Anggriawan Sugianto

"It's been a great year! Thanks for being a part of it." – that's the default tag line of recent Facebook's new feature: Year in Review. You can easily generate a nice post based on your photos in 2014 with only a few clicks, instead of writing a long post like this boring blog post. However, Facebook algorithm wasn't perfect, it forced painful memories of some users back to the surface.

xkcd 1302: Year in Review

Before you waste time reading the remaining paragraphs, I suggest you to check these cool "year in review" by Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Tumblr, and TED. My most favourite one are from Google..



.. and from TED.



And yeah, like my Facebook post said, 2014 has been a great year for me :)

Mount Bromo is an active volcano located around an hour drive from Malang, East Java. It is part of Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park. Bromo is not the highest peak of Tengger massif (~ 2.3k metres), but is the most well known, as it's one of the most visited tourist attractions in East Java province. Mount Bromo sits in the middle of a vast plain called "Sea of Sand" (Segara Wedi). You can also find a Hindu temple (Pura Luhur Poten) in the sandy plain, as the name of Bromo is actually derived from Javanese pronunciation of Brahma, the creator god in Hinduism.

Mt. Bromo in the Morning

Last November I had a chance to visit (Malang and) Bromo with some good friends. We got the open trip info from a travelling daily deals site. You can also find other open trips from other backpacking forums, such as Backpacker Indonesia. We departed from Pasar Senen Station on Friday afternoon by train to Malang. It took more than 16 hours to get there! Anyway, our train, Matarmaja, was the best-valued public transportation, cost Rp 130,000 ($11) only for Jakarta - Malang roundtrip!! Other trains would cost $100. If you want to have more comfortable trip, you can take 90-minutes direct flight to Malang for $130-$200 (roundtrip).

Jakarta - Malang : more than 16 hours by train

Okay, hands down—this is the coolest Indonesian branded entertainment of the year! 😍 For those who don't know, AADC (short for Ada Apa Dengan Cinta) is the movie that defined Indonesian pop culture in the early 2000s. And now, thanks to LINE, it’s back in a way no one saw coming. Brilliant move, LINE! 👏

Let’s talk about the script. Who didn’t feel something after hearing these lines?

adalah cinta yang mengubah jalannya waktu
karena cinta waktu terbagi dua
denganmu dan rindu
untuk kembali ke masa

**

bener gak ada yang mau lo sampein lagi?
karena semua orang bisa mulai dari awal.

***

jadi beda,
satu purnama di new york dan di jakarta?

****

detik tidak pernah melangkah mundur
tapi kertas putih itu selalu ada

waktu tidak pernah berjalan mundur
dan hari tidak pernah terulang

tetapi
pagi selalu menawarkan cerita yang baru

untuk semua pertanyaan
yang belum pernah terjawab

Goosebumps, right? 🥹

Kudos to the creative geniuses behind this campaign! Not only did they perfectly capture the nostalgic feels, but they also sparked a cultural moment. Even other brands and netizens jumped on the hype train, trying to ride this viral wave. Marketing gold right there. 💎

But here’s something I keep wondering: what’s the real magic behind a viral campaign? Is it about stirring emotions creatively and backing it up with a data-driven strategy? Or is there something else in the mix? 🤔

Happy weekend, folks! Cheers! 🎉