Merah-Putih, a marketing strategy that touches one’s identity

One of the telltale signs that Independence Day is around the corner is when you start seeing merah-putih or red and white everywhere. Red and white are Indonesia’s national colours, derived from the bicolour national flag that is historically tightly embedded to the nation’s independence.

The use of red and white in flags in Indonesia has a long history. Pararaton, a book of Sastra Jawa Pertengahan or Medieval Javanese Literature, mentioned battle flags in red and white used by the Jayakatwang forces from Gelang-Gelang when attacking Singasari. This means that red and white have been used in battle flags before the Majapahit era; probably since the Kediri Kingdom era. However, during the colonial period, the flag was forbidden by the government.

Many sources said that the colour combination has been long used throughout the history of Indonesia for different purposes and to uphold the views of various kingdoms and organisations. The colour scheme has always been used to represent resistance and fighting spirit as it used to don battle flags and was displayed as an act of resistance against oppressors.

Today, the colour combination represents the now independent nation: red for bravery and the body, white for purity and the soul.

In Indonesia, the flag is viewed as sacred to the point that the country’s first president amended a whole set of laws to regulate its use. One of the regulations stipulates that the flag may not fall or touch the floor. Actress Olivia Jensen received backlash after posting a video on Independence Day throwing the flag to the floor.

The first scene of the now-deleted video shows Olivia and her daughter wearing white bathrobe and holding the Indonesian flag. They threw the flag in the next scene as a transition to their second outfit, red and white kebaya.

The action was deemed as disrespectful to the Indonesian flag. Backlash in the comment section quickly ensued.

While the actress admitted that it was an innocent mistake, she was reported to the police for insulting and disrespecting the Indonesian flag. According to the report, the plaintiff accuses the actress for violating Article 66 of Law Number 24 Year 2009 on National Flag, Language, Emblem and Anthem.

Unlike the Union Jack, the national flag of the UK, that at one point literally became a fashion item, incorporating Sang Saka into products and merchandise would leave very little-to-no space for designers to create. However, local brands have found their way to incorporate the colour combination into their products without violating any regulation.

The product designer of Heiden Heritage, Christopher, told TFR that the big part of the brand’s motivation to create a merah-putih edition is to celebrate Independence Day. “(Via the campaign) we also wanted to recall the fighting spirit of our people back then,” he explained.

For its Independence Day campaign, Heiden Heritage released limited edition merah-putih shoes and announced it via Instagram. Instead of selling the limited items, the brand held a competition with a spirit that mirrors the ones identical with the occasion.

For the campaign, Christopher said that the 17 pairs of shoes are not for sale as a part of their concept. This scheme has impacted Heiden Heritage in terms of building and expanding its community.

Several other brands also proved that incorporating this colour identity into a product to celebrate the nation is a good marketing strategy. Developmental Basketball League (DBL) Indonesia in 2019 collaborated with Ardiles to create AZA6, affordable and locally made limited edition merah-putih basketball shoes.

They released 1,945 pairs of the shoes to commemorate the merry occasion as well as to reminisce the past struggles Indonesians had to go through to gain independence. The collection was well received by their audience from all over the archipelago.

This year, Brodo also came up with their own Independence Day campaign. The Bandung-based footwear brand released 250 pairs of limited edition Active Sprint Merah Putih shoes to commemorate the Independence Day. Within one hour, the shoes were sold out, even the biggest size.

Fashion brands are not the only ones to take advantage of this momentum. Indonesian electronic company Polytron released a limited edition Polytron Multimedia Audio (PMA) Merah-Putih series. The red-and-white speakers were made not only to commemorate Independence Day, but also to raise the spirits of Indonesians in the midst of the pandemic. These brands might implement merah-putih in their products differently, but in terms of the motivation and the spirit, they might not be all that different.

“I think that our message is quite similar,” Christopher concluded, “we all want to celebrate, we want to express our pride.” According to him, there was a time when local brands were not as celebrated as they are today. By implementing a part of the national identity into his crafts, he and his team will be able to show that a local brand, with all the local aspects that they proudly represent through their products, can be cool too.

“We want to feel proud of our own products, too.”

However, things could get seriously problematic when a brand uses not only the colour identity, but also the physical flag in its products. At that point, the room to improvise would shrink as designers have to be extra careful. For this kind of design, designers must stick to the Presidential Regulation on Indonesian Flag to make sure that the end product can be easily used and treated with respect as it donned the national flag.

Merah-putih as a part of one’s identity can be considered as an added value when used in a product. “I think a good product has to be incorporated with good storytelling as well,” Christopher said. “A good narrative would effectively deliver the message from our side to our target audience.”

Once the message is delivered, there will be a connection built between the target audience and the product, which then adds the value of the product in their eyes. The value of the brand will then increase in the eyes of the audience.

Merah-putih represents a part of our identity as Indonesian, an identity that speaks about our struggle as a nation and as a person. Being able to wear what we consider a part of our identity gave us not only confirmation, but also affirmation. Even though we can observe merah-putih campaigns as a marketing strategy, it is also undeniable that it is a strategy that manages to touch its target audience at their core: their identity.