There is a version of Indonesia’s brand story that most people outside the country never hear. It isn’t the story of global multinationals entering a growth market. It’s the story of Indonesian companies, banks, retailers, beverage brands, airlines, building identities of genuine creative ambition and strategic depth. Brands that deserve to stand alongside the best in the world.
In 2025, the world got a glimpse of that story.
At the Transform Awards, one of the most rigorous international benchmarks for brand excellence, where entries are judged anonymously against criteria of challenge, strategy, creativity, and results, two Indonesian brands took home prizes among the global best. AZKO, the bold reinvention of ACE Hardware Indonesia, won Gold for Best Brand Experience alongside two Silver awards. SMBC Indonesia claimed Silver for Best Audio Brand.
Two very different companies, one clear signal: Indonesian brands are competing at the highest global standard.
Beyond the trophies, what made these wins significant was what they represented.
The AZKO story: When a rebrand becomes a movement
For over three decades, ACE Hardware was one of the most trusted names in Indonesian retail, the nation’s largest hardware and home improvement chain, with more than 250 stores and a loyalty built over generations. Transforming it into something new without losing that trust was an exercise in creative and strategic precision.
The brand that emerged, AZKO, was built around a deceptively simple idea: that home improvement isn’t really about products. It’s about enriching lives and being proud to show it. ‘Open the door to better living’ became more than a tagline. It became an organizing principle for everything from store design to customer experience.
The most tangible expression of that idea was the introduction of Idea Spots, in-store zones designed not to sell, but to inspire. Rather than displaying products in isolation, they present concepts: how a combination of items might help a customer pursue wellness, create a home entertainment space, or prepare for adventure. It transformed AZKO from a place you visit when something needs fixing into a place you visit when you want to imagine what your home could be.
The result? A launch on 31 December 2024 that drew over 150,000 Indonesians in celebration, and measurable uplift in customer engagement and basket sizes. And three awards at the Transform Awards, including the top prize for brand experience.
The lesson here is that Indonesian consumers respond to brands that take them seriously, that invest in experience, in meaning, in a genuine point of view about what they’re there to do.
“We are deeply grateful to Landor for their strategic partnership and creative excellence throughout AZKO’s rebranding journey,” said Gregory Widjaja, Managing Director, AZKO.
“Their ability to translate our vision into a bold new identity has been instrumental in helping us take this important leap forward with clarity, confidence, and purpose.”
The SMBC story: The sound of a brand that belongs
SMBC Indonesia’s Silver for Best Audio Brand might seem like a niche recognition, but in a world where consumers encounter brands across an ever-expanding range of touchpoints and experiences, a brand’s sonic identity has become as strategically important as its logo.
SMBC Indonesia’s journey to that award began with a more fundamental challenge. When BTPN and SMBC merged in 2019, the bank found itself in a position many Indonesian institutions will recognize: holding a powerful international brand name, but needing to earn genuine local trust. Foreign banks in Indonesia have historically struggled with precisely this tension, perceived as global giants with little feel for local realities.
The creative response was a brand built on the idea of “Do Good, Be Great” — not as a slogan, but as a genuine operating philosophy. Do Good grounded in real community investment through the Daya Program. Be Great as a belief that the bank’s role is to be a genuine partner in the ambitions of every Indonesian it serves.
The sonic logo, drawn from traditional Indonesian musical instruments, gave SMBC Indonesia an audio identity that felt unmistakably local, proof that a global brand can be made to feel at home without losing its authority.
What these awards actually mean
These awards are the latest expression of a shift that has been building across Indonesia’s brand landscape for years: a growing belief among Indonesian companies that creative excellence is not a luxury, but a multiplier.
The evidence is compelling. AZKO changed how 150,000 Indonesians spent New Year’s Eve. BSI’s BYOND super-app reached 3.5 million users with an 85.7% migration rate within months of launch, numbers that reflect a brand that people genuinely wanted to be part of. Teh Botol Sosro, a 50-year-old icon, found new relevance with younger consumers by owning its Indonesianness with the confidence of ‘It’s An Indonesian Thing.’
They are stories of Indonesian creativity, Indonesian insight, and Indonesian ambition, expressed through brands that know exactly who they are and who they’re for.
The opportunity ahead
Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world. It has a young, digitally native, brand-literate consumer base. It has companies of genuine scale and ambition. What it has sometimes lacked is the confidence to believe that its brands deserve to be world-class, not just regionally relevant.
The 2025 Transform Awards are a data point in a larger trend. Indonesian brands are no longer building for the domestic market and hoping the world notices. They are building to a global standard from the start, and the world is beginning to respond.
What it has sometimes lacked is the confidence to believe that its brands deserve to be world-class, not just regionally relevant.
“The AZKO success story shows how investing in your brand can become a multiplier for business performance,” said Joël Céré, Managing Director, Landor Southeast Asia.
“The leadership team understood that in a competitive and fast-evolving market, brand is what turns scale into meaning and transactions into loyalty. Their foresight to invest has paid off, not just in awards, but in real impact. Together with SMBC Indonesia’s recognition for their audio brand, I hope these wins offer a compelling blueprint for Indonesian companies ready to unlock their next phase of growth. Indonesia has world-class brands. The world is beginning to see it.”
For any Indonesian company watching these wins and wondering whether the same is possible for them, the answer is yes. Brand investment is not a cost. It is a multiplier. The leadership teams at AZKO and SMBC Indonesia understood that. Their results prove it.
Indonesia is not just a market for global brands. It is a producer of them.
This article was contributed by Landor.
