Wal-Mart Stores has kicked off a new advertising campaign, specifically tailored towards the Asia / Pacific American community. The ads, developed by the retailer with the Los Angeles-based IW Group, include television, radio, and print advertisements that will be featured in Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese and English in key U.S. markets: Los Angeles, Houston, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose. This marks the first time that the retail company has put together advertisements of any medium in an Asian language.
Wal-Mart is interested in tapping a bit more of the Asian-language speaking community, who are believed to hold more than $360 billion in purchasing power, according to a company statement. And just as previous ad campaigns, this one will feature "real" people, this time customers as opposed to the store staff that are usually involved.
It is curious to me that there is no Japanese treatment for the ads - are Japanese-Americans less likely to respond to advertisements in their native language, or is there information showing that those who speak Cantonese, Mandarin and Vietnamese are less likely to be as fluent in English?
1. I think that it's because most of the Japanese here are 2nd generation or have lived here for most of their lives, while most other Asian groups are only just establishing themselves in the US, so overall their language skills haven't progressed as much.
Posted at 4:13PM on Jun 16th 2005 by Thanol