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Asian-American Subculturea tutorial by Hexin Zhang Introduction
Explanation of the topicThe purpose of this tutorial is to illustrate the significance of Asian-American consumers on the U.S. economy, to provide a better understanding of this subculture by breaking it down to different subcultures by nationality, and in turn to better market to different Asian-Americans in the U.S.
 Demographics
“Asian-Americans are the third-largest and fastest-growing minority
in the United States” (Hoyer MacInnis 323). Its growth rate is seven times the
national average (Asian-American Market). According to the U.S. Census, there
are 11.9 million Asian-Americans residing in the U.S., and their population is
growing at a rate of 5.2%, versus 3% for Hispanics, 1.6% for African-Americans,
and .6% for non-Hispanic Whites. The population increase for this subculture is
largely due to immigration. Asian-Americans account for 69% of immigrants
entering the U.S. every year. If this growth rate continues, the population
will reach 35 million, or 10% of the total U.S. population by 2050. As Figure 1
depicts, Asian-Americans consist of many distinctive ethnic groups, but the
majority is comprised of six major segments – Chinese American, Filipino
American, Asian Indian American, Vietnamese American, Korean American and
Japanese American (Advertising Age). Thus, marketing institutions are often
faced the challenge of trying to reach such a diverse group of people.
Although there are cultural and linguistic differences within Asian-Americans, they still share certain unifying characteristics. Asian-Americans are highly urbanized and tend to live in clustered communities – 96% live in metropolitan areas as opposed to ethnic areas such as a Chinatown (Hoyer MacInnis 112). Over 50% of the Asian population is residing in the states of California, New York, New Jersey and Hawaii, and with more than half living in major cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Honolulu, and Chicago (Asian-American Market). Hence, although the diversity of languages used by Asian-Americans makes marketing a challenge, the dwelling concentration of this subculture makes it much easier to analyze and target.
  The
size and growth of the Asian-American population, although impressive, account
for just a part of the marketing justification for institutions to be aware of.
The significance of Asian-American consumers is that they have the highest mean
and median income among all ethnic groups. (See figure 2) Their average
household income is $56,316, which is $6000 more than non-Hispanic whites (
Hawkins, Best, Coney 169). Furthermore, one third of families earn $75,000 or
more. In other words, they have the most disposable income. As a result, the
purchasing power for this market is $254 billion (Strategic Research
Institute). More important, the average age for Asian-Americans is 30.1 years
(Kang & Lee Advertising Inc), which means they are about to enter their prime
earning years.
Asian-Americans’ high-income profile is attributed to several factors. First, they have the highest level of education of any group – 46% of men and 39% of women hold a bachelor’s degree or more. Figures are 33% and 25% for non-Hispanic whites (Strategic Research Institute). Second, they have a higher computer literacy. Third, the combination of the previous two leads to having better professional and managerial positions than the general public (Hoyer MacInnis 324). Lastly, they have the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity (Strategic Research Institute). Not only do Asian-Americans have the highest average income, but they also save a great deal. Asians are more likely than the general public to have a savings account, as indicated that 64% do. They ranked lowest on leisure shopping and leisure activities. On the flip side, they save more than twice the amount as the general public does, with 86% of them saving for emergencies, 66% for retirement, and a large number for their children’s education. In addition, they are twice as likely as the total U.S. market to appreciate the significance of having a successful investment plan (Securities Industry Association).
Traits and Values. Common traits among all Asian-Americans include: (Asian-American market)
If you want to market to Asian-Americans, you will probably not be successful if Asian-Americans are treated as one single group. It is also prudent to study each nationality individually (Most of the following information is referenced from Lang & Lee Inc.). Chinese-American: “Prudence, view in long term” Chinese Americans are the largest group and have the longest history of all Asian-Americans. Their national origins encompass four districts: Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. In addition, they are separated into two different dialects: Mandarin and Cantonese. Due to continuing immigration, 83% of Chinese Americans still prefer speaking Chinese as their dominant language. Their median family income is $51,316. They have a strong desire to have the “eight bigs”: a color TV, refrigerator, car, camera, VCR, furniture, telephone, and washing machine (Hoyer MacInnis 324). Their psychographic profiles include:
Filipino-American: “Warmth and hospitality” Filipino Americans are the second largest of all Asian-American segments. The Philippines led all Asian nations in total immigration in 1980s-90s. 66% of this group favors speaking their native language as opposed to English. The median family income for Filipino Americans is $56,698. Their psychographic profiles include:
Asian Indian American: “Unity in diversity” Asian Indian Americans speak several different Indian languages, but most speak and understand English pretty well. Therefore, advertising is best implemented in English, but with Indian cultural cues. Only 55% of Asian Indian Americans prefer speaking Indian as their primary language. The median family income for this group is $59,309. Their psychographic profiles include:
