New Business Pitch

For those who also work for advertising agencies, how many of you like new business pitch? To some extent, it is free market consultation and creative giveaway to the prospects -- all at the expense of the agencies.

I work for a small agency. I must admit all the pitches we have recently have been taking a good portion of my time from existing clients who are no less valuable. Yet, who can afford not to pitch?

I should be happy that there are so many multicultural pitches going on. It means marketers understand the importance of multicultural marketing and they demand specialty boutiques to deliver.

In some pitches, prospects review agencies of different ethnicity separately -– which most of the time include African American, Hispanic and Asian marketing agencies. Some others would ask the agencies to group together to present and award the business to the winning team.

Marketers (mostly government services) prefer the latter approach may be because they are too busy and have no time to review dozens agencies and presentations (three to four from each segment). They may also want to make sure the selected agencies can work together as one team. I personally do not like the team pitch at all. Most of time, it limits our creativities (since we are not the leading agency).

It's your call: Easier review or deeper understand of the agencies?

Technorati Tags:
Asian American
, Asian Marketing
, Multicultural Marketing
, Advertising Agency

We Are Hiring

Asian marketing agencies are constantly hiring, not because they are expanding like the dot-com in the 1990's, not because we have an abnormal turnover rate. It is because it takes us long to find the right candidates.

In general, we prefer someone bilingual (English plus one of the Asian languages). But it is okay if you don't speak the language well as long as you understand the culture.

For senior and intermediate positions, related experience is highly desirable. Since there are not many Asian advertising agencies, most candidates would either have worked for general market agencies or agencies in Asia.

Knowledge of the market usually is very important for most other industries. But we don't take it for granted. We know we have to either train someone or steal from other agencies.

One may think training should not be difficult if you speak the language and understand the culture. Wrong! You may speak Korean and understand the Far East culture, how about South Asians and Asian Indians? Don't forget each subgroup has its own unique demographic, geographic and psychographic profile. Each has its own media channels. Each concentrates in different part of the country.

Just when the trainees turn to pros after several years of training, many of them turn to the client side for better pay and better hours. That's the reality.

That is why it takes two years in average to get a qualified Asian Media Supervisor, four years for Account Director and even longer for Media Director. I am not talking about training time; I am referring to the hunting time. And yes, in that case, we may as well train our own.

But I am not giving up, please email me if you know anyone interested and qualified. Though not all positions are open now, we always prepare ourselves just in case.

Technorati Tags:
Asian American
, Asian Marketing
, Advertising Agency
, Job Opening

Why Taco Bell is Getting Multicultural Marketing Wrong

In one of his recent blog posts, Rohit Behargava, Vice President for Interactive Marketing with Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, asked why Taco Bell put their all multicultural marketing effort on Hispanic and African American while ignoring Asian Indian. He pointed out that Asian Indian preferred Taco Bell than other fast food chains, perhaps for its option of spicy and extra hot sauce. "Wouldn't it make more sense for Taco Bell to focus some of their multicultural ad dollars on the Indians and other niche markets like us [who already like its food]?"

Behargava argued marketers should not just look at the population numbers and dive in the two largest minorities (African American and Hispanic). They should "think more broadly" and understand where their niches are. I too believe many multicultural marketers forget to study the profile of each ethnicity group, and more importantly their current customer base as well as each segment’s perception of their product.

Asian Indian may be represent less than 1% of the population. But may be it is this 1% that can turn your needle. "Are you targeting your multicultural consumer right - or are you unintentionally ignoring some of your best customers?" Behargava asked, so do many Asian marketing professionals.

Technorati Tags:
Asian American
, Asian Marketing
, Multicultural Marketing
, Taco Bell
, Rohit Bhargava
, Asian Indian