Part
01
of one
Part
01
The most effective marketing agencies at penetrating the Asian American market, and certain brands and products that have been positioned to gather a following by Asian Americans (i.e. Johnny Walker Black Label).
Hello! Thank you for using Wonder to ask about marketing agencies that are effective at penetrating Asian American market. The short answer is that such companies include APartnership, AAAZA, Plan C Agency, Admerasia, and IW Group. Some of the brands that used them to promote their products among Asian Americans are Nissan, Vitasoy, Verizon, and Lexus. Below you will find a deep dive of my methodology and findings.
Methodology
During my research, I discovered that one particularly helpful organization, namely the Asian American Advertising Federation. There are thirteen advertising agencies among its members, all of them generating at least 75% of their revenue from Asian American marketing. Those agencies are AAAZA, AdAsia Communications, Admerasia, APartnership, ES Advertising, interTrend Communications, DAE, IW Group, KCM Collaboration Creative and Marketing, Muse USA Communications, Plan C Agency, TDW + Co, Ten Advertising, and Xen Media.
It was impossible to choose one measure that would allow me to assess which agencies are most effective. I looked at estimated revenues (if available), clients, successful campaigns (if available), and awards (if available). I prioritized the agencies that were successful in at least two of these criteria.
For the examples of products and brands positioned for Asian American market, I focused on campaigns that were awarded by AAAF, as well as case studies mentioned on the agencies' websites. At first, I wanted to provide one example for each company. Unfortunately, not all of them publish case studies on their websites, which is why it was not always possible, as there was no overview of the campaign available.
While I was able to choose five companies and four brand or product campaigns within the scope of a single Wonder research, you can find more examples by studying the list of AAAF's members.
As for the campaigns, I aimed for the most recent examples. Most are from 2015 or 2016. However, the Verizon example is a bit older, as I wanted to include something different than influencer marketing. It was the best-described event, which is why I chose it. I supplemented it with the more recent example of their collaboration with TDW+co, which also involves event marketing.
MARKETING AGENCIES
APartnership is an agency with a sole focus on marketing to Asian Americans. To reach this group, they either create campaigns from scratch or combine customers' existing advertising assets with their cultural and linguistic knowledge. They also offer market sizing, which helps their clients to decide whether they should invest in marketing to Asian Americans.
According to Owler, they generate $5.7mln in annual sales. Their customers include Bank of America, Chevrolet, Nationwide, Vitasoy, Cadillac and U.S. Postal.
Plan C Agency has over 20 years of experience in marketing to Asian Americans. They started as an event agency in 1995 and later developed into a more versatile advertising agency. They have offices in Los Angeles and New York. They offer support in strategy, PR, traditional and digital media, and events.
Their major clients include Bacardi, BMW, Comcast, Diageo, Fox, P&G, Pepsi, Samsung, and Universal. They are most famous for their long partnership with Verizon, for which they also received awards from Asian American Advertising Federation. In 2012, they also got the Fast 50 Asian American Business Award.
Admerasia is a New York-based agency that targets Asian Americans with its knowledge of cultural nuances and innovative tech solutions. It operates within the New-A Network, which is a partnership that aims to provide digital solutions for millennial customers.
Admerasia's clients include Nissan, Citibank, Humana, and Xoom. Their strong position on the market can be attributed primarily to the well-received campaigns for Nissan. According to Owler, the agency generates $3.6mln in annual sales.
AAAZA's executive is the current president of the Asian American Advertising Federation. The name is an acronym for "Asian American A to Z Advertising." They offer a wide selection of marketing and creative services. At the same time, they claim that their biggest asset lies in the ability to provide cultural, generational, socioeconomic, and behavioral insights.
AAAZA targets Fortune 500 and multinational companies. Their clients include AT&T, McDonald's, P&G, Nielsen, ING, BBCN Bank, Toyota, KIA, Ford, Bayer, and Ballantine's. In 2016, they received multiple Communicator and Telly Awards for their campaigns for BBCN Bank and Directv.
IW Group is an agency that positions itself as one for the global world, hence the focus on multicultural nuances. The company has offices in San Fransisco, New York, and Los Angeles. They offer a broad range of services, i.e., branding and identity, content creation, buzz marketing, digital strategy, experiential marketing, influencer marketing, multicultural and generational insights, and more. They target food, retail, luxury, entertainment, and utilities industries.
According to Owler, the company generates $4.7mln in annual sales. Their major clients include Lexus, McDonald's, Walmart, and NBC Universal.
PRODUCTS AND BRANDS
There is a pattern visible in many case studies on successful marketing to Asian Americans. Brands and agencies tend to involve influencers and focus heavily on social media marketing. However, it's possible that the examples that are awarded or mentioned by agencies as their successes are chosen by their innovativeness, which is why they involve digital campaigns that target Asian American millennials specifically.
NISSAN
Nissan has partnered with Admerasia for the "New Gen" campaign, which was awarded as the most creative of 2016 by the Asian American Advertising Federation. It was launched in 2015 and relaunched in an updated form in 2016.
There were four Asian American influencers involved, who were posting videos, tagging Nissan and each other on social media, as well as giving recommendations through special websites. In 2015, there were 355k site visits and 31k social media impressions. In 2016, the campaign had over 70.3k video views and 15k engagements. According to Admerasia, Nissan gained popularity among Asian American millennials.
VERIZON
Verizon wanted to create awareness of its support for the Asian Pacific American community. With the help of Plan C Agency, they carried a special conference, which included panelists Joe Zee, Mark Muñoz, Jamie Chung and host XiXi Yang. There were over five million viewers across various channels, specifically television, web, and social media.
Interestingly, Verizon has also enlisted the help of the TDW+co agency to promote its brand to the Asian American community. Year in year, they are present at KCON, the largest K-pop event in North America. Some of the strategies they use include meet-and-greets events with K-pop idols, augmented reality, and more.
While there is no specific information on the results of Verizon's KCON appearances, their reach is described as "nationwide" thanks to the social media coverage, especially since the company first appeared at the New York's KCON in 2015.
VITASOY'S ICED LEMON TEA
The campaign was launched to promote Iced Lemon Tea among Asian American millennials. They collaborated with Chinese-American YouTubers, Fung Brothers and Wong Fu Productions. They not only posted films on their channels but also shared them through their social networks.
The product experienced double-digit growth among the targeted group. Total views for both videos was 865k. 40k consumers checked the photo contest app. Four blog posts by the influencers generated 950k views and over 250k unique visitors.
The campaign was done with the APartnership agency.
LEXUS CT200H
In 2016, Lexus marketed its CT200h to Asian Americans, with the help of IW Group. They aimed to capitalize on the fact that this group is especially interested in cars and food. The "Lexus Foodie Adventure" campaign was social-based, with a dedicated website and the engagement of three promising influencers. They were visiting different restaurants in L.A. and documenting their journey with the "#LexusAdventure" hashtag. Also, the L.A.-based magazine and website featured a bilingual foodie map and articles about the influencers.
The campaign was executed through Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, as well as the LexusAdventure and WaCow LA websites. While IW Group didn't post the precise results, they claim that they successfully positioned CT200h for Asian American millennials.
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, top marketing agencies that are experts at penetrating the Asian American market include APartnership, Plan C Agency, Admerasia, IW Group and Aaaza. Brands that have successfully marketed themselves or their products to the Asian American audience are Nissan, Lexus, Verizon, and Vitasoy.
Thank you for using Wonder! Let us know if we can help with anything else.