40 Under 40 2025: Adam Mulyadi, Egghead Branding Agency

Adam Mulyadi

Founder, brand strategist & chief creative officer
Egghead Branding Agency
Indonesia

Adam Mulyadi has built his career on a clear conviction: Southeast Asian brands deserve world-class branding.

That belief took shape early. Drawn to design for its ability to tell stories, Mulyadi left Jakarta for San Francisco to study at the Academy of Art University. Immersed in a global creative culture and recognised for award-winning work, he developed the perspective that branding is about strategy and meaning as much as aesthetics—a principle that has guided him since.

In 2012, he founded a branding consultancy, Egghead, to give local companies the tools to compete with global players. Over the next decade, Mulyadi scaled it into a nationally respected agency with more than 1,000 clients. His work has included rebranding Astra Property, Boga Group and Holywings Group, and helped clients sharpen their positioning in competitive markets. For ATM Bersama, Indonesia’s largest interbank network, he led a full identity refresh and user experience redesign to modernise perceptions in a digital-first banking era. And for Ajinomoto’s Gyoza launch, Egghead devised a tailored strategy rooted in local culture that exceeded sales targets in three months and secured nationwide distribution in a category long dominated by imports.

That sharp growth and reputation attracted Horizon Holding (Tjufoo), the FMCG group behind brands like Dapur Cokelat, ACMIC, Granova, and Russell Taylors, —which went on to acquire Egghead in 2022.

Now as chief creative officer, Mulyadi drives brand strategy and creative direction across its portfolio and helps companies grow through design-driven thinking and culturally relevant ideas.

Mulyadi’s leadership style is rooted in experimentation and mentorship. He’s built a ‘creative lab’ where teams are encouraged to test, break and rebuild ideas. This mentality keeps the agency’s work curious, sharp and never formulaic. A believer in the open-floor approach, titles don’t mean much to him; anyone can throw an idea on the table. It’s an approach that has sparked fresh work and also shaped a new generation of leaders, many of whom he’s personally mentored into senior roles.

Beyond the day job, he has lectured at more than 15 universities across Indonesia and mentored over 30 startups, many women- and youth-led, through programmes such as Aksi Perempuan. His commitment to diversity is reflected in his hiring philosophy too, opening doors for self-taught talent and voices outside Jakarta’s traditional creative hubs.

He also applies his skills to social causes, too. With Celengan, a clothing line he founded, profits are directed to support homeless individuals and underprivileged students.