Japanese American: “Harmony, unison” Japanese Americans are either expatriates or students who stay in the country for a short term (3-5 yrs.) or U.S. citizens who are 2nd or 3rd generation members. Those who are expatriates and students prefer their native language, while the 2nd and 3rd generation U.S. citizens have been completely Americanized, and cannot speak Japanese at all. Just 42% of Japanese Americans speak Japanese at home. The Japanese population in America is divided into four groups: assimilated, shinissei (newly immigrated), students, and intra-company transfers/businessmen. The median household income for Japanese population is $61,550. Their psychographic profiles include:
Korean-American: “Love, feelings, friendship” Korean Americans are one of the most homogenous and least assimilated groups. Most Koreans come from similar backgrounds, with similar lengths of residency in the U.S. Only a small number speak fluent English, and 81% would rather speak Korean exclusively. However, this group is in a transitional period in terms of adaptation due to the generation who was born in the U.S. between the 70s and 80s. Popular professions for this group are small business owners, medical doctors, and lawyers. The median household income for this group is $43,909. They also has a unique set of psychographic profiles:
Vietnamese-American: “Respect and loyalty” This group consists of a large number of refuges who immigrated to the U.S. in the 1980s. Members of this group are well educated and are the highest in native language preference – 93% choose to speak Vietnamese predominantly. Their psychographic profiles include:
Reaching Asian-Americans
The best source to develop a marketing strategy aimed at Asian-Americans is to use advertising agencies that specialize in Asian-American consumers. Often times, these agencies are run by members of the ethnic group. Hence, they exhibit similar values and behaviors and accordingly provide helpful insight to the characteristics of the target market. Figure 4 lists the top advertising agencies rated by Advertising Age. In addition to a successful advertisement, it is very important to know how and where to reach Asian-Americans. The strong language preference among Asian-Americans makes them relatively easy to reach. Native language TV programs are the primary sources for reaching Asians living in the U.S.; the average Asian-Americans spend approximately 10.6 hours per week watching TV. In addition, 9.6 hours are devoted to radio, 5.6 hours to newspapers and 4.2 hours to Asian magazines (Securities Industry Association). Recently, the internet has become more popular with Asian-Americans as one of their primary media sources. Examples
Virtually every marketer that targets Asian-Americans creates a campaign for the Lunar new Year, the biggest Chinese holiday. As the primary sponsor of the well-received "San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade and Festival," Southwest Airlines has made a strong commitment to the Chinese-American market. Outdoor billboards displaying messages of good wishes were posted around San Francisco. In the example here (Figure 5), notice the orange and blue on the billboard - these are also the primary colors of Southwest Airlines. In addition to the billboards, a Southwest Airlines float was also constructed for the parade.
Wells Fargo launched its bank’s first television spot, bringing the brand
closer to the Chinese and Fi
In addition to Chinese Americans, there are many advertisements targeting other segments of Asian-Americans. AT&T put out a television ad with the theme “Reunion” targeting only Japanese Americans (Kang & lee). As it was explained earlier, the two words describing Japanese Americans are “Harmony and Unison,” which fit perfectly with this ad. Especially there are many Japanese Americans who are 2nd and 3rd generation members, it is nice to have a family reunion, or, in this case, to have it on the phone. The examples above are all good illustrations of successful advertisements targeting Asian-Americans. But in order to have a comprehensive understanding of this topic, it is important to also show failures of previous products and/or advertisements in the past. For example, one company made the mistake of packaging their golf balls in a four-pack rather than the usual three-pack. In both Chinese and Japanese culture, four is considered an unlucky number that means death (Hoyer MacInnis 323). Therefore, this product was unsuccessful among Asian-Americans.
Abercrombie and Fitch is a gigantic clothing company that has been very successful in targeting young people for over a hundred years. However, the day after its new T-shirts hit store shelves, it offended many Asian-Americans. The three slogans on different T-shirts displayed “Wong Brothers Laundry Service – Two Wongs Can Make It White”; “Wok-N-Bowl – Let the Good Times Roll – Chinese Food & Bowling”; and “Abercrombie and Fitch Buddha Bash – Get your Buddha on the Floor.” Austin Chung, a business manager for the quarterly Asian-focused magazine Monolid expressed, “Abercrombie & Fitch is producing popular culture, and they cater to the views of the majority… It denigrates Asian Men.” Hampton Carney, who is the public relations for Abercrombie and Fitch, responded, “The shirts were designed to appeal to young Asian shoppers with a sense of humor” (Marketing and Advertising). Although unintentional, this is a typical example of misunderstanding between two cultures. Yes, the slogans are funny. But when you think more about it, it might be just a little overboard. Many Asian-Americans take religion very seriously, and “put your Buddha on the floor” is just not appropriate because religion is not something they want to be made fun of. Dry cleaning businesses are traditionally run by Korean Americans. The statement “Two Wongs will make it white” is an indirect insult to their profession, especially to them; personal integrity and honor are often more important than tangible gains or losses. “Wok-N-Bowl – Let the Good Times Roll – Chinese Food & Bowling” is also an improper slogan viewed by many Asian-Americans, particularly Chinese Americans. They may interpret it as an insult to their culture since Wok and Bowl are common utensils they use for meals. Related WebsitesPopular websites among Asian-Americans
Links to companies targeting Asian-Americans
Test for Understanding1. Which ethic group is the most homogenous of all Asian-Americans? a. Chinese Americans b. Filipino Americans c. Korean Americans
d.
