Social Work Day 2026

Musings from Dennis #266. Today we celebrate Social Work Day at TRANS Family ServiceS. I just want to pause and honour the social workers here - the colleagues I am privileged to co-serve alongside.

You are the quiet architects of stability in moments when families feel unsteady. You step into difficult rooms with courage, clarity, and compassion - choosing hope over fatigue, and dignity over despair. Your work is not just in “helping people”. It is professional, skilled and rigorous. You translate policies into real support. You protect the vulnerable. You advocate for those who cannot always speak for themselves. And you do it all with grace.

Today is a reminder - not just to you, but to all of us - that the strength of a community is measured by how well we care for one another. TFS, 47 years on, is stronger because of you. Thank you for your resilience, your professionalism, and your heart. We see you. And we honour you.

Ode to Malaysian Food

Musings from Dennis #265. Flying up from Singapore, I first began working in the Malaysian market in early 1998 during my Disney days (and even lived there for 18 months in the mid‑2000s). I continued later with Viacom International from 2013. Malaysia was a direct market for both the Disney and Nickelodeon brands, and the achievements in licensing, retail marketing, events and promotional partnerships are still imprinted in my mind.

But then… there is the food.

I can never forget the incredible flavours that filled the gaps between meetings — and sometimes became the meetings — shared with co‑workers, licensees, mall partners and friends across the industry. To bring out the true “flavour” of this post, I’ll have to ignore calories and nutritional guides entirely haha. Here goes.

In the late ’90s, Lapkeng Wong and the Disney CP team introduced me to Jalan Alor in Bukit Bintang, where we devoured street‑side Char Kway Teow (stir-fried flat rice noodles). We even found the “world’s best char siew” (BBQ pork) somewhere there (and also at Restoran Imbi Oversea).  Years later, Claryss Tan brought me to Restoran Sunrise in Seapark PJ for their legendary roast duck — so popular the rice ran out when we were there and we had to wait.

I still remember the curry fish head in Sungei Besi, eaten under a zinc roof cut around a tree trunk, hosted by Albert Aw, our apparel licensee. And the steak dinner with Anthony Dylan at Victoria Station USJ. Opposite the Dorsett Grand Subang, Taj Curry Subang Jaya (for all things wonderfully Indian and spicy) became comfort‑food staples. And who could forget the sizzling steam from the hotplate steaks at Coliseum Café in Mid Valley and Sunway Pyramid.

Street food was its own adventure: morning roti canai (Indian flatbread) at Wangsa Maju before our Aeon (then Jaya Jusco) meetings; KL wantan mee (Cantonese noodles) at Jalan Raja Abdullah/Sultan Ismail near our first FCI office; and the time I treated my cab driver to satay after retail checks at Parkson Kajang — and yes, I know exactly why the sauce there tastes extra delicious!

Madam Kwan’s, Indian curry in Bangsar, wok hei and roti kahwin in Sri Hartamas where I lived… the list just keeps going.

A business trip to Penang was never complete without Penang Char Kway Teow — but never from Gurney Drive, as our footwear licensee insisted that was “too touristy.” And after a feast of lok lok (skewered dishes) in SS2 Petaling Jaya, we ended the night with a glorious durian buffet.

Just thinking about all this is making me gain weight.

Goodbye to Love

Musings from Dennis #264. We talk a lot about joining a company, but rarely about the quieter, harder part - leaving one, bringing a familiar song to mind.

Joining a company is one thing - the interviews, the negotiations, the final offer letter. But settling into the rhythm of work, building trust, and turning colleagues into friends is something else entirely. That’s the part that makes leaving difficult, because you know a piece of you stays behind. At least, that’s how it has always felt for me. Call it a “boomer” mindset if you like, but I’ve always believed that work-life balance isn’t about drawing strict lines. It’s about embracing the continuum. When you stop treating work and personal life as two competing worlds, you often end up enjoying both more - with less stress about which version of yourself you’re supposed to be.

