Development of Kapiten Coffe as a Media to Branding an Agropolitan City: Case Study in Pasuruan, Indonesia

Agricultural commercialization has long been studied as a basic concept of rural life and one of the subsystems in developing countries [1, 2]. In general, agricultural commercialization is a process of changing mainstream production lines towards a wider market. This is done to change the perspective of farmers about agriculture as a subsistence activity towards a profitable business [3]. Five other characteristics that determine the commercialization of agriculture apart from maximizing profits are the production for sales, meeting needs, customer preferences, and business orientation [4]. The five characteristics are interrelated with each other. If the harvest is sufficient, it can certainly be diverted for sale. The production of crops sold is of course oriented to profit materially, market needs (customers) and if developed can be oriented to business development. The commercialization of agriculture is a sign of the ongoing process of agricultural transformation, which is the process of changing agricultural economic patterns from subsistence to commercial. The more the transformation of agriculture, the more commercialization develops, and the more prosperous the farmer becomes. Some highlight the commercialization of agriculture as a process of agricultural transformation in which farmers shift from consumption-oriented subsistence production to market and profit-oriented production systems [5, 6]. Therefore, the commercialization of agriculture is a top priority to boost the economy and development through increasing food security and increasing crop production for export.

In Indonesia, the Agriculture sector (Food Crops, Horticulture, Plantation Crops, Livestock) and the Fisheries Sector have an important role in supporting Indonesia's economic activities. This can be proven through the National Brotu Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) over the last two years showing a significant increase, in 2018 it was 12.81%, while in 2019 it was 13.5%. Agriculture sector was quite consistent in facing economic shocks and reliable for the recovery of the national economy. The contribution of the sub-sector of agriculture, livestock, hunting, and agricultural services was around 25.75% in 2018. Even from these results, it is stated that this sub-sector is in the first position [7].

Among the commodities that play an important role in economic growth is coffee [8-10]. This sector has an impact on economic growth in Indonesia. Not only that, but coffee is also one of the most important export commodities in Indonesia after oil and gas as a source of foreign exchange for the country. Apart from the fact that export opportunities are still open, local market demand is also getting bigger.

One of the coffee-producing areas in Pasuruan Regency produces 1,352.04 tons/year in the form of beans, both robusta, and arabica data took from Agricultural Service Governemt of Pasuruan District in website (http://disperta.pasuruankab.go.id/artikel-927-kopi-asli-kabupaten-pasuruan-.html). Even Pasuruan itself has a superior product, namely "Kapiten coffee" which is a brand created by the government as an identity that accommodates all coffee products in Pasuruan. However, the identity that is pinned as the area is still not known both nationally and internationally as a typical local product of Pasuruan.

This has received criticism from several parties, for example, Bambang Widodo in his notes revealed that the brand of a city is often misunderstood as just an artificial activity without paying attention to the characteristics of the city and ignoring the development master plan [11]. In line with Kavaratzis who said that jargon or labeling is the second stage after spatial and behavioral management [12, 13]. That is, regional labels must pay attention to how enthusiastic and behavior the surrounding community is to build the brand.

So that the concept of commercialization is needed as a strategy in building city branding [14] in Pasuruan Regency. The concept of commercializing agricultural products, especially coffee, can have an impact on wider market segmentation [15-17], thus the image of the city raised as a coffee-producing agricultural area that is ready to compete in the international arena. So that the Kapiten Coffe brand is not just jargon but an identity that is closely related to the area. In particular, this study aims to obtain a comprehensive picture of how the Kapiten Coffe brand of Pasuruan Regency can be actualized through commercialization and triple helix synergy (Academic-Business-Government).

The concept of commercialization and branding theory are two different things, but at the point of implementation, they are related. Commercialization is simply defined as the process of marketing and distribution. The concept of commercialization is organized around an agricultural framework that involves a pattern of transformation from a subsistence-oriented economy to a market-oriented economy. While branding is a name, term, or sign in a certain combination of elements intended to distinguish between goods and services from those of competitors [18].

