by Matthew Jones

More than 14 years ago, interTREND began as a small advertising office opening its doors to embark on a large mission - to help leading corporations reach out to the ever-expanding, as-yet-untapped Asian American marketplace.

Today, that same advertising agency boasts an estimated $50 million in annual billings, and more than 45 employees. Its client list is a virtual who's-who of the marketing world with such names as Toyota Motor Sales, State Farm Insurance, J.C. Penney, and Western Union, to name a few of the national clients.

Looking at the explosive buying power of the Asian American market, it comes as no surprise that smart marketers are scrambling to keep pace. interTrend is one of the very few agencies to successfully service the Asian American market; and its success has been based on a simple formula - greater service and ideas equal greater billings.

"Most of our growth comes from existing clients and incremental spending," said Julia Huang, founder and CEO of interTREND. "(Clients are) careful when they first come in, but as time goes on, they're more committed - really committed. The the return on investment for those who are really committed to diversity has been great."

If return on investment is the name of the game, then the Asian American market represents the heavyweight champion of opportunity. Weighing in at nearly four percent of the population (11.2 million), it is a large community, and over the next 20 years, is expected to grow by 75 percent. It also happens to be the wealthiest segment of the American population measured on a per capita basis - with the US Census Bureau estimating $350.6 billion in buying power in 2004."

Despite its considerable economic influence, the Asian American market remains invisible to many in corporate America. At the root of the problem are inaccurate assumptions about Asian Americans in general. Most under-informed marketers erroneously believe that Asian Americans have fully assimilated into the American culture and do not warrant the extra effort and budget to reach. Others argue that most Asian Americans see themselves as white.

In reality, the Asian American market is a complicated mix of ethnic communities - each with its own voice, visions and preferences. "There are a lot of myths out there (regarding the Asian American market)...and, a lot of misinformation," said Huang.

Even among advertisers who are better informed, the complexity of the Asian American market poses a significant barrier that most are unprepared to assume.

"The challenge is language, and the segmentation of the marketplace," explained Huang who is a Taiwanese American, although she is not fond of labels.

"It's very complicated, and lots of clients don't want to deal with it. They're slow in getting into the market. (The difficulty is) not just from a language (or cultural) standpoint, but from a consumer standpoint as well. (Each sub-group demands) different product characteristics."

Huang and her agency teams have spent a great deal of time bringing clients up to speed on the different needs and nuances of the various Asian markets. Over time, clients have come to appreciate the nuances, and that has freed Huang to focus more on the creative product, rather than the education process.

"(In the past), we would have to talk about demographics. Selling the agency's work was secondary," explained Huang. "(The education process) diluted our message. Now we can focus on pitching the agency's work."

In the end, billings are up. Clients are happy; and the work has gained recognition for its quality and effectiveness; but the struggle continues.

"We still have a ways to go," said Huang. "We're still not getting the respect we deserve (as a separate and distinct market segment)."

interTREND: Shining a Spotlight on an Invisible Market

Looking back on things, It seems Huang was destined to be a pioneer, leading top marketers to the Asian American marketplace. In her early marketing days, she worked for American Standard, led their Asian American marketing effort.

"I was selling toilet bowls to cultivate the Asian American market," she said. "They had foresight. This was 20 years ago."

From there, Huang went on to work in the strategic planning group for a Japanese venture capital firm called Allied Holding Company. While at Allied, Huang's professional life took a dramatic change.

She was at dining with several Allied clients one night - and among the guests was Al Checchi, who was then the CEO of Northwest Airlines. In a spirited moment, Huang challenged Chechi on his company's poor acknowledgment of Asian American consumers.

"I frequently took the Northwest Airlines route to Asia - but I never saw any Asian crewmembers," she explained to a surprised Chechi. Huang went on to tell him that Northwest was failing to reach her community.

Two weeks later, Huang received a call from Chris Clouser, Northwest's top marketing executive. He had "heard she had some criticisms" regarding the airline's advertising efforts. Instead of assuming a defensive posture, Clouser responded with an interesting offer. He told Huang that he was looking for an Asian American advertising firm, and wondered if she could put her money where her mouth was.

Huang said she could, and interTrend was born; but the birth was not without some reservations.

"We made the name (of the agency) as nebulous as possible, as flexible as possible," said Huang. interTrend could be a flower shop, a restaurant - it could be anything we wanted, if the agency idea didn't work out."

Clearly, the agency idea worked out, and soon interTrend was in partnership with J. Walter Thompson (JWT), which was then the lead agency for Northwest Airlines.

After having success with Northwest, the two agencies began sharing a relationship with Sprint, which was significant because the telecommunications industry was one of the first to acknowledge the Asian American market.

