Asian Week
AsianWeek No Longer Untapped: Anheuser-Busch uses Asian nightlife promoters to market to young Asian Americans

No Longer Untapped: Anheuser-Busch uses Asian nightlife promoters to market to young Asian Americans

By: Angela Pang, Jul 02, 2008
Tags: Arts & Entertainment, Bay Area, Business, Commerce |

The Asian market is a marketer’s dream,” said Jason Pak, senior director, Asian marketing, Anheuser-Busch Inc. Asian professionals are a lucrative and desirable market for a number of reasons, Pak said. “The Asian American population in the U.S. has seen a significant growth over the past decade,” he said. “In addition, Asian Americans have a strong and growing purchasing power, are highly educated, and have a higher median household income compared to other races.”
To tap into this market, specifically in the bustling San Francisco nightlife scene, which is filled with hundreds of young Asian professionals each week, Anheuser-Busch began partnering with Jay Chen, 31, and his Bay Area Asian promotion groups in January.
Chen is the founder and partner of various groups, including VisionShockSF, Beyond, Century, Tribeca, Level 7, Sirens and Adrenaline. The young entrepreneur, who also owns several Internet outlets that sell electronics and gift items, said that, through his collaboration with Anheuser-Busch, he and his fellow club promoters have learned new techniques of product branding and marketing. They promote the Anheuser-Busch brand at their events by providing customized VIP bracelets to club goers as they enter, special product sampling stations and prominent brand specific lighting displays.
“Anheuser-Busch is the number one beer manufacturer in the United States — we wanted to partner with the best to learn from the best,” said Chen, whose promotion groups host approximately 12 events a month with attendance ranging from 300 to 2,000. “Through our partnership, we’ve gained professional recognition and have been able to network with some of the biggest alcohol distributors and venue operators in the Bay Area.”
Chen’s promotion groups also host events such as speed-dating opportunities and travel-related adventures through a partnership with MyLifeFuel.com. It is through their networking and socializing events that they have established a steady and loyal customer base, which partnering corporations such as Anheuser-Busch can leverage off of and use to promote their product, Chen said.
Les Tso, a veteran in the beverage industry and a current Coors employee, said Anheuser-Busch is a good example of a corporation that is using Asian Americans to outreach to the Asian American market.
“Traditionally, that has been the way to really tap into the ethnic communities. In rare instances, you may have someone who can transcend cultural and social differences, but generally, ‘ambassadors’ from within the community are best,” Tso said. “They are more aware of any differences and nuances and provide more credibility.”
Tso sees a huge opportunity with the Asian American market and its young professionals in the San Francisco clubbing scene, which he said is “very organized.”
“Let’s face it — young Asians love to party, love to drink, spend time with their friends and meet members of the other gender,” Tso declared matter-of-factly. “What’s attractive is their higher overall income level, coupled with their willingness to spend ‘entertainment’ dollars.”
“It really saddens me when I compare how much Anheuser-Busch does with the Asian community versus how little Coors does, but I want to help correct that,” said Tso, who has been working with Tracy Neal, Coors general manager for Northern California and Hawai‘i, to invest dollars into promoting to the Asian community. “The alcohol industry is really missing the boat here. Other than Anheuser-Busch and some Asian beers, who targets this demographic?”

I'm glad some companies are beginning to see the untapped marketing potential of the young professional Asians. Though there are many other areas where marketing is directed towards Asians, this niche is definitely not fully taken advantage of. Despite lacking the so called "enzyme" to process alcohol, many are partying away until the wee morning hours.

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"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don't have maps, and, uh, I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and, uh, the Iraq everywhere like, such as, and I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., er, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our children."