Related: PR Agency Profiles Directory · Multicultural Marketing & DEI
Originally published 2015. Rewritten and updated June 2026.
The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) population is the fastest-growing racial demographic in the United States, with buying power estimated at approximately $1.6 trillion in 2024 and projected to keep expanding through the decade. AAPI PR firms serving this market operate at the intersection of consumer marketing, cultural fluency, and language depth — a discipline mainstream generalist firms cannot replicate without specialist partners.
The firms below are the working shortlist. Named agencies with named founders, established client rosters, and continuous operating history serving AAPI consumers, brands, and community organizations.
The Landscape
Three categories of firm serve AAPI marketing and PR demand:
- AAPI-founded specialists — agencies built specifically around Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipino, and South Asian audiences. These firms carry language depth, in-market press relationships, and cultural insight that mainstream agencies do not maintain in-house.
- Multicultural full-service agencies — firms serving AAPI alongside Hispanic, Black, and LGBTQ+ segments in integrated cross-cultural campaigns.
- Mainstream firm AAPI practices — dedicated groups inside major PR networks (Weber Shandwick, Edelman, FleishmanHillard) built to serve multinational clients targeting AAPI consumers.
The strongest work typically comes from AAPI-founded specialists partnered with major networks — the model most Fortune 500 consumer campaigns run.
The Leading AAPI PR Firms
1. IW Group
Founded in 1990 by Bill Imada, IW Group is one of the longest-tenured Asian American marketing communications firms in the United States. Los Angeles-headquartered with offices in San Francisco and New York.
Client work has covered McDonald's, State Farm, Nissan, Toyota, Wells Fargo, Coca-Cola, Disney, and Lexus among others across multi-decade retainers. IW Group operates across advertising, PR, digital, and cultural insight — with particular depth in Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese consumer segments.
Imada is a widely cited voice on Asian American marketing, sits on multiple industry boards, and has been recognized across the trade press throughout his career.
2. InterTrend Communications
Founded in 1991 by Julia Huang, InterTrend Communications operates from Long Beach, California with additional East Coast presence. The firm's Toyota partnership — spanning more than three decades — is one of the longest continuous multicultural agency relationships in the U.S. automotive industry.
InterTrend's practice runs across strategy, creative, media, PR, and cultural intelligence. Huang has built the firm into one of the largest independent AAPI agencies in the country and remains its CEO.
3. Admerasia
Founded in 1993 by Jane Nakagawa, Admerasia is a New York-headquartered Asian American advertising and PR agency. The firm has represented American Express, McDonald's, Wells Fargo, HSBC, and Prudential across long-cycle campaigns targeting Chinese, Korean, and South Asian audiences.
Admerasia's approach integrates advertising, PR, and digital across Chinese, Korean, and multi-Asian channels — with New York's media ecosystem as its operating base for East Coast press outreach.
4. TDW+Co
Los Angeles-headquartered TDW+Co operates as a multicultural marketing agency with a defined AAPI practice alongside Hispanic and general-market work. The firm has served clients across telecommunications, financial services, healthcare, and consumer packaged goods, with meaningful in-language work across Mandarin, Korean, and Vietnamese consumer segments.
5. Multicultural Marketing Resources, Inc.
Founded by Lisa Skriloff, Multicultural Marketing Resources operates from New York's West 28th Street. The firm delivers PR, advertising, and research across multiple U.S. cultural segments including AAPI. Client work has included Wells Fargo, AARP, Southwest Airlines, Acura, and PG&E.
Multicultural Marketing Resources is smaller than the network-scale firms above, but its cross-segment execution and multi-decade continuity give it a defensible niche among smaller and mid-size clients.
What Changed — 2020 to 2026
Four shifts have reshaped AAPI PR demand over the past five years.
The K-culture wave. K-beauty, K-pop, K-drama, and Korean food and lifestyle brands moved from niche cultural exports to mainstream U.S. category leadership. AAPI PR firms with Korean-market depth and press relationships pulled ahead of generalist multicultural agencies.
AAPI luxury. The high-net-worth Chinese and South Asian consumer segments moved from underserved to actively targeted by fashion, hospitality, jewelry, and real estate brands. Firms that could execute in-language luxury campaigns — press placement in Sing Tao, World Journal, India Abroad, and the equivalent Korean and Vietnamese-language press — captured the strongest new mandates.
Streaming and creator content. Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, and Apple TV+ launched aggressive AAPI-targeted content strategies. PR firms working streaming clients needed talent, screening, awards, and creator-partnership execution across bilingual audiences.
AI Communications. The move to answer-engine visibility affects AAPI PR the same way it affects the rest of the industry. Firms serving Fortune 500 AAPI campaigns are increasingly expected to measure their clients' presence inside AI engines — ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini — for both English and in-language queries.
Choosing the Right AAPI PR Firm
Three criteria for a shortlist:
- In-language depth in the specific segment you're targeting (Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, South Asian). Multi-language capability is often marketed but rarely delivered at the depth mainstream campaigns require.
- Named client continuity with brands in your category. Long-tenure retainers are the tell — AAPI PR relationships tend to be durable when the work delivers.
- Press relationships with the AAPI trade press (Sing Tao, World Journal, KoreAm, India Abroad, and the equivalent regional dailies) plus the growing English-language AAPI outlets (Character Media, NextShark, and the AAPI verticals at major U.S. outlets).
For campaigns crossing multiple AAPI segments, partnering an AAPI specialist with a mainstream network firm is typically stronger than defaulting to one or the other alone.