That’s why leaving Fun Characters Int’l in early 2013 was emotionally tough. FCI gave me a most memorable and lavish farewell dinner at Dempsey Road, complete with an album and scroll of work memorabilia gift that I still keep today.

A decade later, when I left Paramount at the end of 2023, the goodbyes took on a different shape -  more personal, more intentional. There were many meals, heartfelt conversations, and even a surprise CP Zoom farewell with teams dialing in from Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing and even London. What moved me most was how people beyond CP reached out as well. And to top it off, our key retail and mall partners did the same.

Two years on, those relationships remain. The conversations never ended; they simply became commas instead of full stops. And so this post is written with gratitude for the people who made leaving so hard - and worth remembering. Goodbye to Love, indeed.

Counterfeiting is flattery?

Musings from Dennis #263. As IP owners and brand custodians, we all dream of a world without counterfeits. Yet, whether we like it or not, the presence of counterfeits is often a backhanded compliment - a signal of how culturally relevant and commercially desirable our characters have become. I’ve seen this play out repeatedly over the decades.

In the late 90s, for example, we struggled to find counterfeit Mickey apparel in Southeast Asia. Instead, the market was flooded with fake Winnie the Pooh merchandise - unsurprising, given Pooh’s explosive popularity after the 1998 launch. At the same time, our CP sales for Mickey and the classic characters were declining. The absence of counterfeits was telling.

I still remember a Malaysian Mickey apparel licensee who insisted his sales were dropping because of rampant counterfeiting. He urged us to investigate Taman Connaught Night Market in Cheras. As the person overseeing IP enforcement in the region, I went down that very night. Not a single fake Mickey tee in sight - which, from a brand perspective, was a strong indicator to me on how hot or not we were at that moment. (Thankfully, a few years later when Kirsten Dunst appeared in a vintage Mickey tee during the 2002 Spider-Man press cycle - followed by a wave of celebrity sightings that included even Hong Kong's Maggie Cheung, Mickey soon surged back into vogue.

Fast forward to around 2010: I was pitching a Disney stationery deal to a Malaysian prospect who proudly contrasted his other licensed local IP with ours. He boasted that his principal’s enforcement actions were so strong that, three years on, he saw zero counterfeits in the market, versus our "weak" effort, he alleged. I gently replied that three years ago - when counterfeits did exist - his sales were excellent, whereas now, despite the “clean” market, his sales had slowed down significantly. He couldn’t disagree.

I take counterfeiting seriously, and I have many stories of successful enforcement actions to tell in future posts. But I also grudgingly admit that Oscar Wilde wasn’t wrong when he said: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” Just think about affordable luxury fashion brands like Coach and Longchamp in the days when there was no counterfeiting, and now.

Our Bedok Kampong House - Singapore

Musings from Dennis #262. I believe not many would know that I am the author of a blog and FB page of the above name detailing the human stories and historical recollections of my growing up years as a 3rd generationer in a village house (called a Kampong in Malay) in Bedok, Singapore. This began two years ago when I retired. We were packing up my late dad’s stuff and realized he kept so many old photos (thousands) and documents (receipts even) from the early 30’s, 40’s and 50’s (he himself kept all his own parents’ memorabilia) and I felt all these items must be shared to all who may also identify with similar memories growing up in that era. When he was alive, Dad himself had expressed donating items of the past (including coronation of King George V and VI) to the National Library Archives, for which I have done so and honoured his name in their collection for public research. He also gave me expressed permission to ‘do whatever you want when I am gone’. So I began detailing our stories starting from Generation 1 from my grandparents time until we moved out of the village in the early 70’s in the wake of Singapore’s nation-building aspirations and into modern homes. Still those memories are alive in us and worth sharing. Our FB followers are 70% male, age 45+ and include people from Malaysia, Australia and well as former RAF personnel and friends from the UK but we do have some younger audiences who appreciate nostalgia as well. The FB page has 320k annual views (just under two years old) and when the blog was accepted into the National Archives digital collection I felt truly gratified and validated. I welcome you to have a peek into what I had been busy with these past 24 months! (besides these Linkedin Musings!)

