Below are some brands that have had success in Indonesia and the surrounding regions. While each has had validation and acclaim arrive at different speeds, they have all earned their success by noticing opportunities in the Halal market and beyond and gaining the right support in their journey.
The story of Wardah, a halal-certified cosmetic brand, was started in 1995 when Nurhayati Subakat, an ex-Wella employee, created an Islamic brand as suggested by her acquaintance. Prior to this, she had a decade of experience in selling Putri, a growing cosmetic brand she started by herself in home-industry level.
Since 2004, Wardah has worked on the branding massively and did a major rebranding in 2009 as a brand inclusively for women, not only for Muslims and women wearing hijab. In 2012, the brand even recorded 100 percent sales growth. Euromonitor International found Wardah as the only Indonesian brand to record sales growth in excess of 20 percent, in its top 20 fast-growing cosmetics brands 2015-2016.
Now they have over 7,500 employees in various places in Indonesia and two factories with a total of 19 hectares area combined. The brand now has reached Malaysia and Bangladesh and preparing to penetrate the middle-east.
Introducing Nussa and Rara, two animation characters that have captured millions of people in Indonesia. Created by The Little Giantz Studio, this animation series launched in the day of Mawlid (Prophet Muhammad birth day) in 20 November 2018. Originally this series are aired in their Youtube channel yet in Ramadan 2019 it was finally screened on a national TV channel and Malaysia’s Astro TV.
Since 2018, the studio that was founded by four people (Aditya Triantoro, Yuda Wirafianto, Ricky Manoppo, and Bony Wirasmono) has decided to focus on Muslim market in Indonesia by developing Nussa cartoon series. Their promotion was indeed a success as they gained one million subscribers on Youtube in less than one month and still growing, thanks to endorsement by various public figures and popular scholars.
Nussa has expanded beyond animation series with their off-air events which always been flooded by parents and kids. In the future, a theme park with Nussa characters is expected to be built in Jakarta, as mentioned in their launching event in Hijrahfest 2018.
Halal Park was inaugurated on April 2019 by the President of Indonesia, as a miniature of a Halal Lifestyle District that will occupy 21,000 square meters of land with a total investment of Rp 250 billion ($17.75 million). Located in Senayan complex, in the heart of Jakarta, this place becomes the showcase for halal products, including fashion, food, tourism, and finance.
Halal Lifestyle District aims to be a new Muslim-friendly tourist destination in Jakarta. This is an initiative to strengthen Indonesia’s position to be the leader of global halal economy. This project has gained support from the government, the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises, and the private sectors, including Hijup.
