Asia-Pacific Power List 2023: Sri Widowati, Danone

Sri Widowati

Vice president of marketing
Danone
Indonesia
New member

In the short time she’s been there, Sri Widowati (Wido) has been stamping her marketing style on Danone Indonesia. And the results are already visible.

Building on solid leadership in the infant nutrition category, Wido has accelerated and grown the brand share (SMG, Bebelac, Nutrilon) to its highest level ever. SGM, Danone’s manifesto brand, aims to support the National Health Agenda of eradicating ‘stunting’ in Indonesia. Its latest campaign, "No child is left behind”, answers the aspirations of Indonesian mothers and has put the brand in the daily lives of Indonesian families as it addresses the nutritional needs of children during their development age.

In water, Aqua, the pioneer and market leader of the category, had been facing competition from many challenger brands as it relied heavily on its scale yet lacked the consistency and coherence in its communication critical for a size brand. Further, it was losing its relevance to the younger audience who saw it as an iconic brand, albeit for an older generation.  

Leveraging Aqua’s position, Wido led an integrated contextual campaign, “Aqua Dulu” - a hydration reminder – with a simple, clear and consistent message – Water is essential to life. It immediately resonated with the consumers who claimed that they often forgot to drink water in their stressful modern lives,

Backed by an aggressive digital campaign that has touched 50 billion engagements since its launch, the campaign was able to re-introduce the brand to the youth. At the same time, it opened completely new touch points like transportation hubs and airlines. As a result, Aqua has since stabilised its market share and defended its position as a market leader.

Since moving back to Indonesia after being abroad for 12 years, Wido has held some high-profile positions: country director for Facebook and chief growth and digital transformation at Unilever Indonesia. However, she finds her current role deeply satisfying as she sees herself fully responsible for shaping and driving the strategies for brands like Aqua and SGM, which touch the lives of more than 140 million Indonesians.

In this phase of her career, she aspires to enable businesses to capitalise on the market opportunity Indonesia offers and develop a world-class marketing capability that is future-forward, incorporating digital market insights and deep consumer understanding.