Many Malaysians have heaped scorn on Bloomberg Gadfly columnist Andy Mukherjee for suggesting that the country’s new Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng should exercise more tact when speaking about the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) issue. The anger is understandable. After 9 years of Najib and his cronies, Malaysians feel they have achieved something substantial by ousting […]
Category Archives: communications
Why one should never repeat an emotionally-charged negativism, even in denial
In media training we tell our clients that they should never repeat an emotionally-charged negativism, even when denying it. This, appearing on the cover of the latest edition of Tempo, is a very obvious reason why. Former Armed Forces Chief General (Retired) Gatot Nurmayanto has been jockeying to get into big-time politics in the upcoming […]
Trending Topics Exposed
I remember a colleague coming up to me with pride in his voice, saying that we managed to get our event last night on the Trending Topic of Twitter. I applauded his enthusiasm but then asked him what did it mean for our company and the event? He couldn’t really explain, apart from saying that […]
That ahensi influencer blacklist
A blacklist, apparently compiled by communications agency professionals of social media influencers, caused a stir last week when it began to be circulated over Whatsapp groups and then on social media. The list divided these influencers, aka KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) aka Buzzers into those with Bad and Good Behavior and invited comments. Since it […]
JWT’s decision to tap a PR professional to head advertising and digital agencies – good or bad idea
Unspun thinks its the best idea since tempe but then again, he’s biased to the PR profession. But JWT has taken a huge step in appointing former Ogilvy PR and Pulse boss Marianne Adamardatine to head its operations in Indonesia, that includes digital agency Mirium. If it works it will open the doors to lots […]
Where would we be placed?
I suppose one should congratulate The Hoffman Agency for opening shop in Indonesia. They have a curious way of evaluating how they differentiate themselves in this market though, best exemplified by this chart of theirs: In their reckoning, until they came around clients in Indonesia had to choose between bureaucratic, international-standard agencies or high touch […]
Adding a role at The Palm Scribe
Recently I added another role to my LinkedIn account and have since been getting lots of well wishes but also a number of concerned questions on whether I had stopped working at Maverick to become advisor at The Palm Scribe. So here’s a note of explanation to the concerned and the curious. The first thing […]
Did Jokowi also call for Pribumi privileges?
This is what I wrote in the Maverick blog today Did Jokowi say the P word as reported by CNN? These are sensitive times. Since newly installed Jakarta Governor made his Protect Pribumis speech at his inauguration the P word has gained new political impetus. One thing about the internet is that what is old […]
Some questions about #SayaPancasila
The hallmark of a good campaign is that it spurs public discourse on a particular subject. In this sense, the #SayaPancasila campaign can be said to be successful, if the preponderance of the hashtag and profile pictures bering the message on social media are concerned. Effective public discourse, however, exists when there are differences of […]
Breaking potential crisis: Telkomsel and its hacked website
Crisis Management Students: Fire up your twitter apps and browsers and train them on Telkomsel’s website and their Twitter responses. Someone has hacked into Telkomsel’s website and filled it with vitriol and animal references – and being generally lauded by netizens for doing so. Although hacking is a crime and should be condemned. The hackers […]