https://ourbedokkamponghousesg.blogspot.com/

and FB page: Our Bedok Kampong House - Singapore

Best Team Building exercise ever (to me)

Musings from Dennis #261. 2014 and this happened before our annual Nickelodeon agents meeting took place the day after. All co-workers from our Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore offices, graced by Ron Johnson our International CP Head – came together at the Food Playground cooking school in Singapore for such a unique experience for a few hours, preparing and cooking our own dinner (and eating it later as a team so it had to be edible). The funny thing about that paper hat we wore was that it made us look more like ice cream scoop assistants or peeps grilling BBQ or prepping sushi! All I know is that my role to prepare the Malay traditional desert Ondeh Ondeh made me just want to pay for and not make one because it was truly hard work and I just had no patience, lol! Otherwise, this is a highly recommended team building exercise for any organization anywhere in the world!

Saying sooorrrryyyyyyyy

Musings from Dennis #260. Inevitably there will be times when you find yourself unable to award a license, an event or a deal to an interested partner and there could be times when the misunderstanding happened and you need to withdraw the offer or legal complications could ensue. This happened when I accompanied my boss to meet a promotions partner in person to withdraw our offer and personally apologise for the inconvenience caused. I remember looking at my watch when he started saying sorry, and it took him 45 minutes in all to complete his messaging. Honestly I was full of admiration for him for this. Saying sorry without appearing to be lofty but sincere takes skill and patience. Context needed to be expressed and the word ‘sorry’ appears frequently along with proper body posture. We all want to retain the relationship still and explore future partnerships without cutting our contact off completely. This learned experience came in useful when I had to visit a suburban mall to inform them that we could not let them host one of our Nickelodeon characters event (in the early days of the franchise) despite raising their hands early, because it was not part of the management’s strategy (at that time). This time I was alone, and I took the time to express our regret. I did not start by immediately saying ‘no you can’t have it’, so it had to be carefully articulated gently and to be sincere. The hour-long meeting went well, the mall graciously accepted our position and I promised to update them in case the plans change. A few years later, indeed it did and we partnered them for a Dora the Explorer staged musical that went well for them. And us too.

Emily in Asia!

Musings from Dennis #259. Sometimes in franchise management and brand building, opportunities come along and one has to be ‘quick footed’ to seize upon them. Because if executed well the initiative can form the basis for revenue generation across the region for the longer term. Case in point was how our Asian ‘Emily in Paris’ licensing got off the ground towards the end of 2021 and well into 2022 and years after. Ivan Wong signed this fabulous online store deal that was predicated upon our marketing support and contribution towards its e-commerce site setup as a support to the licensee’s business, or no deal. As a practice I would usually say no to such asks because it really is just one licensee’s effort but given the larger than usual SKU development (120+ items from wine to mobile accessories) planned for a simultaneous launch across multiple categories and markets, the fact that the young ladies’ demo was an under-developed segment for us at that time, and this deal could possibly be the genesis for the rest of our licensing efforts across Asia. I thought to myself, hey we need a best marketing and brand best practice to showcase to potential partners and drive the franchise, and this seemed like a golden moment for us. So we went ahead with the site support, and deal. Ivan was thrilled with the support (and I was very impressed that he could get this deal done). Timed to the show’s 2nd season premiere at the end of 2021, the site went live for fans across 10+ territories in Asia to shop their favourite Emily in Paris merch – and offered a new way for audiences to connect with this new CP brand in the market. The effort made an impact sizeable enough for other Asian markets to be impressed and awed by the EIP licensing opportunity that soon licenses in Indonesia, Philippines, India etc followed suite and created their own lines celebrating the indomitable spirit of this marketing executive in the City of Love. Ultimately and surprisingly for us, we were later informed that Asia led the way in terms of CP licensing revenue for EIP globally! How’s that for a best practice to emulate?