In his view, Fernandes said that branding is not only perceived as an effort to manage a city but also a way of conveying a positive image that has the aim of increasing competitiveness comprehensively [19]. A positive image is not defined as a way to physically change the city but helps to give a good image to the public. Specifically, a positive image can distinguish one city from another [20]. This is in line with the statement by Kavaratzis and Ashworth [12, 13] that city branding is something that can give a moral-ethical influence to visitors in perceiving the city in their minds. Although many experts view branding from three different approaches; brand visually [18], brand verbally [21], and brand behavior [22].

For this reason, the combination of commercialization and the concept of branding is important to implement to create a new image and be known by many people. Commercialization requires a dynamic marketing process from all levels, while the brand is used to create product recognition (recognition) [23], public perception, to create customer loyalty that the product comes from a certain area.

Research about city branding and city commercialization has been done by many researchers. Indriani and Kuswoyo [24] in 2017 analyze about the influence of city branding on city image and the decision to visit tourists to Purwakarta Regency. Therefore, Jojic [25] in his research describe and explain about city branding and the tourist gaze. Poin of this research are city branding has impact to increasing the status of the place as touristic destination, residential, or business location. Third, the research from Yang et al. [20] about city branding using food festival to promote the culinary brand. Research about city branding mostly describe only about city brand and the role of the government has not been discussed. So, in this research discuss about the city brand and the role of government in same discussion using triple helix approach.

In addition, to create city branding, a triple helix approach (Academic, Business, and Government) is needed which results in several configurations [26, 27], where the government plays a role as a policymaker who encourages; industrial players as product managers and distribution; and academics play a role in conducting research and knowledge about traditional products. The involvement of the triple helix actor is very important to create the expected city branding. So that the brand is not only owned by a group of people but also involves many actors who complement each other.

From various previous explanations, it can be ascertained the urgency about the city branding of an area. This research carries the big theme of commercialization as a strategy in creating a city brand in Pasuruan Regency. As an area that has advantages in managing coffee types, Pasruaun Regency has a great opportunity to raise Kapiten Coffee as a city branding that can elevate local status as the best coffee-producing area. Therefore, the existence and management of Kapiten Coffe need to be maintained as a regional identity and maintain the distinctive taste of Pasuruan Regency through city branding [28]. In particular, this study aims to get a comprehensive picture of how the coffee brand kapiten Pasuruan Regency. Furthermore, the method used to realize it is with a triple helix (Academic-Business-Governement) approach. These three aspects are considered very instrumental in the framework of branding kapiten coffee as one of the icons of Pasuruan Regency.

As an area that has advantages in the management of coffee types, Pasuruan Regency has a great opportunity to raise Kapiten Coffee as a city branding that can elevate its local status as the best coffee-producing area. Not only as of the best coffee for its taste, but the existence of Kopi Kapiten also won first place at the East Java level as the best coffee with an ideal seedling process to picking. Therefore, the existence and management of Kopi Kapiten need to be maintained as a regional identity and maintain the distinctive taste of Pasuruan Regency through city branding. Even the results of the recapitulation of ranking preference data can be seen in the Table 1.

The Table 1 shows that the price attribute of Kopi Dampit gets ranking mode 1, which means that Kopi Dampit is the most affordable in terms of price for respondents, then Kopi Kapiten gets ranking mode 3, Aceh Gayo Coffee and Ijen Coffee gets rank 4 and Kopi Arjuno gets ranking mode 5 on the price attribute. Then, a Multidimensional Scaling analysis was carried out regarding consumer preference data for coffee brands based on the attributes that had been given. The result of multidimensional scalling can be seen in Figure 1.

