Eastern Philosophy

Mounting a successful integrated marketing effort is difficult enough. Throw in the additional hurdle of targeting a segment with a unique language and culture, and you've multiplied that challenge. Direct recently talked about creating multichannel campaigns for the Asian-American market with Saul Gitlin, executive vice president for strategic services and new business at New York agency Kang & Lee.

DIRECT: Are you seeing many companies doing a good job of integrated marketing to the Asian-American market?

GITLIN: Yes. Integration is a mantra now, whether you're in a multicultural or general market, because no single channel is going to deliver the brand relationship clients are seeking to foster. Companies that step into the Asian market are not expecting a solution driven by a single print ad or radio spot.

DIRECT: What types of media are popular?

GITLIN: Offline, Asian-language mass media is still a mainstay of news, information and entertainment. Print is probably still the bulwark, then radio and television. And third-party studies show this population has high levels of Internet use, so the Web is important (see “Click Culture,” this page). Out-of-home advertising is great in the Asian market because these communities are so tightly concentrated. If you buy billboard space at a key intersection in Koreatown in Los Angeles or Chinatown in Manhattan everyone will see it. The downside is that out-of-home advertising is more costly. Direct mail really came on the scene in the early 1990s, but there weren't many sources of names. However, the quality of lists has improved dramatically, and many marketers have built up in-house databases that they can mine continually. Still, only a minority of active clients in the Asian market actually get into direct mail, so it's a fairly uncluttered environment.

DIRECT: Why do you think that's the case?

GITLIN: It may be because we can't pull a list that's as narrowly defined as a client wants. But usually, clients stepping into the market are looking to significantly raise attention to their overarching brand, and a better vehicle to achieve that exposure is [mass media,] because you're going to get more eyeballs vs. sending packages to [certain] households. Typically there are some first-time advertisers in the market that jump into direct mail, possibly because they've already identified an in-house database of existing Asian users they want to start leveraging. Very often it's not uncommon for direct mail to be a phase-two approach, when the client has the database in order and is going for a more targeted and monitored approach.

DIRECT: What's the biggest challenge?

GITLIN: It's not just about the right language, its about the right culture. Marketers often want to take mainstream creative and put it in the Asian market. More often than not, we say: ‘We could simply translate this piece, but we don't think it's optimal. Could there be a better execution?

Click Culture

Thanks to high Internet penetration, the Web is an ideal way to reach Asian Americans. There are a number of excellent sites catering to various Asian cultures in North America, says Kang & Lee's Saul Gitlin. “And obviously, many Asians are surfing in-country Web sites. [But the problem with those sites] is that you can't always buy unique impressions for Asians surfing from North America.”

Gitlin offered several site recommendations for DMers trying to reach Asian Americans online.

• Sina.com. This site is the largest Chinese-language portal in the world, according to Gitlin. “You can click into their mainland Chinese Web site and sites in other parts of Asia, but they do have a dedicated North American site.”

• Chinese.aol.com. AOL debuted this site last year, targeting Chinese Americans and Canadians. Kang & Lee worked on the launch campaign, creating print ads and posters to hang in retail stores in key Chinese neighborhoods.

• World Journal.com. This is one of the top Chinese-language daily newspapers in the United States.

• KSCITV.com and KTSF.com. These television sites, for the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas respectively, offer content and programming in multiple languages.

• AsianAvenue.com. This is a social networking site targeting young, often English-speaking Asian Americans, says Gitlin.
  — BNV

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For more articles on integration, go to http://directmag.com/disciplines/integration/.