Archive for December, 2007

Out Front Blog Looks Back on 2007

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J0423034We’ve now completed our first full calendar year in the blogosphere. And what a time to be blogging: 2007 was the year when the blogosphere seemed to touch every aspect of our lives. And this was also a year in which there was always so much to consider, discuss and debate in the blogosphere. We’ve done our best to touch on as many of the gay and lesbian communications-related topics as we could, and we’ll keep at it in 2008. 

But first, let’s take one last look at the year that was 2007. We asked everyone on the blogging team to give us their take on one question:

  • What was the most significant/important/memorable LGBT communications breakthrough or LGBT communications campaign of 2007?

We’ve listed the responses from most of the team (note that we’ll ask Peter to add his thoughts in the Comments when he’s back from vacation next year):

Ben: The continued evolution of the LGBT community as a consumer audience. When the Snickers fiasco broke into the mainstream, it generated controversy and conversation and opinions were definitely divided as to the relative harm of the campaign’s message (even among our team). Regardless of how you felt about the campaign, you had to notice the reaction by Mars: the offensive campaign Web site was taken down and the campaign was ended. You might be tempted to say that the campaign never should have aired in the first place (my view), but the abandonment of it by its sponsor is further evidence that we have arrived as a powerful consumer force. We can’t and won’t be ignored any longer.

Eddy: For me the most memorable was the Air New Zealand debacle. I’m sure they will fill their flight to Sydney Mardi Gras next year but with a few exceptions everyone I have spoken to reacted negatively to the campaign. The responses ranged from the bemused to the downright offended. For me it was a textbook lesson on how not to reach gay consumers in 2007/08. Many airlines are doing a great job targeting this market, it’s a shame that this one decided that clichés and stereotypes were the way to reach a grown-up sophisticated audience.

Ivette: In regards to the Hispanic LGBT community, some of the most memorable moments of 2007 include placing us on the map. For example, acknowledging gay Hispanic characters (Carmen on the L Word and Justin from Ugly Betty), the coming out of Mexican pop music sensation RBD’s Christian Chavez, Logo’s news special on U.S. gay and lesbian Hispanics "Los Otros" and the result of GLAAD’s work with Univision top radio personalities. We are a minority within a minority, and like other ethnicities, the surfacing of current and relevant role models is much needed for the progression of our sub-culture in regards to acceptance and awareness.

Kim: For me the breakthrough of the year was Jodie Foster’s comment at the 16th annual Women in Entertainment Power 100 breakfast. For whatever reason, Jodie Foster now feels comfortable enough to mention her long time partner by name. I am SO proud of her for that powerful and freeing moment. It was a loud statement to the rest of the entertainment community that you can be successful, beautiful, smart, powerful AND gay. I deeply appreciate her honesty and commitment to her partner. In her acceptance speech, Foster thanked "my beautiful Cydney who sticks with me though all the rotten and the bliss." Don’t we all feel the love in that single statement?

Laura: For me, one of the most memorable LGBT communications campaigns was Chemistry.com’s campaign, "Come As You Are." It served as a tool to awaken eHarmony’s exclusive membership stance and the general public’s understanding of the discriminatory battle of the LGBT community. The campaign’s message revealed the rejection of the LGBT even in the digital world.

Rich: 2007 saw growth in the types and quantity of LGBT-specific media channels, both online, in print, and broadcast. Blogs (including our own!) and online news sites gained visitors as well as credibility. Gay blogs Queerty and Towleroad began to receive exclusives in breaking gay-related news and entertainment stories. Our Out Front blog uploaded its first podcast. The Advocate celebrated 1000 issues and Genre changed its look and editor. LOGO added new programming, including the “Big Gay Sketch Show” and broadcast a Presidential Democratic debate which received national attention. Communications professionals from all industries – from advertising to public relations -are now in turn beginning to utilize these channels to reach the LGBT audience.

Steve: While the "F" word debate that grew from the rumblings on the set of Grey’s Anatomy is significant and memorable, I have yet to make up my mind if the incident itself was a positive for our community. However, it helped raise the public awareness and drive media attention for months on different perspectives about respect for individuals and for diversity as a whole.

