Invisible Giants

At $55,521, they have the highest annual per-capita income of any U.S. demographic (besting whites by $10,000 and almost doubling the next most affluent minority), according to the 2000 Census. With growth of 69 percent between 1990 and 2000, they’re the nation’s fastest-growing race (and their ranks are expected to grow to 22 million by 2020). They’re also the demo most likely to own a business, as well as the most likely to buy high-end products such as luxury automobiles.

But Asian-Americans still aren’t even second-class citizens when it comes to getting direct attention from marketers.

The reasons are numerous, and while some make perfect sense, others seem incomprehensible.

“The lack of Asian-American promotions isn’t due to any bias, but to marketers making it more complex than it really is,” says Saul Gitlin, executive vp-strategic services and new business at specialist agency Kang & Lee, New York City. “Many brands don’t want to be seen as targeting them because of their ethnicity. You’re not. You’re targeting them because of their wealth.”

The fact that their numbers are still relatively small is also a major consideration. “A lot of marketers say, ‘Yes, Asians are important to us. But we’ve got to get our Hispanic house in order first,’” Gitlin says.

And with marketing expenditures on the downturn, it’s unlikely that they’ll be many new entrants experimenting with Asian-American campaigns anytime soon. Even brands already operating in the demo are feeling the pinch. “Our Asian-specific promos are up in the air [for 2002],” says Wallace Louie, vp-marketing for Global Asia Pacific Services at Charles Schwab, San Francisco. “We’ve done some scaling back.”

Ironically, one of the biggest obstacles isn’t the difficulty in deciphering cultural idiosyncrasies, but the fact that most Asians assimilate into mainstream American society pretty rapidly. That has led to a not-entirely-untrue assumption that they can be reached through mainstream marketing.

“There’s a misconception among marketers that new immigrants don’t have any money and aren’t worth the interest,” says Bill Georges, vp-ad sales at International Channel, a Littleton, CO-based multicultural TV network. “And by the time they’re successful, they’ve assimilated, they speak English, and there’s no reason to go after them in their own language.”

“I had a conversation with marketers at a major auto company who said they don’t think they have to market to Asians because they already buy the cars,” adds Sid Yee, president at Cyverasia, part of multicultural agency network New A, New York City. “That won’t cut it in the long run. Asian culture is about respect, and if you take their business for granted, you will be disappointed in the future.”

Now or Later

As an Indian-American and vp-marketing at Secaucus, NJ-based B4U, a TV network dedicated to the South Asian film industry, Hari Srinivas has seen the issue from both sides of the equation. He recounted some of his experiences at the Asian American Advertising Federation’s Market Outlook conference in New York City last November.

“AT&T has tried for years with English-speaking telemarketers to get my family to switch from MCI,” Srinivas says. “Last month, someone from AT&T called speaking Hindi. They talked to my wife for 20 minutes; I thought she was on the phone with friends. Today, AT&T is our telephone provider.”

Reaching Asians while they’re still in the malleable immigrant stage — or while the brand preferences they developed in their home country are still top of mind — is an opportunity marketers shouldn’t miss, the experts say. “A lot of people like my parents weren’t adequately served [by advertisers],” says Louie.

“When immigrants come to the U.S., they already have brand preferences. But the market doesn’t capitalize on it and they end up buying generics,” adds Greg Macabenta, president at Minority Media Services, New York City. And Asian parents have a strong influence over their children’s buying habits.

Maintaining continuity between immigrants and later generations can be tricky. New York City-based Schieffelin & Somerset Co.’s Hennessy Cognac, for instance, is tops among Chinese both here and in Asia. (Viewed as a symbol of prosperity and status, the brand can often be found on tables at Chinese wedding receptions.)

However, “we’re seeing second- and third-generation Asian-Americans, who are more Westernized than their parents, picking up the drinking habits of the general audience,” says Hennessy brand manager Todd Prybylski. Thus, Hennessy is preparing an effort for 2002 (in development at press time) designed to win over these Americanized offspring.

B4U has a similar problem. “A lot of second-generation Indian-Americans wouldn’t watch us until we started showing movies in English,” says Srinivas.

That’s not the only difference. “You need to remember that first-generation Asians tend to be very price-conscious. Second-generation Asians are not,” explains Neeta Bashin, president of Asian agency ASB Communications, New York City.

Part of the overall problem is that these kinds of in-sights are hard to come by. While advances in the breadth and depth of market research sometimes make it seem as if you can get detailed profiles of red-headed, left-handed Swedish-Americans, the Asian-American population still is largely an enigma.

There are more than 600 Asian language media outlets in the U.S. (which, by the way, offer much cheaper ad rates than mainstream media). But “almost all Asian media is unaudited,” says Gitlin. “So they can’t go to P&G and say, ‘Look, we can deliver women age 18 to 35.’”

