Orchan Consulting | Asia Sdn Bhd

Not long ago, we walked into a pitch with a regional brand team. They proudly showed us their “cutting-edge” PR dashboard: a glossy interface packed with charts, graphs, and numbers that spun and updated in real time. It looked impressive. But five minutes in, we asked a simple question: “So, what decisions are you making based on this data?” Silence. The truth is most dashboards are beautiful distractions. They count clicks, mentions, impressions, and sentiment scores; but rarely tie those metrics back to business outcomes. Worse, they give leaders a false sense of control: as if more colourful charts somehow equal smarter strategy. In practice, we’ve seen teams paralysed by dashboards. They obsess over vanity spikes (“Look! Engagement’s up 35% this week!”) but can’t explain whether customer trust actually improved, whether stakeholders feel reassured, or whether sales conversations got easier. That gap -- between what’s tracked and what actually matters -- is where communicators los...

Every marketer secretly dreams of it: the viral hit. A campaign so catchy it takes over timelines, racks up millions of views, and makes the client beam with pride. But here’s the dirty little secret no one likes to admit: virality is often brand suicide. Sure, it feels good to watch your numbers spike. But most viral moments are sugar highs. They leave brands bloated with attention they can’t use, or worse; tied to a message they never intended to own . Think about the countless cautionary tales: The edgy hashtag that got hijacked and turned into a global roast. The “funny” ad that crossed a cultural line and went viral for all the wrong reasons. The meme campaign that made a splash online but left zero lasting impact in sales or reputation. Virality spreads fast, but it doesn’t discriminate. It amplifies the good, the bad, and the ugly at the same speed. And once the internet has turned your brand into the punchline, no amount of spin can put that genie back in the bot...

Headlines don’t prove ROI. Discover why media coverage is a vanity metric, and how to measure communication by real impact: trust, behaviour, and outcomes. Agencies love to brag about “media coverage.” The number of headlines. The stack of clippings. The glossy PDF full of logos. But here’s the truth: media coverage without impact is just wallpaper. It looks nice, but it doesn’t fill the room. If your audience doesn’t think differently, feel differently, or act differently, all you’ve got is noise. Coverage vs. Impact: The Real Difference Coverage = visibility. Did the story run? Was the brand mentioned? Impact = outcomes. Did people shift their thinking, trust more, or act differently because of that story? One gets you attention. The other moves your business forward. Why Counting Headlines is a Vanity Metric No one remembers logos on a PDF. What people remember is how a story made them think differently. Volume doesn’t equal influence. Ten tiny pickups in ...