Mid-level Asian Marketing Professional Wanted

In the past two months, four Asian American ad agencies asked me if I have any referrals for their mid-level positions. I wish I do.

These agencies have been looking for the right candidates for months or years. But so far not much luck. It is not that they do not have a good package or environment to attract candidates. Qualified professionals are just hard to find.

We need someone understand the dynamic market, the complex cultural, the various languages, and have the passion and other expertise that the jobs require. Most people have some of these qualities, but not all. For those that have all, they are either already working in the industry already, or have been there and choose not to stay.

The Asian American market is no doubt growing. The work could be challenging but definitely full of fun. Its rules and standards are not the same as the general market. You have an opportunity to redefine the game.

Unfortunately, many experienced folks choose to leave to work for the client side, return to Asia, or join the general market agencies. Everyone has their own reasons. No two have the same.

Judging from what I found, I believe agencies should spend more effort to retain their professionals. They should proactively train their assets and promote from within. Many of the Asian agencies have very strong top (owner and chiefs) and large bottom (juniors), but the middle is weak or even empty. Without the mid-level professionals, the chiefs become very busy and have no time to train the juniors. This makes the juniors grow slower. Since they grow slower, there will be less supply for potential mid-level candidates. And as there is lack of mid-level professionals, the chiefs are too busy and… It is a bad cycle.

What makes the Asian marketing career development more difficult comparing to the general market is that there are not many books or classes that cater to this unique and fast-growing market.

I should not mind this problem since it helps my freelance consulting business. But it does bother me because I think it holds back the industry growth.

If you know any qualified and interested mid-level Asian marketing professional, please have them contact me ASAP.

New York Asian Film Festival 2008

This month has been a crazy month for me. My pet project – a Chinese website – has just soft launched. I haven’t had much time blogging on Asian Marketing. I feel so guilty.

But I really want to share with all that the New York Asian Film Festival 2008 is up now (June 20 – July 13). See schedule at Subway Cinema.

For those interested to know more about the event, I would recommend checking out Beth Accomando’s article at About.com The 2008 New York Asian Film Festival - Highlights and Features

Enjoy the Asian movies!

Toyota’s New Matrix Site Dedicated to Asian American

Toyota dedicates a section of its Matrix Web site “The Director’s Chair” to Asian American cinema. The multimedia mini-site feature interviews with Asian stars, film reviews and events.

Toyota has been pushing Camry, Corolla and Sienna in the Asian market. I am happy to see a new entry Matrix, hoping Toyota would dive even deeper into Asian marketing. The idea of supporting Asian American is great. It is the buzz in the market, which I already wrote about.

After reviewing the sites, however, I was a little disappointed.

First, the content. The “eventS” tab includes archive of the Asian American Film Festival only. The festival certainly is not the only film event around town. What happens to the others?

How about Asian Indian Bollywood which currently produces the most films in the world? Yes, I understand Toyota has traditionally focused on Chinese and Korean markets. Asian Indian is not their core target group. But missing out Bollywood completely in an Asian American Film site doesn’t sound right, especially when the site is in English targeting Pan Asian American. It sends a negative message to the South Asian American.

If only Toyota made it clear that this was a sponsored site featuring Asian American Film Festival, it probably would be less offensive. You should not pretend to be bigger than what you are. If you are a festival site, be it; don’t claim to you could “bring the best of Asian American Cinema” to the users. The tag line is a little too ambitious and misleading.

Another turnoff is its lack of interactivities. The site is a one way communication. From what I see, the content will not grow. I wonder how you expect the audience engagement to grow in that case.

Lastly, the technology. The server needs more bandwidth. I was at some point felt like I was on a dial-up line. I also found some broken links and minor bugs. All these spoil the user experience.

I also visited Toyota’s Chinese site and was shocked to find scrabbled characters on the home page. One thing I don’t understand: why the site is in Chinese Simplified GB coding when the actual display is in Traditional Chinese? Toyota should consider using Unicode instead. It is the norm in most multilingual sites now.

Don’t get me wrong. I am really thrilled to see Toyota’s commitment to the Asian American market and its innovative ideas. I just couldn’t help to point out things that may improve the initiative. Toyota, moving forward.