Marketing + Media Alliance (MMA) Indonesia convened the country’s most consequential marketing and advertising leaders at JW Marriott Hotel Jakarta on 16 July 2026 for MMA Marketing Talk 2026.
The conference opened under the theme “Lead with Innovation. Grow with Purpose,” bringing together more than 35 thought leaders, including Chief Marketing Officers, Chief Technology Officers, and Heads of Brand, Marketing, Technology, and Digital from brands, agencies, media firms, publishers, telecommunications companies, and advertising technology providers, to address the strategic questions shaping Indonesia’s next phase of business growth.
The full-day program ran across seven tracks: Leadership and Growth Mindset, Generative and Agentic AI, Creativity and Storytelling, Social Marketing, Retail Media and E-Commerce, Data and Measurement, and Transformative Innovation, giving delegates a full view of the forces now reshaping marketing practice in Indonesia.
The day’s proceedings began with an address from Chief Guest Dr. Ing. Ilham Akbar Habibie, Commissioner at PT. Ilthabi Rekatama and one of Indonesia’s most respected figures on technology, innovation, and national progress. As the son of the late President B.J. Habibie, Dr. Ilham has spent his career advancing the belief that Indonesia’s future rests on the strength of its ideas and the courage to pursue them.
The conversations that followed were grounded in a market few countries can match at this scale. Indonesia’s digital economy grew 13% year-on-year to USD 90 billion in 2024, carried by a median population age of 29 and rising household incomes.1 That growth is built on real consumer trust: Indonesia’s Trust Index stands at 73, and 80% of Indonesians trust business as an institution.2 As several speakers noted throughout the day, trust of this kind is the infrastructure that makes every other number in Indonesia’s growth story possible.
“Indonesia is not simply the region’s largest market — it is its most consequential proving ground. When marketing leaders understand that technology is the instrument and purpose is the strategy, they stop building campaigns and start building trust. My father believed that mastery of technology was the foundation of a nation’s sovereignty. Today, I believe that mastery of purposeful technology is the foundation of brands that endure. Events like this matter because they bring together leaders who do not just ask what technology can do — but for whom, and why. That is the standard Indonesia is ready to set.” — Ilham Akbar Habibie, Commissioner, PT Ilthabi Rekatama, the Honorable Chief Guest, MMA Indonesia Marketing Talk 2026.
That trust is showing up directly in market scale. Indonesia’s retail sector is worth USD 60.09 billion in 2026 and is on track to reach USD 79.11 billion by 2031, growing at a 5.65% CAGR.3 E-commerce GMV, which exceeded USD 75 billion in 2024, is expected to surpass USD 100 billion by 2026, expanding nearly 19% annually.4 Digital advertising is following the same curve, valued at USD 3.41 billion in 2026 and forecast to reach USD 4.51 billion by 2031.5 Commerce and media spend, in other words, are now growing in lockstep, a point speakers returned to across several sessions. That scale is also changing how brands treat retail media, no longer a standalone ad channel but a connected growth system feeding customer intelligence back into product and experience decisions.
The moment was marked by the launch of the Retail Media Network Ideas Lab (RMNIL)6, a new MMA APAC council bridging theory and practice for marketers and retailers across Indonesia and the wider region. Structured to address Indonesia’s unique dynamics, from low modern trade penetration to dominant social commerce, RMNIL gives industry players a collaborative space to experiment and accelerate innovation while feeding local insights into MMA’s APAC-wide thought leadership on retail media.
That same momentum carried into the day’s AI Leadership Council (ALC) session, where ALC members presented on brand visibility in the age of AI, ahead of a milestone announcement: the launch of The State of AI in Marketing 2026, MMA and Decision Lab’s Southeast Asia research report. Based on a survey of 143 organizations across the region, the report found that 80% of marketers now include AI in their marketing plan at a moderate level or higher, with 58% citing innovation as a key business impact of adoption.7
“Indonesia’s marketing industry has entered a new era, one where the discipline to earn trust at scale matters as much as the drive to lead. Brands willing to connect their channels, rather than manage each one separately, are the ones defining what leadership looks like in this next decade. What we witnessed today was, at its core, a collective commitment to shape how growth is built in this region for years to come. The work ahead will be measured not by how fast the industry moves, but by how much of that growth translates into lasting value for the people it ultimately serves.” — Shanti Tolani, Country Head & Board Director, MMA Indonesia.
MMA Marketing Talk 2026 represented a powerful convergence for the leaders to shape Indonesia’s marketing and advertising industry over the next decade — Lead with Innovation. Grow with Purpose.
MMA Indonesia Local Council: https://mmaglobal.com/local-councils/indonesia
MMA Global: https://mmaglobal.com
MMA Marketing Talk 2026: https://mmaglobal.com/event/mma-marketing-talk-2026/agenda
About the Marketing + Media Alliance (MMA)
The Marketing + Media Alliance (MMA) is the global, nonprofit alliance of Chief Marketing Officers and senior marketing leaders working to advance marketers’ ability to create value. Led by CMOs and supported by the full marketing ecosystem — including brands, AdTech and MarTech, media, consultancies, agencies, and platforms — MMA builds evidence-based models, frameworks, and tools validated through multi-year, multi-million-dollar Think Tanks and Labs.
MMA tackles the industry’s biggest unanswered questions — what truly drives growth, what measurement methods can be trusted, how AI should be operationalized responsibly, and which organizational strategies increase business performance. MMA translates its work into applied playbooks and tools that members use to improve marketing outcomes and strengthen marketing’s ability to create enterprise value.
Headquartered in New York City, MMA operates in 16 countries across APAC, Europe, MEA, LATAM, and North America. MMA represents more than 825 corporate members and convenes the industry through 62+ global conferences annually, including its flagship U.S. gatherings: MMA’s POSSIBLE (Miami) and the MMA CMO & CEO Summit.
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