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Figure 1. Multidimensional scaling analysis of coffee varians

Based on the results of the perceptual map above, the quadrant division is obtained, in quadrant II there is the Kopi Kapiten brand which is adjacent to the attributes of taste, excellence, pleasure, and texture. Thus, Kopi Kapiten can be declared superior in taste attributes because it has a distinctive and different taste compared to other coff000000ee brands. In addition, Kopi Kapiten also excels in the attributes of coffee excellence, namely in terms of packaging which has a special identity for Kopi Kapiten as a coffee brand in Pasuruan Regency. Kopi Kapiten also excels in the texture attribute which indicates that Kapiten Coffee has a smooth and light texture to enjoy, so Kapiten Coffee also excels in the pleasure attribute because respondents think they are happy to be able to enjoy Kapiten Coffee many times.

The depiction of each coordinate of each attribute on the perceptual map has a high degree of conformity. It can be seen from the MDS analysis that a STRESS value of 0.1140 indicates a fairly good "fair" criterion so that it can be concluded that the MDS analysis has the right reliability and validity in getting the best coffee brand from others. The result can be seen in Figure 2.

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Figure 2. MDS analysis of Kapiten coffee

Multidimensional scaling also provides a facility to test whether the respondents who have filled out the questionnaire above are aligned or not. Harmony here can be interpreted that all respondents have the same or homogeneous attitude in giving an assessment. This level of homogeneity is shown by the scatterplot graph of the linear fit, which shows that the coordinate points form a coordinate group whose configuration forms a line from bottom left to top right. This shows that respondents have a homogeneous attitude towards the similarity between a given coffee brand.

In the graph above, it can be seen that the respondent's position can form a "straight line", this can prove that there is the consistency of respondents in assessing the similarity of the given variables. The set of coordinate points in the graph does not form separate groups but is relatively clustered. This can prove the consistency or similarity of attitudes in respondents

After finding the weakness of the Kopi Kapiten brand compared to other coffee brands, then the author will determine the process of developing the Kopi Kapiten brand in building the Pasuruan Regency brand. The author will describe the timing of each activity based on a time study, the preparation of the sequence of activities based on dependence on production activities, the creation of a network, the determination of the production completion time based on the critical path, and the possibility of accelerating production completion with the maximum time.

Several work items are included in the Kopi Kapiten brand development activity project starting from the initial preparation to the final work (finishing). The Table 2 show about the work items in the Kopi Kapiten brand development project.

Table 2. Types of work making Kopi Kapiten

Then in this study, the work items that will be analyzed are production work, packaging work, and marketing work. Next, a work breakdown will be carried out on the three work items, while the breakdown results along with the code for each activity can be seen in Table 3.

Table 3. Job Description in Kopi Kapiten

Based on the work breakdown table above, the network diagram for the development of the Kopi Kapiten brand can defined in Figure 3.

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Figure 3. CPM method network diagram brand development project Kopi Kapiten

In the network diagram above, there are several activity lines or activities carried out, namely CPM method can be seen in Table 4.

Based on the use of the critical path method (critical path method) obtained the critical path A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K according to the red arrow on the work network, with a normal project completion time for 51 days. Then when the process is analyzed, it can be seen that to develop the Kopi Kapiten brand, the following workflow must be considered; physical analysis of coffee beans, roasting coffee beans, grinding coffee, mixing, waste treatment, primary packaging, secondary packaging, product pricing, determining market prices, making marketing strategies and creating digital marketing media.

Table 4. Project time and activities using the CPM method

Kopi Kapiten, which is the flagship product of Pasuruan Regency, has succeeded in creating a brand with measurable quality. Starting from the taste, texture to packaging which is quite attractive, it is the main attraction for the wider community. So it is necessary to commercialize the product by involving three important actors; government, academia, and business (triple helix). Through this commercialization, the captain's coffee can bring Pasuruan Regency to the best coffee-producing area.

Although this success is felt, the captain's coffee needs to evaluate the process with a grace period of 51 days starting from; physical analysis of coffee beans, roasting coffee beans, grinding coffee, mixing, waste treatment, primary packaging, secondary packaging, product pricing, determining market prices, making marketing strategies and creating digital marketing media. It is necessary to improve quality improvement by paying attention to the aspects of the workmanship.