Do All Asians Look Alike? #dse2013

Manolo Almagro, Q Division Managing Partner

I’ve had a lot of bizzarre and funny things happen to me over the years at these shows. It always makes for good conversation when I catch up other industry veterans and we reminisce about “DSE shows past”.

Which asian is Bing Kimpo

Which asian is Bing Kimpo

Crazy stuff happens to me like… equipment falling on me, being harassed by booth attendants, random people showing up at my hotel room in the middle of the night, and Adrian’s favorite- the day I was mistaken for a female (by facial recognition software).

So here’s the latest one I had to share. Last night, at the Preset Mixer – there I was mingling with old school veterans like John Kirkpatrick, Lou Giacalone, Steve Nesbit – when I was approached by a guy named Michael Donahue – apparently he’s a consultant trying to launch some syndicated news service for digital OOH in Asia. He walks up to me yelling “Bing! Hey Bing, you were great in the Digital Signage 360 Global View sessions today.” He shakes my hand and looks me right in the face and continues to talk to me like he knows me. So, I politely say, “Sorry, but I think you have mixed me up with my cousin Bing Kimpo” – he’s the guy that spoke this morning at Adrian’s session. He looks at me bewildered – and now I’m not so sure he’s believing me. So, I point out my cousin who is standing at the opposite side of the bar.

No harm done, I am sure it wasn’t one of those racial things. In fact, I found the whole thing hilarious. He had a 50/50 chance of picking the right asian out of the only 2 Filipino’s in the bar. I just have one question for Mr. Michael Donohue, how do you plan on trying to break in to the asian market if you can’t even tell one asian from another? That’s the tough part about Asia, it’s full of asians.


One Response to “Do All Asians Look Alike? #dse2013”

  1. RC Says:

    Classic !
    ” That’s the tough part about Asia, it’s full of asians.”

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