Zan Ng's wavy locks used to hang down to his chin, giving the founder of Admerasia the look of a weathered rock star. Then at an Asian advertising conference last year, Ng swore he'd shave his head if a company from an industry not currently involved in the Asian advertising arena dove into the market.

The proposition was made at the 3AF conference in New York City last year. Ng was on a panel of media and advertising executives discussing the challenges of facing Asian-American marketing. A fellow panel member jokingly commented that Ng seemed to be losing his hair over the lack of interest corporate America showed in the Asian-American market.

That's when Ng jumped up and proposed to shave and tatoo his head with the logo of the next mainstream advertiser from an industry that has not advertised in the Asian-American market before.

In the world of minority advertising, the rise of one ship often lifts the tide for the whole industry. For example, if Coca Cola hires an Asian ad agency, other soda companies are likely to soon follow, providing enough business for the small handful of Asian ad agencies to prosper. That's why Ng's challenge was so savvy.

In early 2002, Foxwoods, the nation's largest gaming enterprise, selected Admerasia as their Asian-American agency. The decision was part of a larger strategy to reach minority segments; the African-American ad agency SpikeDDB and Hispanic agency HispanAmerica were also brought aboard.

'Foxwoods' management has made a serious commitment to maintain market share leadership by broadening penetration of core geographic markets,' said Martin Kramer, Foxwood's director of advertising. 'One way to accomplish this is by reaching out to the African-American, Asian-American and Hispanic segments which are among the fastest growing segments of the population in the Northeast region.'

'This is an enormously exciting relationship for each of us. Foxwoods recognizes that continued market share leadership relies on acquiring and cultivating loyalty among the growing African-American, Asian–American, and Hispanic patrons throughout the Northeast region. We are thrilled that Foxwoods' management recognized the strengths that our Agencies bring to their efforts,' said Dana Wade, president of SpikeDDB.