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'Pun intended': Wordplay new weapon for trendy businesses in Jakarta
Brands, nowadays, are important magnets to attract potential buyers amid tight competition. In the digital era, attractive visuals should also get a boost through written words when promoting products.
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Iced coffee with milk from (from left) Kopi Kenangan, Kopi Janji Jiwa, Kopi Soe and Toko Kopi Tuku. (JP/Devina Heriyanto)
“What’s in a name?” The question from the iconic tragedy Romeo and Juliet hints that for legendary English writer William Shakespeare names may not have mattered much. However, the founders of trending businesses in Jakarta would beg to differ with the famous wordsmith.
Brands, nowadays, are important magnets to attract potential buyers amid tight competition, especially in the digital era when attractive visuals should also get a boost through written words when promoting products.
Case in point: the rise of popular beverages in Jakarta, most noticeably the trendy coffee brands such as Kopi Tuku, Kopi Kenangan (memory) and Kopi Janji Jiwa (soul's promise) that have made waves in coffee cultures, as well as businesses, in the city.
The founder and CEO of Kopi Kenangan, Edward Tirtanata, admitted that right from the start when he wanted to run a coffee business in 2017, he was sure that the word kenangan (memory) would be a solid brand to engage with local customers.
He said that at that time he was running a traditional tea business called Lewis & Carroll in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, which had opened in 2015, but then Edward said he saw an opportunity in the beverage market that pointed at a potential coffee business.
“It turned out that Kopi Kenangan is doing much better than Lewis & Carroll, with almost twice the ratio of sales. The brand is more appealing for the mass market because it is more relatable,” he told The Jakarta Post recently.
Besides the name of Kopi Kenangan that helped market the products, Edward said, the names of the coffees on the menu also helped gain the attention of the customers, which made it difficult for them to "move on" from the mainstay options.
