Gunadi studied civil engineering at the University of Parahyangan, Bandung, Indonesia. He then ‘fell in love’ with advertising and decided to switch his career to advertising. Together with his friends he started a local agency called Publica Advertising in 1969. His passion to become a professional in advertising led him to join Lintas Jakarta in 1971. Lintas Jakarta was an advertising division of Unilever Indonesia, which became an independent agency in 1983 called PT Citra Lintas Indonesia, affiliated with the Interpublic Group of Cos, New York. Gunadi joint Lintas as account executive, handling clients such as Unilever, Wander, Bayer and few local clients; he then moved to various division within the agency e.g. media department, finance. He moved up the ladder and retired in December 2004 as Chairman of Lintas Jakarta or currently known as Lowe Indonesia.
When Lintas’ media division, Initiative Media, became an independent media company, Gunadi joined PT Initiatif Media Indonesia (Initiative Jakarta) as Chairman. Initiative Jakarta was the AOR (Agency of Record) for Unilever Indonesia, and is currently handling a/o: J&J, Coca-Cola, Telkomsel, McDonalds etc. Gunadi retired from Initiative in 2004 and became consultant to Initiative till end of 2006.
Gunadi played major role in the advertising industry in Indonesia. He was actively involved in the board of PPPI (Advertising Agency Association of Indonesia). He was Chairman of PPPI Jakarta Chapter, Secretary General of the National Board and his last position was member of the Advisory Board of PPPI.
Currently Gunadi is President of the Association of Asia Pacific Advertising Media (AAPAM) an organization which is responsible for the bi-annual conference called Asia Pacific Media Forum.
