launched during the agency’s 35th anniversary celebration in Jakarta, tells the inspiring tale of how Adji managed to develop his company from scratch.

Starting out as a penniless young man from Kudus, Central Java, who lived apart from his parents, Adji had to struggle just to make ends meet

“I did not have much money to start with. I had to borrow money from here and there,” Adji recalled during the book launch.

“I just knew that if you want to be rich, then you have to study abroad — or so they say. So I thought about studying in Germany, without knowing jack about the language or the country.”

He was referring to his decision to go to Karlsruhe, Germany in 1971 without even knowing what he wanted to study just yet – and without even having enough money to do so.

But he had made up his mind, and thought that whatever happened, he had to study in Germany so that he could be rich. And thus, not even knowing how to fasten a seatbelt, his first ever flight was to a country 11,000 kilometers away.

While in Germany, he lived on the breadline, and had to do odd jobs here and there to survive. Driving trucks, shoveling snow, sweeping the streets, picking up trash; all of this he did to scrape together money — and often badly clothed for the cold weather.

But his desire to be rich was so great that he never wanted to give up. “Only one thing was on my mind: I want to be rich! And I’m not going back to Kudus —I’d be back to the penniless person I was!” he said.

Telling himself: “I want to be rich” over and over, little by little, he managed to gather up savings, and in 1975 he decided to study photography at Adolf Lazi Professional Photography School in Stuttgart — partly because he liked to take photos, and partly because he had failed a college entrance exam twice and hence decided to do something that wouldn’t require such an exam.

Then, in 1976, he decided to continue on improving his photography skills by attending Technical Photography in Berlin for six semesters, having previously done an internship at Wegert Photo Laboratory in Berlin.

In 1981, he returned to Indonesia and set up a photo studio in Rawamangun, East Jakarta. This photo studio marked the starting point of Dwi Sapta Group’s long journey: called Studio 27, the technology it provided kept on being increased due to clients’ requests, starting from screen printing, which led to a subsidiary called In Ad.

Then, in the years that followed, Dwi Sapta started founding one company after another and so far it owns a total of 11 companies.

The group has also won recognition and many awards, such as Agency of the Year in 2009, 2011 and 2015; as well as Best Creative Agency for Dwi Sapta IMC; Best Media Specialist for DSP Media; and Best Brand Activation Agency for Bee Activator — all in the year 2015. In addition, the group has been consistently placed in the top-three agencies by various TV stations.

Adji said the philosophy of “Client Success is Our Success” is the key behind Dwi Sapta Group’s success in its 35-year journey. “We have gone through struggles, sacrifices and tears with this philosophy in mind,” he says.

Adji’s success from scratch inspired Agung so much he decided to write his biography.

“I’ve always been impressed by people who are patient, hardworking and creative in turning something from zero to success; and also I’m hoping that Adji Watono’s tips and views can be an inspiration and lesson to anyone who wishes to be a successful entrepreneur,” said Agung.

“Even though there are lots of stories out there about zero-to-heroes who have gone through adversity, still, Dwi Sapta’s journey from a blank page to getting into the list of Indonesia’s leading agencies is a worthwhile tale.”

The writing process, Agung said, was a rewarding experience, with every sentence coming out of Adji’s mouth becoming a life lesson for him.

Once he recalled Adji saying that: “If you want to do something, you have to be consistent. You can’t be like a wave that comes and goes.”

Agung also admired how Adji respected his father and grandmother so much. At one point, he even took Agung to visit his grandmother’s grave.

But Agung firmly believes the key to Adji’s success is his humility, which has seen him gain respect from his employees, partners and competitors.

“It’s a pretty big deal for an advertising agency to reach 35 years of age, especially with lots of other agencies as competitors. To think that this all started out from Adji riding his Vespa around to take photos — sometimes in the rain — with Ibu Yoyok [Adji’s wife] holding the lighting for the photos,” Agung said.

Adji said that in order to be prosperous, one has to have good friends that will always have your back.
“It’s important to network with a lot of people and to be honest to your friends when you really don’t have any money,” he said.

It is also important, he added, to give to others. “When you have a lot and you give to others, it’s nothing to write home about. But when you have little and yet you give, that’s when it’s truly exceptional.”

The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post

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Zero to hero:  Advertising agency Dwi Sapta’s founder Adji Watono poses with his newly launched biography Kisah Sukses Tukang Foto Menjadi Bos Advertising (The Successful Journey from Photographer to Advertising Boss) in Jakarta.

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