TransCity

Marketers in the US looking to reach the influential Asian youth demographic are using the boba café chains popping up in California and 18 other states.

Boba cafés are named after a special tea that has a moderate amount of tapioca ‘pearls’ - also known as ‘boba’ in Mandarin - at the bottom of the cup. The boba tea craze took off during the 90’s in Asia and has remained popular ever since.

In recent years, several boba teashop chains have spread rapidly across 19 U.S. states, particularly in California. The bubble tea craze has created a fun atmosphere for young Asians to hang around and mingle with friends, and has opened a door for marketers.

Washington Mutual for instance, is marketing its new free checking product at two boba café chains concentrated in highly populated Chinese communities in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

‘Washington Mutual is always looking for new ways to reach the Chinese-American population’ says Betty Kao, who works on the account at IW Group in Los Angeles. ‘We chose the cup sleeves in boba cafés because they are mobile. A person can buy a boba coffee and get a sleeve with it, and it will go wherever these people go.

Washington Mutual’s campaign is just an example of how more firms see teens and young adults, particularly in multicultural subgroups, as greater influences in decision-making. Getting the attention of the younger consumers is seen as the entreé to the older generation of Asians as well.

Source: Marketing News