There had been a rumor floating around the USA Pavilion that one of our global sponsors, PepsiCo, would be holding a media event involving Taiwanese pop stars Wang Leehom 王力宏 and Angela Zhang 張韶涵;. I am a fan of both of them and especially a fan of Leehom’s. I was introduced to his song “花田錯 (Mistake in the Flower Field)” during one of those productive group study sessions we all had in college. From that day on, I was hooked on Leehom’s music (and his dreamy smile) and hooked on Asian pop culture. Friends started suggesting other artists and songs and Angela Zhang’s song “寓言 (Fable)” followed soon after. So you can imagine my excitement when I received an email from Peter Winter, the USA Pavilion Student Ambassador Program Director, and Ming Lai Alterman, the USA Pavilion Digital Media Manager, asking whether I would be interested in taking on the role of Student Ambassador Journalist for a PepsiCo media event.
The same rumored PepsiCo event that we have been hearing about for the last few days.
The one with Leehom Wang and Angela Zhang.
Did I want to go?
YES!
July 5, 2010 was the big day. I made sure my camera was fully charged and made my way to the USA Pavilion. USA Pavilion staff was running around making sure everything was running as smoothly as possible for PepsiCo. I was quickly introduced to PepsiCo as the Student Ambassador Journalist and then told to wait until it begin.
The media event began with PepsiCo saying a few words about why they decided to partner with the USA Pavilion. PepsiCo and the USA Pavilion share common values: optimism, innovation, and the desire to share. You need optimism to inspire hope in future improvements. You need innovation to drive new advancements in methods, ideas or products. And you need the desire to share in order to make positive contributions back to the community. PepsiCo takes their social responsibility seriously. Rather than just selecting any random area to farm the potatoes used in their Lay’s potato chips, they made a conscious decision to farm potatoes in Inner Mongolia. PepsiCo had high hopes for the area. PepsiCo was optimistic that their investments into the land would yield large crops of potatoes. They were innovative in developing new technologies that could use water more effectively when watering the fields. Finally, PepsiCo’s desire to share gave them the drive to build more public libraries and schools in Inner Mongolia in order to further develop the talent of both their workers and their workers’ families. The result of all of this is a successful line of potato chips that is constantly introducing new flavors. Today, Leehom and Angela were promoting the new flavors: mala tang (spicy hotpot soup), BBQ fish, lemon tea and cherry tomatoes.
Yeah ... China has some ... interesting ... potato chip flavors. What we call “normal” flavors back in the United States are not so normal here. I am pretty sure that Chinese people might find the American flavors “salt and vinegar” and “sour cream and onion” pretty ... interesting ... as well. Different culture, different taste buds. But back to the event ...
The doors opened and Leehom walked in. The thoughts in my head went something like this: Wow. That’s him. It’s really him. He looks different in person, yet exactly what I imagined he would look like in person. Amy, that doesn’t even make sense. Whatever. He’s standing just a few feet away from me now. I wish he would look over here. OH MY GOSH! He just looked at me!
Cool. ^_^
After doing some promotions for his new movie “Love in Disguise 戀愛通告” (which I am excited to see!), Angela Zhang walks in and together they start promoting the new Lay’s potato chip flavor: cherry tomato. They did a simple magic trick of putting some ice cubes and cherry tomatoes into an empty black box, locking it up, and then “magically” pulling out packages of Lay’s cherry tomato potato chips. Angela made the joke that they were now better than Jay Chou 周杰倫 at performing magic tricks. They had also brought in some young children and gave them Haibao 海宝 dolls as gifts. Two lucky fans were also brought up to present Leehom and Angela with flowers and a fully stamped Expo souvenir passport. Before I knew it, they finished promoting how delicious Lay’s cherry tomato potato chips tasted and I was suddenly standing in a group photo of Leehom and Angela with some USA Pavilion staff and Student Ambassadors.
Smile for the camera! *click* Excellent.
As everyone moves from their positions, I look over at Leehom and said quickly, “Thanks Leehom.” And guess what?! HE SMILED AND NODDED BACK TO ME! Again, cool.
Leehom and Angela went back in to answer more media questions. As the media session drew to a close, I knew that it was now or never. I had to “rise to the challenge” (the USA Pavilion’s theme) and say a few words to him. Back in 2007, I had attended an autograph session for his “Change Me 改變自己” album in Taiwan and all I could do was wave “hi” to him as he signed my CD. This time would be different. Oh my gosh, he’s walking right towards me now!
(For some reason, I decided to use English instead of Mandarin Chinese to speak with him.)
“Hi Leehom, have you visited the USA Pavilion yet?”
“No, not yet.”
“I’m one of the Student Ambassadors here at the USA Pavilion. If you have time, you should take a look.”
“Take me ... take me ...”
Whoa. Was he being serious? Did he really want to go through the pavilion? Just in case he was being serious, I go stand next to other Student Ambassadors and we quickly summarize all that has gone on so far. By now, Angela had moved downstairs and is getting ready to do a viewing of the USA Pavilion and I was wondering whether Leehom would do the same.
He walked back out and I admit I was a bit disappointed when he said to me, “Sorry, there’s no time today.” Too bad. Leehom, if you’re reading this, we would love to have you come back to view the USA Pavilion.
The event was great and I was so glad to have been given the opportunity to attend. Not only did I learn more about PepsiCo’s role in delivering a healthier future for people and the planet, I also had the chance to see and speak (though just a mini-conversation) to one of my favorite music pop stars. Just another reason why this summer working at the USA Pavilion at Shanghai World Expo 2010 will be so memorable.
Smile for the camera! *click* Excellent.
As everyone moves from their positions, I look over at Leehom and said quickly, “Thanks Leehom.” And guess what?! HE SMILED AND NODDED BACK TO ME! Again, cool.
Leehom and Angela went back in to answer more media questions. As the media session drew to a close, I knew that it was now or never. I had to “rise to the challenge” (the USA Pavilion’s theme) and say a few words to him. Back in 2007, I had attended an autograph session for his “Change Me 改變自己” album in Taiwan and all I could do was wave “hi” to him as he signed my CD. This time would be different. Oh my gosh, he’s walking right towards me now!
(For some reason, I decided to use English instead of Mandarin Chinese to speak with him.)
“Hi Leehom, have you visited the USA Pavilion yet?”
“No, not yet.”
“I’m one of the Student Ambassadors here at the USA Pavilion. If you have time, you should take a look.”
“Take me ... take me ...”
Whoa. Was he being serious? Did he really want to go through the pavilion? Just in case he was being serious, I go stand next to other Student Ambassadors and we quickly summarize all that has gone on so far. By now, Angela had moved downstairs and is getting ready to do a viewing of the USA Pavilion and I was wondering whether Leehom would do the same.
He walked back out and I admit I was a bit disappointed when he said to me, “Sorry, there’s no time today.” Too bad. Leehom, if you’re reading this, we would love to have you come back to view the USA Pavilion.
The event was great and I was so glad to have been given the opportunity to attend. Not only did I learn more about PepsiCo’s role in delivering a healthier future for people and the planet, I also had the chance to see and speak (though just a mini-conversation) to one of my favorite music pop stars. Just another reason why this summer working at the USA Pavilion at Shanghai World Expo 2010 will be so memorable.
