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Beyond Intent: Structural Reasons Brands Sound Fake Even When They’re Not

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Performative versus purposeful has become the dominant way we talk about brand communication in Southeast Asia. It is a useful provocation, but it only tells part of the story. Many communication failures don’t come from bad intent or cynical leadership. They emerge from misaligned systems, structural constraints, or uneven change. Brands can sound fake not because they are lying, but because their organisations aren’t set up to speak clearly. This isn’t a defence of performative PR. It’s a clear-eyed look at why it happens, when it can still serve a function, and why moralising oversimplifies the challenge. If you missed our first article in this series, Performative or Purposeful? Decoding Brand Communication in Southeast Asia , you can read it here: https://orchanpr.blogspot.com/2025/09/performative-or-purposeful-decoding.html The False Binary The performative–purposeful debate travels fast on LinkedIn. It signals values and sparks conversation. But in practice, it flattens reality....
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Silence Is Not Always Golden (Commentary by Farrell Tan)

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For years, silence has been treated as a kind of corporate virtue. Say nothing. Wait it out. Hope it passes. In theory, it sounds disciplined. In practice, it usually does the opposite of what brands intend. Silence is not neutral. It is interpreted. And in a real-time media environment, it is almost always interpreted badly. Why Brands Choose Silence Most decisions to stay quiet come from a reasonable place. Legal risk. Global sensitivities. Incomplete information. Fear of saying the wrong thing. In major M&A activity, restructuring, or crises, local communications teams often have limited room to move. Messages are cleared centrally. Words are scrutinised. Restraint is necessary. But somewhere along the way, restraint gets confused with disappearance. When nothing is said publicly, brands often tell themselves they are being careful. What they are really doing is outsourcing interpretation to everyone else. What Actually Happens When Brands Stay Silent Silence does not...
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Purpose-Led Marketing in Southeast Asia: Stop Treating the Region Like One Big Market (Malaysia Proves Why)

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Global think pieces keep diagnosing “purpose fatigue.” To a certain extent, that's fair. However, consumers everywhere are sick of brands preaching values they cannot operationalise. But here’s the nuance many articles miss: the solutions they propose i.e., transparency, measurable impact, global ESG frameworks, do not port cleanly into Southeast Asia. They don’t just need translation; they need structural rewiring, sensitive to local governance, culture, and economics. Southeast Asia is not a single market. It is eleven distinct markets, each with its own cultural landmines, regulatory quirks, income gaps, and moral boundaries. What charms Jakarta can get you dragged on Facebook in Kelantan. What trends in Bangkok barely registers in Ho Chi Minh City. Despite this, many brands continue to ship lightly localised Western “purpose” decks across the region expecting them to scale. Often, they fail. Malaysia is frequently positioned as the “stress test” for SEA purpose marketing. Thi...
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Micro Moments, Macro Trust: Why the Humble Neck Pillow Holds the Secret to Great PR

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We recently came across a brilliant ET BrandEquity piece that stopped us mid-scroll. Amid all the noise about micro-moments and 8-second attention spans, the author dropped one perfect analogy: the humble travel neck pillow. Yes, really. In a world drowning in flashy gadgets and “disruptive” tech, the neck pillow category is quietly exploding not because it went viral on TikTok, but because it solves one tiny, universal pain point. You’re tired, your neck hurts on a red-eye flight, and this ridiculous U-shaped cushion just… works. No hype required. But travel isn’t the only friction point. The same dynamic shows up in daily life across Malaysia and the region e.g., the shop that tapes your takeaway drinks tightly, so they don’t spill in the car; the café that puts a charging station at every table; the courier who drops you a WhatsApp before arriving. Different setting, same principle: small, thoughtful friction removers build disproportionate goodwill. And that got us thinking: th...
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The Coming Pay-to-Play Era of AI Search: What PR & Comms Teams Need to Know in 2026 and Beyond

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AI search promised a simple bargain: create great content, earn visibility. That era is ending fast. Platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity are starting to monetise answers. Soon, being discovered won’t just be about credibility; it’ll require strategy and budgets. Not a bidding war. A visibility war. If Google’s ad-heavy search results already feel exhausting, brace yourself: the next wave of AI search may feel like Google on steroids. Paid AI visibility isn’t coming. It’s already here: Google: “Sponsored” cards appear in AI Overviews. Many users barely notice the difference. Think of how “hotel booking” queries now blend organic and paid listings. AI may do the same for service recommendations. Perplexity: “Sponsored Follow-ups” insert paid prompts directly into conversations. A SaaS tool, for example, could appear as the “next suggested question” for productivity queries. OpenAI: Testing commerce ads inside ChatGPT responses. A cosmetics brand might ...
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