Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking at the 2012 Annual Asian Marketing Summit organized by the Asian American Advertising Federation (3AF). Along with my fellow panelists, we spoke to a room full of marketing professionals about how mom bloggers wield a wide circle of influence and should not be ignored. My fellow panelists included Stefania Pomponi Butler of Clever Girls Collective, Kathy Choi-Lee of Koko Living, and Grace Hwang Lynch of Hapa Mama. Part of me is still in shock that I was invited to speak among them.
I usually attend blogging conferences so it was fascinating to see Asian Americans from a marketing perspective. First of all, marketers love statistics and numbers. Second is that the blogging world (and social media) is still new for many people. The audience was fascinated by what we had to say, but are still unsure how to utilize the power of mom bloggers in their marketing campaigns.
It was very empowering to sit in a room of mostly Asian-Americans and hear about our buying power. Edwin Wong of Yahoo gave talk breaking down trends among Asian Americans that I found very interesting. I also realized that I resembled his statistics! One point he made was commercials which depict Asian Americans doing “normal” things resonate with us. He was spot on.
Just the morning of the conference I mentioned how much I love the Target commercials that depict Asians doing everyday days. A sense of normalcy, as Edwin Wong put it.
Grace and I roomed together and we really hit it off. We got upgraded to a huge suite at the Venetian that we barely used because we were so busy. It was kind of a shame I didn’t get to take a soak in the huge bath tub! We also go to hang out with the conference organizers. They were very down to earth and made us feel very welcome.
We did get a chance to sneak out by the rooftop pool at the Venetian. We didn’t stay very long as it was a toasty 100F degrees that day in Las Vegas. At least I got a little sun and a mini-vacation from motherhood.
3AF provided me with a stipend and conference registration as a speaker. Additional expenses as well as jet lag were all on me. All opinions are my own.
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