Orchan Consulting | Asia Sdn Bhd

Behind-the-Scenes | GetCraft Conference | Looking Towards 2021 SouthEast Asia Orchan Director Dr Craig J Selby just spent over ten hours preparing for a ten minute presentation! WTF, right? But it was worth it.  GetCraft, SouthEast Asia's premium creative network, hosted its final conference / webinar for 2020 this afternoon, and Orchan was invited to represent Malaysia. No pressure, whatsoever :P  Alongside other senior Marketers and industry specialists from Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines, Craig on behalf of Malaysia shared insights into economy and society, and the broader implications for the marketing industry.   This was an opportunity for regional CEO's and other stakeholders to get a quick snapshot as to the current state-of-play in each market, and to get perspectives on issues as they are playing out 'on-the-ground', as opposed to 'in-the-media'. Such a realist approach enabled each speaker to highlight important issues an...

Letting Sleeping Dogs Lie | Part Two Don’t Revisit Your Brand Crisis Externally   Most businesses work very hard to either avoid a crisis, or to move on from it as fast as humanly (and digitally) possible. If a crisis has occurred, evolved, and been put behind your brand, then best practice is to let ‘sleeping dogs lie’. A lingering crisis, even in remnants, simply creates more damage-potential, and invites an opportunity to reopen a can of worms. Whether you’re (your brand) is in the right or wrong doesn’t matter; it’s all up to the Court of Public Opinion (social media) to judge, often unrelated to the truth or actual perspectives on the matter.   When it can take up to a year for a brand to recover ‘valuation’ to pre-crisis levels, we cannot underestimate the long term damage to a brand that a crisis causes in the first instance. Navigating through the crisis and coming out the other end is often a significant achievement, but with most of the time, it is with add...

What Does Crisis Mean to Us Now? Helping clients prepare for a crisis hasn't changed; well, much!  Although, there is that little addition of a pandemic.  A year ago, most brands planned for a crisis that was product or person based. A natural disaster did not feature prominently in the planning stage; usually just a cursory mention. Today, it has taken front and centre-stage. 2020 has shown us that not all crises are within our immediate realm; 2020 has also shown us that wildly unpredictable events (such as eating bat, if that's still deemed the cause) can shut down a world. Ultimately 2020 has taught us never to underestimate the impact of a low probability event. It has also highlighted the need to think beyond crisis communications planning and to embrace business continuity planning as part of our re-plan. 

Taylor's University | Training the PR Department Educational public relations is a management function that if executed wisely, can bring about great impact towards the awareness of institutions’ programmes, services and results. It has become crucial for higher education institutions to have PR teams that are dedicated to establish and maintain two-way communications with their internal and external audience; to develop and execute communication plans through media as well as face-to-face communication; and to ensure a better understanding of the role, objectives, accomplishments and needs of the organisations. But all of these cannot be made entirely possible if the foundation is not strengthened from the start. Orchan, in providing solutions for clients, would firmly suggest an across-the-board training for clients’ existing or freshly-formed PR team. This is to ensure that quality is maintained as and when communications are done with any of their audience. A few y...

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie | Part One A steadfast rule in Crisis Management is to never recycle your crisis. Pathetic pity parties are out the door, please!  Once the dust has settled, move on, and move on positively. There are new challenges to embrace, not old fights to relive. Returning to the 'scene of the crime' can stir up negative sentiment, unwanted attention (and potential further criticism) to your brand, and draw attention back to your initial response and handling of the situation.  Existing stakeholders may "dig in" with their opinions, and new stakeholders may view the situation even more negatively, not only as the crisis per se, but the 'weirdness' through which it resurfaced when it shouldn't have.  In crisis management, lessons learnt are in the "immediate" and to be communicated at the time, not publicity fodder for reflection further down the track. That's what your memoirs are for, not your brand channel(s).