Orchan Consulting | Asia Sdn Bhd

Client Close-Up | APREA’s Rebranding Celebrates Sixteen Years of Industry Advocacy with a Re-found Purpose in “Driving the Future of Real Assets”   Founded in 2005, APREA takes pride in its recognition as a trendsetter in both the developed and developing Asia Pacific markets. As a member of the global Real Estate Equity Securitization Alliance (REESA), APREA brings first-hand international knowledge to its well-established Asia Pacific chapters, where information is analysed and localised.   APREA offers a distinctive global outreach and vision for the Asia Pacific real assets sector, with an aim to create value for its members.   APREA just celebrated its sixteenth anniversary, with the association’s mission redefined: To promote growth in the real assets sector by being the voice of members in all policy matters, providing access to industry-advancing research and insights and connecting members to business opportunities.   Asia’s economic transfor...

BFTP | Are Consultancies the Future of Marketing? (Commentary by Farrell Tan) The past few years has marked a flurry of consultant acquisitions and investment in some of the best creative agencies. The emergence of consultancies into the communications sphere has been bold and agency leaders have taken notice. There have been dozens of articles written about the potential impact of consultancies and how they will "change how the game is played". There has been even more written about how consultancies won’t be able to foster the creative culture that leads to good work. But right now, it’s almost all speculation, with a lot of the long–term impact yet to be seen. Management consultants have a reputation for being expensive and firm negotiators. Unlike agencies, which in some cases have bent over backwards to land a big account, even if that means agreeing to fees that are almost unprofitable. For a long time, it's been a battle to get the industry to focus on va...

Adapting As every day is different, we, either as individuals or entities, need to adapt to the circumstances surrounding us. We fit in with new parameters, we offer new services, and we try our best to go with the flow. Whether this be incremental change or a major pivot, those of us who succeed are able to embrace flexibility and fit the requirements of the new moment.

Brand Saboteurs As much and as easy as you can love a brand, you can hate it as much and as easily as well. Consumer’s power over brands has increased, and a new super-breed of unhappy customers was born as a result of such power shift. This group is not your typical mildly dissatisfied customers; but they are the hard-core discontented customers who would go do the distance to make brands suffer. They are called brand saboteurs. New research from Journal of Marketing has examined brand saboteurs as people who actively partake in activities that can harm and shame brands. They do this not   necessarily because they have had a bad experience with a brand; although more often than not it is the catalyst for such a behaviour, but because they have the means and time to make sure underperforming brands get the message that they are not satisfied. Brands should be wary as these enraged customers are limitless in their ability to trash brands. Conside...

MediaSpace Interviews Farrell MediaSpace is a new industry platform that the Orchan team have been interacting with recently. A members-only network of industry professionals and emerging talent, it's a great channel to bridge not only the geographic divide, but also to encourage deeper cooperation and industry learning among members. A couple of weeks ago, the MediaSpace team invited Farrell for an interview, to speak about the Asian media industry landscape, and to offer up insights into the current challenges within the public relations industry in Asia. Do take a listen, and of course, feel free to reach out to Farrell with any comments or questions.

Shuuuuuuuusssshhhhhhhhh? While silence is a valid answer; it is never the right one in times of crisis. Choose your silence well!  

Every so often, a brand story comes along that captures not just attention, but imagination. For us at Orchan, one such story was that of Omorose Cosmetics . Founded in 2014 by Terry Liau , Omorose was born out of a deeply personal experience. The brand’s name - from the ancient Egyptian word for beautiful -  embodies its mission to create cruelty-free, naturally preserved cosmetics that celebrate beauty in its truest sense. But more than that, Omorose was built on inclusivity: from employing persons with disabilities, to designing make-up counters, shelves, and displays accessible to wheelchair users. Beauty, after all, should be something everyone can take part in. Omorose Hypnotic Eyes Not long after its launch, Omorose took an extraordinary leap. In 2015 and again in 2016, it became the only Malaysian brand selected to be part of the official gifting suite at the Golden Globe Awards in Hollywood. To be included alongside globally acclaimed names was no small feat, and it...

Fashion Meets Mother Nature as Timberland Reveals its Blossoming Watch Collection | Blast From the Past Decked with celebrities and the charming emcee Rex Musadek from LiteFM, crowd amassed inside the Velvet Room of Zouk Club KL for the unveiling of Timberland watches in Malaysia. The event entertained guests with a fashion show and shed light on the distinguishing features of each watch range. On top of that, free watches were given away and guests stood a chance of winning additional Timberland products during Q&A sessions and a lucky draw. Needless to say, it was an early – really early – festive season. A couple of our favourites Our Emcee for the evening Famous for their indomitable waterproof boots, Timberland now unleashes a myriad of watches that were designed for the outdoors. All of its watches are equipped with stainless steel cawes while lenses are of mineral glass coated with sapphire. In addition, many of Timberland’s watches are assembled using sustainable ma...

Have You Discovered the Dark Side? The century may be different, as with the technology; but the premise certainly still applies today. Personal narratives about your brand are not only on social media; they lurk on dark social too - where you have almost zero inroads to contribute to the ongoing discussion.  How well does your brand fare in dark social?  

Ramadan Kareem For all our friends observing and celebrating, may the spirit of Ramadan remain in your heart and light up your soul from within.

Fashion Gurus Oohed and Aahed as Mid Valley's First Lavish Newcomer Steals the Limelight Never before has there been such a dressy camaraderie in Mid Valley as American-based fashion retailer, FOREVER 21, as it opened its flagship store to snazzy savants. The emporium boasts a whopping 22,000 sq/ft over two floors, offering customers an enhanced shopping experience through its practical layout and pristine environment. In addition to housing familiar sub-brands like “Love 21” and “Heritage 1981”, the massive flagship store also introduced a range previously unavailable to Malaysia - “Forever 21 Girls”. Orchan facilitated the opening of FOREVER 21’s flagship store in Mid Valley, which was attended by household names like Malaysian supermodel Amber Chia, ex-Channel V VJ and emcee Joey G, award-winning singer-songwriter Aizat Amdan, model-turned-actor Peter Davis, local Malay actress Siti Saleha, models Wafa De Korte and Kelly Jagan, host of LI TV’s The Link Timothy Sa...

Hitting the Pause Button in a Digital Age (Commentary by Aidi Shukor) At a time when we are all constantly connected to the digital world, everything seems to be moving so rapidly. Often in a typical day, we keep ourselves busy by replying emails for work, responding to texts in our many different WhatsApp groups and of course, scrolling through our Instagram feed until we realise that it is almost time for dinner. The cycle then continues for days until it eventually becomes a habit to us. But, are we aware of the consequences that the prolonged time we spent in the digital world can bring to our personal well-being? Studies have shown that spending too much time on social media in a day can bring detrimental effects to our brain and our ability to concentrate. So, what can we do to regain concentration? Harriet Griffey of The Guardian suggests that we can start regaining our concentration by identifying the things that are sabotaging our personal concent...