"The telecommunications industry really made the Asian marketing industry," said Huang. "At the time, 40 to 60 percent of international calls were made by Asians. For telecom companies, the money just flowed in. Calls to Taiwan were $3 a minute. It was very competitive."

Eventually, David Riemer, who was then overseeing Sprint business for JWT-SF, suggested that interTrend pursue their own contract with Sprint in order to streamline the billing process for both agencies.

The following year, Sprint's Asian American marketing budget ballooned from roughly $100,000 to about $5.6 million.

"If he had known that it would turn into a $5.6 million dollar account that next year, he would have never handed it over to us," joked Huang about the timing of the budget boom. But as many smaller agencies have discovered, such a large, sharp increase can be as problematic as it can be profitable.

"It was the most fortunate, and most unfortunate, thing that had ever happened to us," explained Huang. "Everything we did, we did for them. For the sake of stability, you couldn't be a one-client agency."

After four years of having Sprint drive the agency's staffing levels, services and just about everything else, interTrend resigned the account.

"It was a big sacrifice," said Huang of the decision. "We didn't get another telecom client for more than four years."

A Shifting Paradigm

Small agencies routinely make decisions regarding clients and their accounts, but issues are often magnified, and can become infinitely more complicated when a small agency shares an account with a larger, general market agency.

Historically, whichever agency established the client relationship maintains the upper hand in the agency-to-agency relationship - and oftentimes, the only hand when it comes to managing the client. In an era of global and ethnic marketing, however, traditional client-agency and agency-to-agency relationships have begun to shift.

"Unfortunately, the diversity initiatives are always driven by the clients, rather than the general market agencies," explained Huang. "For the longest time, general market agencies acted as though we were translation companies, merely adapting their work. If they could just do advertising for white folks watching football, they would just do that."

Such scenarios are increasingly rare options given America's rapidly changing demographics. Everyone realizes that ethnic agencies have an critical role to play. In fact, general market agencies are increasingly seeking partnerships, subsidiaries, or agency buyouts in order to service their clients' ethnic market needs.

"The first thing (general market agency leaders) do is strike an alliance (with an ethnic agency), so they can provide added value," said Huang. While such alliances are becoming business imperatives, Huang is not convinced that they are structured to always bring forth the best ideas. "General market agencies are more open-minded because it's politically correct and because they can make money - not because inclusion creates better ideas," declared Huang.

As the agency mix changes, so too does the process by which ideas are heard - and sold. In an increasing trend, general market agencies are finding themselves playing "catch up" with their ethnic counterparts when selling truly universal, breakthrough ideas.

"The great, innovative ideas are colorblind," said Huang. "I'm not just in ethnic marketing, but also in direct marketing, promotions, public relations - and (clients) are going to go with the great idea."

Huang hopes to replicate the success that many African American agencies have had in establishing innovative campaigns. "African American agencies come up with great ideas, because if you look at it, African American culture is driving pop culture," said Huang.

Despite the growing fluidity in the industry and the size of the Asian American market, Asian American marketers continue to lag behind other ethnic marketers, both in terms of billings and attention. "(Asian American marketers) are down in the lower, lower echelon of ethnic marketing to begin with," said Huang. "(Agencies) say they have ethnic and diversity units, but they don't have Asian (capabilities)."

Given the pace with which interTrend is gaining attention, the invisibility of Asian marketers might soon change. After all, the money is in the Asian American market and corporate America is likely to chase after it.

Julia Huang is not a Doctor but definitely part of the Solution

Huang's status as a sought-after leader within the marketing industry is clearly an anomaly, and she has had to fight through many social and cultural barriers.

"(Some members of) my family would have preferred me to be, or marry, a doctor," she said Huang. "Most professional Asian Americans (in this industry) go through this. They ask you, for the one-thousandth time, 'What do you do?' You tell them, and then there is this silence. One time, my uncle finally said, 'So, you're a con artist."

Huang's family does not disapprove of her chosen field, but they are reluctant to understand it. "They don't try to understand," said a slightly frustrated Huang. "For them, what you do for a living boils down to a bunch of professional buzzwords - doctors, dentists, engineers, MBAs - everything else is just a blur.

Despite the deliberate knowledge gap, Huang appreciates the love, respect and support that she receives from her family and it helps to keep her strong and focused on bringing along the next generation of young, Asian American marketers.

It's satisfying to talk to college graduate students who say that marketing is what they want to do, and that marketing to Asian Americans is what they want to do," said Huang. "To hear them say they've heard about my work and it's what they want to do is very satisfying. It's an obligation that we have to continue."

The End

This article originally appeared in the February 2005 edition of diversityinbusiness.com (http://www.diversityinbusiness.com/dib2005/dib20502/Adv_interTREND.htm)