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THOUGH PUNDITS APPLAUD the economic strength of Asians in America, only a few loyalty marketers are taking advantage of it.

For one thing, most firms face the daunting task of starting from square one. Many fear that their initial overtures will be met with caution.

But marketers who think this way are missing out on an affluent and savvy population. Asian Americans have an average household income of just under $47,000, and wealth and income calculations don’t factor in considerable overseas assets.

Furthermore, most census and marketing profiles ignore the transitory Asian population in the United States-businessmen working here for a set number of years.

At least one airline not only recognizes, but actively solicits this market with a program that reflects a core Japanese value-family. Japan Airlines’ JAL Family Club is geared toward what the company calls the home market (Japanese businessmen stationed in the United States).

The company permits its Japanese customers to designate other members of their families who will be allowed to redeem award miles, a practice not afforded to non-Japanese customers, according to JAL vice president, marketing John McGhee. In fact, on the company’s Web site (www.japanair.com), a detailed chart lists all the family members who can participate-starting with a grandfather-in-law and ranging to the spouse of a grandchild.

The club, which was launched in 1993, currently boasts enrollment of 36,000 family units, and 150,000 individually registered members. The average participant stays with the program for around four years.

One reason may be family pressure. A Japanese businessman in America, whose ticket is being purchased by his company, may not care which airline he takes. “But his wife [who can also accumulate Family Club miles through a specially branded JAL MasterCard] can declare, ‘We must fly Japan Airlines!'” says Shintaro Takayanagi, assistant manager for marketing and advertising, the Americas. And once in America, an extensive network of events and services orchestrated through JAL can enable her to acclimate herself to the new surroundings and meet other native Japanese.

The Family Club program itself is uniquely American, or at least international: It is offered only to businessmen living abroad. Individuals living in Japan are eligible for the airline’s Mileage Bank program.

By comparison, Northwest Airlines, St. Paul, MN, is seeking a broader population with its loyalty efforts focused on Japanese customers. As part of its WorldPerks loyalty program (open to all customers) the airline offers tailored “gift” experiences that are not charged against any mileage points accumulated. It selects Japanese Americans (and Japanese still living in Japan) for events staffed by its Japanese employees, such as hospitality tents at the Los Angeles Nissan Open, or evenings at New York’s Blue Note cabaret.

“In the advertising message, you highlight Asia and some of the things the target market likes to do,” says Julia Huang, president of Intertrend Communications in Torrance, CA, which helped Northwest design its program. Examples include golf, a favorite Japanese pastime.

Of course, it pays to consider cultural nuances and language differences when marketing to Asian Americans.

“When we market in-language, we thank them in several ways,” says Susan Edberg, managing director of WorldPerks marketing and international advertising for the Northwest region. “The language is a bit more proper, more respectful. Gift giving is important [within the Japanese culture, which constitutes 75% of the program’s in-language marketing]. We often portray the award as a gift.”

Sometimes the differences are a matter of subtle shifting. Number characters in Japanese have meanings associated with them, and Northwest was forced to change one Japan-bound flight’s number when it was revealed that the number-24-translated roughly to “it’s easy to die.”

In-language Marketing Despite these programs, many American firms still shy away from marketing to this important group.

“When marketers want to go into Asian marketing they tend to think, ‘It’s 4% of the [U.S.] population, therefore 4% of the budget,'” says Constance Cheng, vice president for strategic planning at ethnic marketing agency Admerasia, New York. “But you need your material written in-language, and then translated back for approval. It sucks up a lot in terms of time and people resources.”

But there have been exceptions-like Citibank, where Cheng worked as an Asian marketing coordinator for three years.

Several years ago, she says, Citibank launched a deposit-based promotion for its Chinese customers in the United States that used as a premium small 24-karat gold medallions with Chinese styling. In addition to having the program’s collateral material available at each branch in heavily Asian-trafficked areas, the company did a 21,000-piece mailing that Cheng says was “very successful.”

Citibank had the benefit of a strong presence in Hong Kong, which made the brand more recognizable to many Chinese. (With the exception of Japanese Americans, 70% of most Asians in America are foreign-born.)

What works with one group may not be effective with another. Service-oriented loyalty efforts are popular with Japanese, but programs with tangible rewards are effective with Chinese and Korean Americans. And, in general, “Asian consumers are highly predisposed to promotional offers that are not chintzy and meaningless,” says Wanla Cheng, principal of the Asian Link Consulting Group, a New York marketing research firm.

For the Citibank program, the loyalty component was measured by the relative lack of “churn” in return for what were fairly high premium thresholds: A minimum deposit of $30,000 was required to receive one medallion, and mid-program analysis showed an acceptable level of retention.

The next step would have been to begin building an in-language database, allowing customers to be contacted in English, Mandarin, Cantonese or another preferred language.

According to Constance Cheng, “Citibank built a database, and Travelers came in and pulled the plug. Many years of effort down the drain.”

As Citibank once did, Bank of America uses in-language marketing to boost loyalty and retention among its Chinese customers. During the bank’s annual Lunar New Year outreach, customers who enrolled during the five-week promotional period are called six months after setting up an account-just before the time of the Moon festival. The call allows the bank to establish language preferences.

This in turn leads to an in-language follow-up call, a soft-sell effort that encourages customers to come in and discuss their financial goals with a personal representative.

Doesn’t that sort of personalized attention cut into profit margins? Not given the generally higher household income levels among Asians, says Winnie Yip, Bank of America’s senior Asian segment manager.

“The [profit] potential is much greater because there are not many banks that target their efforts toward the Asian community [or] have our level of in-language associates,” she adds.

Including the family in promotions is not just a charming notion within the Asian community: It’s a smart business practice.

Relationships-says Angi Ma Wong, an intercultural consultant from Palos Verdes, CA-are spread from one consumer throughout the “Asian grapevine.”

Because of this tendency, rewards that include the family are especially effective.

“Give a family four tickets to Disneyland,” she says, “and they will tell everyone!”