Collaboration between MSME Activists in the East Nusa Tenggara Creative Economy Sector and FSRD ITB Young Designers
The pandemic, which is almost two years old, is not a barrier to innovation. One of them comes from product packaging. Of course, innovation and creativity are a must for building an identity and adding the selling value of a product. In addition, the pandemic that hit Indonesia made the number of creative economy actors continue to grow and compete as experienced by NTT local products. In response to this concern, LIKE Exotic NTT program is here and this program is first broadcasted to MSME activists in NTT, Tuesday (26/4/2022).
The Exotic NTT Creative Packaging Idea (LIKE) level-up is here to accommodate East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) tourism products that wish to improve the quality of product marketing through the collaboration between the Labuan Bajo Flores Tourism Authority Board (BPOLBF) and Bank Indonesia East Nusa Tenggara Representative. This activity brings together young and talented designers from the Faculty of Art and Design (FSRD), Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) as well as professional designers with years of experience.
The event was attended by the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Dr. H. Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno, B.B.A., M.B.A., Head of Bank Indonesia East Nusa Tenggara Representative, I Nyoman Ariawan Atmaja, Dean of FSRD ITB, Dr. Andryanto Ririk Kusmara, S.Sn, M.Sn., and the Managing Director of the Executive Agency for the Labuan Bajo Flores Tourism Authority Board, Shana Fatina. The webinar was also attended by two speakers, the Director of Culinary, Craft, Design, and Fashion Kemenparekraf/Baparekraf, Yuke Sri Rahayu, S.Sos., M.A., and the Director of Wanara Design Studio, Bima Nurin.
The webinar was moderated by Prananda, an FSRD ITB Lecturer, and was attended by MSME activists in the Creative Economy sector as well as ITB students. The presence of Sandiaga Uno in the event enlivens and motivates MSME activists in the Creative Economy sector and young designers to participate in developing Indonesian products.
Dr. Andryanto Ririk Kusmara, Dean of FSRD ITB, stated that this initiative is a collaboration between Community Service FSRD ITB, which is funded by LPPM ITB together with BPOLBF and BI East Nusa Tenggara Representative. Rikrik also expressed his desire to establish Labuan Bajo as an FSRD laboratory to foster long-term program synergies. “FSRD and ITB are committed to actively contributing to the development of NTT and other prospective locations in Indonesia,” he said.
In the first session, Yuke Sri Rahayu, S.Sos., M.A., Director of Culinary, Craft, Design, and Fashion of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, gave the material discussing the Packaging Strategy.
Creative MSME Products for Better Branding / Promotion
Yuke explained that having a good and creative product identity can strengthen the branding value of a brand. The more creative the packaging, the more curious and interested buyers will be in buying it so that it helps sell products faster. There are several important criteria for building product branding on packaging design, including being 1) clear and simple, 2) honest and not excessive, 3) authentic, 4) flexible, 5) practical, 6) aware of brand philosophy/establish a personality that encompasses the company’s vision, mission, and goals of the product, and 7) consistent.
The problem with MSMEs in Indonesia is that they are poor in terms of packaging since it is often done by the owner or you could say the design is improvised. Therefore, it is important to collaborate with professionals in their respective fields such as designers so that the packaging can be optimal.
On this occasion, Yuke promoted the BEDAKAN program which is a companion program for creative economy actors to educate-help-recover-and increase their economy and income through identity creation. BEDAKAN is a program established by ADGI and ASPRODI involving 335 designers from all across Indonesia. Starting from 2021 until now, it has spread to 11 cities in Indonesia. In addition, to obtaining optimal packaging designs with collaboration between designers and creative economy actors, they were also given grants and 1,000 pcs of packaging prints for each actor.
Labuan Bajo was chosen as the location for the BEDAKAN program which included 25 culinary actors such as Manga Koya Ikan Cakalang, De Mori (Manggarai Coffee), Kalo (Bajo Snack), Sinaluna, Hasrinda, and many more. Yuke said that he had received many positive responses from creative economy actors in NTT because this program greatly affected their sales turnover. They are even confident in bringing their products into online sales so that local NTT products can be consumed by anyone and anywhere.
Furthermore, Bima Nurin, President Director of Wanara Design Studio, emphasized the importance of packaging from the designer’s perspective. Bima stated that the function of packaging is to protect the contents so that they may be easily stored and moved. The brand name/product brand, a brief story of why the product was made, a brief profile of the owner, the source of raw materials, when the product was made, BPOM, information about halal/non-halal products, intellectual property rights certification, and packaging photo are all important things to include in a package.
According to Bima, a packaging is the same as the buyer’s experience since packaging design influences buying decisions by 71%. To create attractive packaging, some things must be considered, including collecting data and references such as appropriate materials, proposed brand names (if not yet available), understanding the needs of SMEs, developing brand narratives, specifying target markets, and estimating costs and production time. “Speak through the packaging,” said Bima.
Cooperation toward Labuan Bajo as a high-priority tourism destination is undoubtedly supported by high-quality human resources and products. The LIKE Exotic NTT program hopes to pave the way for local NTT products to be better known by the Indonesian people and improve the Indonesian economy. In the long run, design may help with not just product development but also regional development.
Reporter: Pravito Septadenova Dwi Ananta (Geological Engineering, 2019)