Japanese Americans 2. What is the purchasing power for Asian-Americans? a. 150 billion b. 325 billion c. 200 billion d. 254 billion
3. Which ethnic group has the least preference for speaking their native language? a. Japanese Americans b. Chinese Americans c. Korean Americans d. Vietnamese Americans
4. “Unity in diversity” describes a. Japanese Americans b. Asian Indian Americans c. Chinese Americans d. Vietnamese Americans
5. Which one of the following is not a common characteristic of Asian-Americans? a. Strong family values b. Price conscious c. Strong tendency to preserve their tradition d. Values personal relationships
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Answer: 1 (c); 2 (d); 3 (a); 4 (b); 5 (b) Bibliography“Asian-American Market” tripacific.com 30 October 2003 http://www.bebeyond.com/LearnEnglish/BeAD/Readings/AsAmMarket.htm “Asian-American Market” Kang & Lee 1 November 2003. http://www.kang&lee.com “Asian-Americans: Through the Middle Class and Beyond” SRI Consulting Business Intelligence August 1998. 30 October 2003 http://www.sric-bi.com/CFD/Mrsummaries/MR.III-11.shtml “Census 2000 Reveals Asian-Americans Still Have Unsurpassed Demographics As Highly Attractive Consumers” Advertising Educational Foundation. 1 November 2003. http://www.aef.com/chanel.asp?ChannelID=7&DocID=2253&location=Cultural%20Dive Hawkins, Del I., Roger J. Best, and Kenneth A. Coney. Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy, 9th edition. New York: McGraw Hill Company, 2004. Hoyer, Wayne D. and Deborah J. MacInnis. Consumer Behavior, 2nd edition Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000 “Marketing and Advertising: Asian-Americans Rip Abercrombie and Fitch for Stereotypes on T-Shirts” Signs of the Times Apr 2002. 28 Nov. 2003 http://loper.org/~george/trends/2002/Apr/38.html “Marketing to Asian Pacific Americans” 7May 2001. 30 October 2003. http://www.srinstitute.com/part_iter_site_page.cfm?iteration_id=l30 “The Asian-American Market” Securities Industry Association. 30 October 2003. http://www.sia.com/diversity_resource_guide/pdf/Asian.pdf |
The
first step to a good marketing strategy is determining the appropriate target
market. There are numerous ways to divide the wide range of consumers into
different categories, one of which is separating by subcultures. The term
subculture represents “a segment of a larger culture whose members share
distinguishing values and patterns of behavior” (Hawkins, Best, Coney 152).
Subcultures are usually further classified based on ethnicity, religion,
geographic region, and generation while ethnic group is the most portrayed.
Asian-American subculture is the group that is the most diverse of all of the
major ethnic subcultures. It consists of more than 29 countries, each with
unique sets of values and traditions (Hoyer MacInnis 112). One mistake that
people often make is generalizing the entire Asian-Americans into one common
trait. In other words, when they see one person behaves in a certain way,
they automatically assume everyone must do it. For example, with the success
of Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon and other martial arts movie stars
such as Jackie Chan and Jet Li, many non-Asians may assume that all Asians
know martial arts. It is important to note that Asian-Americans with
different nationalities are in fact very distinct and unlike each other.
Asian-Americans’ diversity in nationalities leads to differences in customs,
languages, and religions. Therefore, it is best to think of Asian-Americans
as a variety of subcultures divided by nationality. 
To
manage their funds, most Asian-Americans put a strong emphasis on well organized
financial planning. Since the majority are computer literate and prefer
“non-face-to-face financial transactions,” they use more technology-based
financial services, such as online banking and investing. See figure 3. Notice
the insurance category is not popular among Asian-Americans, but they will
likely favor life and long-term-care insurance in the future due to the younger
generation becoming more assimilated into the mainstream U.S. culture (SRI
Consulting Business Intelligence). 
lipino
consumers in California. The slogan is that Wells Fargo understands the
consumers' financial needs and will be there to help their families every step
of the way. Figure 6 is a print ad Wells Fargo put out using a similar slogan.
This is a clear reflection of marketing utilizing the knowledge we have about
Asian-Americans. First, because they place financial planning as one of their
top priorities, they can be attractive and potentially profitable financial
customers. Second, Asian-Americans, especially Chinese, plan for the long
term. Third, they have very strong family values. Thus, they feel more assured
for their family and their future knowing Wells Fargo will be there every step
of the way. Lastly, notice the graduation cap in the ad, education is extremely
important to all Asian-Americans.
