One of the first things the Waris team told us was:
“People don’t even know who we are. We’re not even in the conversation.”
At the time, Waris Sampoerna Gold was a quiet player in a loud market. The product was solid, but the brand was barely on the radar. Distribution was limited, traditional gold shops were hesitant to carry it, and they hadn’t built much presence online. Most importantly, there was a trust gap. Fast forward to today, Waris has become one of the fastest-growing names in the category. They are running daily TikTok livestreams, their products are accepted by gold stores across Indonesia, and they have opened their first offline stores in major cities. Here’s what we did together to make that growth happen :
Building Recognition, One Brand Behavior at a Time
What Waris needed was structure. They had the right product, but the brand lacked presence. We started by helping them develop a clear identity (both visually and strategically) and rolled that into their day-to-day content. Social media, which had once felt like a passive catalog, became a space where the brand could interact, explain, and earn trust. That consistency was the turning point. We also advised on the brand’s positioning in conventional markets. In the beginning, most traditional gold stores wouldn’t accept Waris products. That was a huge credibility gap for customers. Through ongoing visibility efforts and clearer communication, Waris gradually gained acceptance across the country. The shift to being accepted into conventional stores was a major marker of legitimacy.
Scaling Sales Through Education, Not Just Ads
One of Waris’s biggest growth moments came through TikTok. We helped them build an always-on live strategy: a mix of education, trust-building, and real-time shopping. Viewers could ask questions, learn about the product, and buy gold directly during the stream. Aside from frequency, what made it work was how personal and consistent the content felt. With live shopping contributing to a 200% increase in revenue, TikTok became a core channel in their sales funnel.
Beyond live, we also supported day-to-day content creation to keep the engagement going. On top of that, we helped them run targeted ad campaigns across social and e-commerce platforms, eventually achieving ROAS of up to 10x. Our focus was always on clarity, not cluttered content. Performance marketing only works when the message is tight and aligned with what people already expect from your brand.
Packaging, Collaborations, and Offline Experience
One of our favorite parts of this project was designing non-regular packaging: collections for babies, Ramadan, Christmas, even Chinese zodiac editions like the Year of the Dragon. They gave customers reasons to buy gold as a personal or cultural gift, not just an investment. That emotional connection matters more than most people think.
We also supported Waris’s collaboration strategy with key KOLs like Arief Muhammad and Natasha Surya to help build credibility with wider audiences. Each partnership was chosen for how well the personality fit with the brand’s values and audience behavior.
Finally, when Waris opened its first offline stores in Jakarta and Surabaya, we advised on how to make the physical experience reflect what customers already knew from their online journey. For gold buyers (many of whom still prefer physical transactions) this step reinforced that Waris was here to stay.
Helping Waris grow taught us the lesson in understanding what builds trust in an industry like gold and being relentless in executing the basics well. It is also a reminder that brand growth isn’t always about reinvention. Sometimes, it’s about refinement. About doing the right things consistently and knowing when to push for the next step. PORTA is proud to have walked that path with them.