Help may be on the way. The New York City-based Asian American Advertising Federation is trying to fund a study that would present a greater profile of Asian consumers. The group is also compiling a report card on the Top 100 Advertisers to Asians, which will be available sometime this year. “I think Asian consumers would like to know who has their interests in mind,” says Kang & Lee ceo Eliot Kang.

Strength in Numbers

Not that there isn’t plenty of top-line information. The “Asian population” actually consists of 20 different ethnic groups — another sticking point for marketers — but is dominated by six (in order): Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese. (Interestingly, the Japanese population dropped in status from third to sixth between 1990 and 2000.)

The overwhelming majority of Asian-Americans live in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, with secondary pockets in Seattle, Chicago, and Boston. That’s prompted regional marketers to target more often than national brands. “If you’re a luxury auto dealer or real estate agent in San Francisco, you better know how to address Asians in their preferred language,” says Penelope Wong, president and ceo at Brann San Francisco. “A lot of Asian marketing is being done, but it’s on a local level — almost on a guerrilla basis.”

“We ask, ‘Is California important to you? Yes? So, is 20 percent of California important to you?’” says Kang. “Then, they get it.”

“Our favorite measuring stick, the CPM, doesn’t apply to Asians,” adds Georges. “Instead, you have to take the plunge and look at the ROI.”

DaimlerChrysler, Auburn Hills, MI, held its first Chinese-specific Jeep 101 test-drive event last November at the Los Angeles County Pomona Fairgrounds. It was “part of an overall test to Asians in Southern California that included in-language print and TV advertising,” explains Janice Tarachowski, DaimlerChrysler’s senior manager of corporate and diversity marketing.

The two-day event, which let Chinese consumers try out the Wrangler, Grand Cherokee, and new Jeep Liberty on and off roads, drew more than 1,100 participants. “We were surprised by the response,” says Tarachowski. “People wanted to get into the vehicles multiple times. After the third time, we had to start turning them away.”

Jeep enticed attendees by offering a live performance from Taiwanese singer Peter Huang and hosting a raffle giving away a trip for two to Taiwan. This month, the effort gets replayed in San Francisco; the brand then jumps back to L.A. in February to exhibit at Chinese Expo, a celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year. Imada Wong, Los Angeles, handles.

Hooking In

In some ways, Asian-Americans are tailor-made for promotions.

“There is a strong tradition of gaming in Asian culture, so sweepstakes and contests are popular,” notes Gitlin. “But the payoff has to be big. They’re not going to bother entering to win a set of cookware.”

Hennessy hosts annual “high roller” events in cooperation with casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas to sponsor group trips for Chinese-Americans. Last fall, the brand hooked up with Donald Trump’s Taj Mahal in Atlantic City; activities included a live performance by a popular Chinese band.

Thematically, community and children are keys. (The leading reason for immigration cited by Asians is the desire to provide a better life for children.)

Los Angeles-based Feld Entertainment’s Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus has made an annual San Francisco event out of a community outreach program first conducted in 1989, the year a massive earthquake devastated much of the city’s Chinatown. The company hosted a spirit-building parade through the neighborhood that brought back foot traffic and generated a lot of good will among local businesses.

The parade, along with a kids’ talent festival staged at the first area performance, are now repeated each year. Ringling Brothers offers ticket consignments with local bookstores and has partnered with Asian grocery chain Tawa Supermarkets on discount packs. “One of our primary tactics is to make tickets available to the Asian community,” says Patrick Koors, Feld’s regional marketing and sales director. “They want the convenience of staying within their own community to buy.”

Likewise, Basking Ridge, NJ-based AT&T likes “to celebrate with the community by putting out greetings specific to the appropriate festival,” says Maria Albarracin, international consumer services director. That includes advertising and mailers during the Lunar New Year, the Vietnamese Tet festival, the Chuson Korean harvest festival, and Diwali, the Indian festival of lights.

AT&T’s Web site is available in seven languages. “Not all customers have access to, say, Chinese TV, but they can click on our site to see our commercials in-language,” Albarracin says.

The New York Times Co., New York City, hosts annual college preparatory seminars in both Mandarin and Cantonese, and is negotiating to run supplements in each issue of India Abroad, a weekly magazine dedicated to Indians living in the U.S.

Charles Schwab has added Chinese-speaking customer reps and recently adopted a Chinese brand name (“Jia xin li chai,” which translates into “Well-established, trustworthy asset management”).

Schwab has targeted Asians since 1989. “We try to communicate first through education, then use promotions as a call to action,” says Louie. “The key is to show respect and empathy without being obsequious.”

That strategy works in any language.