Orchan Consulting | Asia Sdn Bhd

Reimagining The Public Relations Classroom Commentary by Craig J Selby As a seasoned practitioner, lecturer and trainer, it’s fantastic to see when others in a similar position innovate in their approach to helping the future generation of industry players. Be it from an industry-driven or academic perspective, it’s important for us all to bridge the gap between the classroom and the client – something that our current generation of textbooks doesn’t address sufficiently. Back in New Zealand, I enjoyed coordinating a final semester course on Applied Management | Consultancy. Involving some entrepreneurial friends of mine, students were guided as consultants to solve internal organisational issues – small groups worked with each entrepreneur to identify, analyse, and propose solutions for the business. My focus was on the processes involved, and helping to develop the professional skills of the students. (#) Hence, my nightly trolling through LinkedIn rewarded me with...

To Change or Not to Change?

The concept of brand is now being redefined from brand as an object, idea, and experience, to brand as a relationship . Brand started off as an object to help in identification of ownership. The most suitable example would be cattle owners who would “brand” their cattle using a branding iron. This view puts brand as something applied to an object. Brand then shifted from being applied to objects, to an idea. As defined in the book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind , brand is a “singular idea or concept that you own inside the mind of a prospect.” In this way of looking, brand is seen as an idea that is managed. The recent redefinition was brand as an experience. Instead of looking at brand as something that is managed over time, it is perceived as something that is delivered in the moment. In the book The End of Marketing as We Know It, Sergio Zyman says “A brand is essentially a container for a customer’s complete experience with the product or company.” It...

Communicating with Stakeholders Stakeholders for any business can be extremely varied; so too must our approach be when communicating with them. So, how do we reach out effectively to stakeholders, to ensure our message gets across?

PR |   ?   | MR The foundation of the PR industry was not built on getting press coverage for clients. The history of the profession started with PR professionals championing the practice of two-way communication with the public, along with informing, educating and influencing audiences. Media coverage was only a means to an end; not a stand-alone goal, which helped many early PR practitioners to reach people. The tide has turned in today’s PR. Many practitioners consider media coverage as a goal in itself. Sometimes a PR plans consist entirely of coverage, considering it as a tactic, strategy, goal and even an objective. T his wrong practice in developing a plan happens frequently. Why is that? It might shock you to hear this, but “media relations” is not synonymous with “public relations.” The Public Relations Society of America defines public relations as “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between o...