We examine why companies are scrambling to hire "storytellers" in 2026 and what it reveals about the state of brand building, making the argument that in a world of moderate growth, cautious capital, and a collapsing trust landscape, your story is no longer optional and in fact your most valuable asset.

ACID’s partner and US media relations consultant Ally Chua breaks down the assumption among Asian founders that breaking into American media is simply a matter of “going bigger” with announcements, explaining that the landscape is far more constrained and competitive than it appears from Asia.

We examine the structural flaws of the traditional agency model as widespread layoffs in network agencies emerge in recent headlines, making the argument that the recent collapse of bloated agency networks is not a crisis but a long-overdue market correction.

We examine how comms is distinct from marketing and why it is the infrastructure that holds your company together in front of your most cherished stakeholders.

For decades, brands and companies have paid for bloated agency retainers and received junior-level output—a charade built on a particular kind of value arbitrage and a culture of burnout. As an increasingly challenging business environment and AI converge, this relic model of a bygone era is facing a reckoning.

As AI-generated content floods professional networks and platforms, authentic thought leadership becomes exponentially more valuable. Yet most founders are outsourcing the very work that could differentiate them.

The growing concern about artifical intelligence eventually replacing various professional services, including communications, reveals something important about how founders and executives understand communications leadership.

Most founders in Singapore and the region approach PR and comms agency selection backwards. Cutting through the local agency landscape, we identify what actually drives results for early-stage companies in Southeast Asia's ultra-competitive startup ecosystem.

While Southeast Asian startups and companies obsess over traditional search rankings and SEO, we explore how Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) and the new "citation economy" determines startup visibility—and why Southeast Asian founders are losing a competition they don't even know exists.

Understand how fractional communications leadership helps startups and SMEs sharpen messaging, build trust, and grow reputational equity without the full-time overhead.

Many startup founders and teams in Singapore and Southeast Asia today still misunderstand the role of comms, to the detriment of business growth. This piece breaks down the most common misconceptions about PR in early-stage companies and what it really takes to build perception that compounds.