DJI SAM SOE

Company: Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna Tbk PT

Brand Value: US$2,654 million

Headquarters: Jakarta

Year On Year Change: 10%

Industry: Tobacco

Year Formed: 1913

Dji Sam Soe (which means “two, three, four” in Chinese) is a premium brand of kretek (clove) cigarette and is the leading name in the local Philip Morris stable of cigarette brands. Market share was 6.6 percent in 2017, and the brand’s continued strong showing comes despite a general decline in demand for kretek cigarettes. There have also been fake Dji Sam Soe cigarettes on the market, and a production center for fakes was raided earlier this year. Dji Sam Soe has more than a century of heritage in Indonesia – it was famously the preferred brand of the country’s first post-independence president, Sukarno – and it draws on that rich heritage in its communications. National pride, brotherhood and strength, along with cultural traditions, often feature in the brand’s advertising. Traditional craft is at the heart of the 2018 TV advertisement for Dji Sam Soe Super Premium.