Following a significant transformation period, Innocean Indonesia is entering a new phase of growth under Managing Director Yusdina Fibriyanti. In this Q&A with Campaign Brief Asia, Fibriyanti discusses the agency’s evolution beyond its automotive roots, the importance of local leadership, and the ambition to build a more culturally fluent and creatively competitive agency.
1. How would you describe where Innocean Indonesia is right now, compared to where it was a few years ago?
The difference is significant. A few years ago, we were spending most of our energy trying to stabilize. Now we’re actually making choices. About the kind of work we want to do, the kind of clients we want to work with, the kind of agency we want to be. That’s a very different headspace to be in.
2. The agency has been known primarily for automotive work. How do you see that perception changing, and what’s driving it?
I think perception always lags behind reality, and that’s fine. We’re not in a rush to announce a new identity. What we’ve focused on is making sure the work speaks first. Automotive is still core to what we do and we take that seriously. The shift began by strengthening leadership across upper to lower funnel – strategy, creative, media, CRM, with talent bringing experience beyond automotive and a broader view of the market.
3. You’ve brought in clients outside of Hyundai and Kia recently. What does that say about where the agency is heading?
It shows that Innocean Indonesia is starting to be seen differently. Clients outside Hyundai and Kia are not coming to us because of our automotive history, but because they believe we can bring value to their brand.
Duolingo is a strong example. We took an existing cultural conversation between Duo and Tokopedia and turned it into a campaign that gained strong relevance and buzz across Indonesian social media.
For me, this signals that we are moving in the right direction—from being seen mainly as an automotive agency to becoming a broader creative and strategic partner for the market.
4. How is the leadership team here shaping the direction of the agency, and how much of what’s happening now is coming from within Indonesia?
A significant part of the direction is coming from Indonesia, and I think that is how it should be. We are not simply executing a plan from somewhere else. The priorities, ambition, and decisions about the agency we want to build are being shaped here by leaders who understand the market closely.
Being part of a global network gives us strong standards, access, and resources. But to be truly relevant, the thinking has to be rooted in local understanding—our consumers, culture, client realities, and market speed.
For me, the right balance is combining global network strength with local intelligence and decision-making from Jakarta. That is what allows us to build an agency that is globally credible, but truly right for Indonesia
5. What kind of agency do you want Innocean Indonesia to become, and what are you actively doing to get there?
I want us to be genuinely culturally fluent. Not an agency that studies Indonesia from a distance and translates briefs for it, but one that actually feels the culture and builds from inside it. The Drum Awards win for STARGAZER Cartenz was meaningful to us because that campaign came from a real Indonesian insight, about our roads, our reality. That’s the direction. Practically, we’re investing in talent, we’re getting more disciplined about our creative process, and we’re being honest with ourselves about where we still have gaps.
6. There’s clearly something being built here. Without giving too much away, can you give a sense of what’s coming?
What I can say is that we feel ready in a way we didn’t before. The last couple of years were about getting the foundation right. Now we’re at the point where we can be more ambitious about what we put on top of it. More interesting briefs, more visible work, more presence in the conversations that matter in this industry. I don’t want to overclaim, but internally the energy is different. People are excited about what they’re working on. That usually means something.
7. What would you want prospective clients or the market to know about Innocean Indonesia that they probably don’t know yet?
What I would want the market to know is that we have done the homework internally. Innocean Indonesia may have been known mainly as an automotive specialist, but over the past few years we have worked seriously to strengthen the foundation of the agency.
That means bringing in stronger and more diverse talent, improving our systems, upgrading our service quality, and building clearer ways of working. We are not only relying on our automotive experience anymore; we are building the capability to become a more complete, end-to-end business partner for clients.
So when clients meet us today, I hope they see an agency that is more focused, more capable, and more ready to support their business beyond just campaign execution.