Orchan Consulting | Asia Sdn Bhd

Brand discovery is changing, whether most organisations are ready for it or not. As large language models like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity become default starting points for questions, visibility is no longer about who ranks highest on a search results page. It’s about who shows up inside an answer. Adweek* recently described LLMs as the new information gatekeepers, synthesising content rather than pointing users to links. What matters to these systems isn’t volume or optimisation tricks. It’s whether information looks trustworthy enough to repeat. That distinction is subtle, but it changes everything. Globally, Reddit has emerged as one of the most-cited sources across major AI platforms. Not because it is polished, but because it is messy, opinionated, and visibly human. The conversations there follow real questions, real disagreements, and real consensus-building. That’s how models learn what “helpful” looks like. But Southeast Asia doesn’t have a Reddit equivalent. And that’s ...

The Board-Level Reality Crises in Asia-Pacific can escalate rapidly, but outcomes depend on a mix of market dynamics, regulatory frameworks, cultural norms, and public expectations. AI is increasingly embedded in crisis response, offering speed and insights, but its effects are neither uniform nor guaranteed. For instance, a product recall in Thailand may escalate differently than a regulatory alert in Singapore due to local media dynamics and social norms. Boards should recognise that AI can accelerate response, but its reliability varies by context. Governance, human judgement, and situational awareness remain critical. Bottom line: AI can inform action. Boards ensure that speed does not compromise trust, compliance, or enterprise value. What AI Can Do (with Caveats) AI can strengthen crisis management in several ways, but its usefulness is context-dependent: Early detection: Identifies potential flashpoints and sentiment shifts. Effectiveness depends on data coverage and linguisti...

Purpose is not a statement. It is a sequence. Ignore that sequence and purpose collapses under scrutiny. In Southeast Asia’s hyper-connected markets, brands are no longer judged by what they say but by how structurally believable their communication is. Campaign-led purpose creates visibility. Trust is another matter. This article introduces Orchan Next --  a decision system shaped by regional advisory work -- designed to help leaders move from performative signalling to purposeful communication without triggering reputational backlash. Why Purpose Breaks Down Most purpose failures are not driven by bad intent. They stem from structural misalignment, and communication absorbs the damage first. Leadership wants to say the right thing. Teams want to move fast. Markets reward visibility. Culture rewards restraint. Operations lag behind, and communication bridges the gap, which can fracture especially in organisations where operational capacity or decision-making speed is constrained....

Southeast Asia is a region full of contrasts. Cultures, religions, economies, and political viewpoints exist side by side. In this environment, global events often ripple through local markets in unpredictable ways. The recent consumer boycotts of Western fast‑food brands in Malaysia and Indonesia, driven by solidarity with Palestine, show how geopolitical sentiment can affect everyday brand choices. But the reality is rarely black and white. What began as social‑media calls in late 2023 led to real outcomes: some outlet closures, revenue pressure on brands like McDonald’s, KFC, and Starbucks, and faster growth for local alternatives. Yet geopolitics is only part of the story. Emotion, identity, economics, pricing, and post‑pandemic habits all play a role. A Human Story Within Larger Forces Take Lailatul Sarahjana Mohd Ismail*, a Malaysian mother who started frying chicken at home when her children craved fast food but familiar brands felt off-limits. That simple choice grew into Ahmad...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

Every week, a new “miracle” lands in someone’s WhatsApp group: A Chinese virtual human sells a million dollars’ worth of lipstick in minutes. A Korean digital idol earns more than half the celebrities on your billboards. A virtual girl group racks up 300 million views on Douyin before lunch. And of course, someone forwards it to the boss: “Why don’t we do one of these also?” We get it. The numbers are dazzling. The production looks flawless. But here’s the thing: East Asia has developed very specific playbooks for virtual influencers. Southeast Asia is experimenting with its own mix of humans, AI, and stylised characters, and that’s what actually works here. Why East Asia Can Sprint While Southeast Asia Is Finding Its Own Pace 1. Budgets shape the game A top-tier hyper-real virtual human costs between  RM3.5m–RM20m to build, RM200k–RM600k monthly to maintain. In China or Korea, scale and platform support make it work. In SEA, that level of investment is mostly for supe...

Your audience discovers your brand, engages with it, and even buys something all without leaving a single app. That’s super apps. By 2026, they’ll reshape how PR and marketing work across Asia. However, when you play inside someone else’s ecosystem, are you winning? Or are you just giving them control over your brand? Platforms like WeChat, Grab, TikTok, and Instagram are becoming all-in-one ecosystems: social, commerce, entertainment, messaging. For brands, this is a massive opportunity and a trap if you’re not careful. Being present isn’t enough. You need to play smart. Why Super Apps Matter for PR and Marketing Super apps aren’t just convenient; they’re controlling the entire customer journey. In China, South Korea, and parts of SEA, apps like WeChat and KakaoTalk already run the show. Soon, most Asian consumers will experience brands primarily through these apps. The benefit: reach, speed, engagement. The cost: ownership, visibility, and control. Key Features You Can...

Most PR today is noise pretending to be strategy. Endless press releases, “viral” bets, and scattershot campaigns -- you’ve seen it. Audiences ignore it, algorithms punish it, and budgets disappear faster than a LinkedIn trend. In 2026, being louder won’t get you anywhere. Winning brands are smarter. They focus on the people who actually care, the stories worth telling, and the channels that actually move the needle. That’s where niche media and Slow PR come in. Not fluffy ideas, but tools for building trust, engagement, and measurable impact --  whether you run a 10-person startup in KL or manage a regional marketing team in Singapore. Niche Media: Stop Wasting Attention Context Beats Reach Asia is messy: languages, cultures, subcultures everywhere. A campaign trying to reach “everyone” usually reaches no one. Niche creators and vertical media reach audiences already interested in your message. That alignment builds trust, and trust drives decisions. Reality check: payi...