Advertising Age – Multicultural Marketing
Published Date: November 16th 1998
Author: Kate Fitzgerald

Asian Expo offers marketers a fast lesson in culture

Giant Asian event is built around lunar, prosperity and harvest festivals IN CALIFORNIA, home to more Asians than any other region in the U.S., marketers are becoming experts in the annual cultural events and rites of Asian-American cultures. Lunar festivals and harvest and prosperity ceremonies from the Far East have found their way into the marketing plans of banks, telecommunications companies and other U.S. businesses targeting Asians in that state.


SIGN OF RESPECT
Marketers say Asians see their presence at these events as a sign of respect for their cultures. It’s also an excellent way for U.S. marketers to learn how to tap this booming market, rich with small business and corporate executives who travel frequently to Asian countries.

One of the biggest events attracting more sponsors than any other single event in California is the Asian American Expo, now in its 13th year. Formerly called the Chinese Expo, the event is slated for Feb. 13th and 14th at the Pomona Fairgrounds, where more than 100,000 Asian consumers are expected over two days.

Timed around the Chinese Lunar New Year and the traditional Tet celebration, the Asian American Expo draws diverse Asian groups to broad cultural and commercial offerings, with attendance and sponsor participation increasing 10% each year.
At the expo, five stages will offer entertainment, a huge variety of Asian food vendors, a street fair, a parade, plus hundreds of marketers offering product sampling and promotion.

MANY CULTURES INVOLVED
The event attracts upscale Asians across a broad range of culture, from Chinese to Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipino and Indian, says Alan Kao, the expo's president. “For several years, we drew mostly Chinese people, but now our attendance is expanding to include all kinds of cultures, so we are broadening the expo to reflect more Asian diversity, “says Mr. Kao.

The expo has traditionally attracted a large percentage of U.S. banks and telecommunications providers as sponsors, but marketers of other products and services – from Nestle and the U.S. Postal Service to numerous food, beverage and travel marketers are increasing their roles at the expo, he says.
Still, the heavy hitters are financial services and telecom providers because these are the categories where Asians are spending, Mr. Kao says.

GTE BACK WITH PROGRAM
For a third year, GTE Corp. is a sponsor of the expo with several on-site displays and booths. “Asians are a fast –growing segment of the population in Southern California and they are big telecom users, so it’s a very competitive in the telecom market there,” says Ed Miller, GTE’s director of international and ethnic markets.

In the last few years, GTE has moved aggressively to reach these consumers by establishing a vigorous marketing program communicating with the largest Asian ethnic groups in their native languages. GTE’s biggest emphasis in Asian marketing is in Chinese language (in both Mandarin and Cantonese dialects), Korean and Vietnamese.

SUBSTANTIAL GROWTH
“We’ve seen tremendous growth coming from these segments since we’ve been marketing to Asians in their native languages, and we’re seeing positive results from getting into one-on-one settings such as the Asian American Expo,” he says.

At this year’s event, GTE plans to promote its nationwide “Talk to Asia” flat rate calling plan, allowing residential customers to combine personal and business calls, which suits the “crossover” needs of many Asians in the U.S. who operate small businesses, says Mr. Miller.“Being at the expo is a way to build a two-way dialogue with our audience.”

‘SWEET RAIN’ ADVERTISING
The effort ties in with GTE’s recent “Sweet Rain” advertising campaign targeting Asians, emphasizing prosperity through the symbolic use of an orchid. Intertrend, Los Angeles, is GTE’s Asian marketing agency. At last year’s Asian-American Expo, GTE promoted a sweepstakes to win an expenses paid trip for two back to their home country; this year the company will offer similar sweepstakes and prizes that have not yet been announced.
In California, GTE also is a sponsor of the Chinese American Athletic Association in San Jose: an annual Tet festival for Vietnamese in Garden Grove; a major Chinese New Year parade in Alhambra and a flower celebration in San Francisco.

The payoff for GTE is seeing Asians respond when the company “shows respect for the consumer by investing in their language, their lifestyle and their culture,” he says.
As competition among long distance telecommunication marketers in the Asian sector becomes increasingly stiff, local and long distance marketers are increasing their activities at a wide array of events.

AT&T Corp. also is playing a major role as a sponsor of the Asian American Expo, and a long list of local community events, says Bill Imada, president of Imada Wong Communications Group, Los Angeles. Imada Wong handles AT&T’s efforts for the expo.
“[The expo] is a great way to reach Asians who are in the midst of making strong connections back to their home culture. There’s a powerful atmosphere of the richness of Asian cultures as people renew friendships, network and immerse themselves in nostalgia. It’s important to be there,” he says.


AT&T DIALS IN
AT&T will promote local and long distance services, plus special international calling plans for Asia. San Francisco’s California Bank & Trust, the NO. 5 bank in California with a strong reputation for reaching all types of ethnic consumers including Asians, Hispanics and African-Americans, also is making a big play for customers at the Asian American Expo. In its third year as a sponsor, the bank will establish a presence at the expo through booths and displays, offering information about bank services plus demonstrations of new technology.

“The important part of being at the expo is making face to face contact with potential customers that goes far beyond a brochure or an ad,” says Thomas M. Shinn, an assistant VP and a business planning officer in the bank’s retail marketing and advertising department.

CALIFORNIA BANK JOINS IN
At this year’s expo, California Bank & Trust plans to give away prizes including merchandise, but no specifics have been revealed. “Being at the expo is a way to build a two-way dialogue with our audience, and to learn more about what they want and need, first hand,” says Mr. Shinn. “It’s easy to make the wrong move when marketing to consumers from another culture, and we learn to listen by having one on one contact. The phrase, ‘Got Milk’ is nonsense to many Asians, for instance, and there are many other sensitivities we learn to avoid,” he says.

Intertrend also is the agency for California Bank & Trust. “Many Asians are very prosperous, and they tend to be big savers and they also look for the best value in their services. Reaching these consumers through events is one of the best ways to reach them, we’ve discovered, and so have a lot of other marketers,” says Mr. Shinn