How would you answer the question? Let us know in the Comments below. And come back tomorrow for our look forward at 2008.

| December 31st, 2007 No Comments »
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Come As You Are

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J0403350Yesterday evening I was watching Project Runway on Bravo, when a commercial caught my attention. It begins with a handsome male, late 20s early 30s, flipping through the pages of Penthouse magazine. After a few moments, he tosses the magazine aside and says to himself: “Nope, I’m still gay.” The voice over then introduces chemistry.com as an online dating site which welcomes the more than 1 million gay and lesbian consumers which eHarmony.com has turned away.

This is part of Match.com’s new campaign “come as you are” which Peter blogged about earlier this year. I thought it very timely, relevant and admirable that the ad ran on primetime, mainstream television, even though Bravo is known for gayer TV programming than any other general network. You can view the commercial on Chemistry.com’s site, it’s the first one.

I did a little bit of research on the topic, and found this very interesting trail of comments on YouTube and Reason.com regarding the issue. The comments are pretty even on both sides. I was most impressed by the nearly 100,000 views the “come as you are” new ad had received. As a side note, this is another example of the effect of viral marketing, a practice that more and more of our clients are partaking in. There is hardly anything that personalizes your brand more than open dialogue with your consumers.

I digress; a question may arise on whether or not the commercial was okay to specifically signal out their competition as having turned away this audience. I support their tactic, especially because eHarmony had no qualms stating that they do not provide service for our community. And, it is especially the kind of assertiveness we need to be heard.

I am about halfway through building my profile (for research purposes) and I was glad to see the option to select the race of your desired “match” or partner. The language in my profile scenarios has even been tailored to talk about “her” as opposed to “him or her.” I would have liked to see a question on language, because I do prefer that my partner be bilingual, otherwise, how will she interact with my family? There is a better sense of credibility and connection when you can speak in language – this also applies to marketers when reaching minority audiences.

Kudos to chemistry.com! I would LOVE to see them remain even more relevant to our community by offering resources to the “what happens next” phase. They can partner with gay and lesbian “wedding” planners, offer tips on introducing your partner to family members or even offer some tips on how to financially become a couple together. Because today’s gays and lesbians do feel more comfortable being who they are than say, gayby booomers, we are learning this as we go right now. That type of counsel and guidance would result in high levels of loyalty.

So again, a job well done on these efforts! I look forward to what is to come from chemistry.com in 2008.

| December 28th, 2007 No Comments »
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Fashion with a message

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Earlier this month I talked about the complacency among the post-80s generation about HIV/AIDS and the shocking increases in new HIV infections among young gay men, and the need to develop campaigns to resonate with this demographic.

The global fashion giant H&M last week launched a new partnership with Designers Against AIDS (DAA) to create a new collection – T-shirts, tank tops and hoodies – aimed at young people and designed to bring home the message that HIV/AIDS remains a very real issue and a very real disease.

As Ninette Murk, founder of DAA, says in the press release launching “Fashion Against AIDS”:

“Fifty per cent of the people newly infected with HIV are aged between 15 and 24. There’s an urgent need to do something in this target group. By combining fashion with music in this way we hope to get these young people to ‘stop and think’, as Katharine Hamnett puts it on one of the garments in the collection ." 

The campaign combining fashion with celebrity is to me an excellent example of the type of effort that is needed not just to reinforce the safe-sex message but to empower young people to ‘stop and think’ about the consequences of their actions and the harsh realities of HIV/AIDS that all too often nowadays is dismissed as something only affecting the developing world.

There is not a gay element as such to this campaign, but the participation of the likes of Jake Shears and Rufus Wainwright as designers brings high-profile openly gay endorsement to the project. More importantly although it may not officially be a “gay store” I would venture to guess that there are just as many young 16-24 y/o gay men, if not more, shopping at H&M than going to any gay venue every weekend making it an ideal brand vehicle to communicate this important message to this audience. I remember making many a dash to the Covent Garden store in London to find a last minute outfit for an unexpected night out and still shop there for their inexpensive ‘disposable’ fitted t-shirts and accessories.

I’m sure the range will be stylish and affordable making it appealing to the young demographic who make up H&M’s customers. I hope it also manages to be more than just a fashionable line that’s forgotten about next season and the campaign uses the opportunity to communicate a strong, relevant message on HIV/AIDS to this audience beyond the slogans on the garments. It is young gay men who are experiencing the some of the highest rates of new infections, and it is young gay men who make up a large proportion of the brand’s customers, so I hope it will make an impact in terms of changing the frightening complacency culture that we face right now. I also hope more young trendsetting brands and celebs will join this campaign and leverage the powerful influence they have on generation Y.

| December 27th, 2007 3 Comments »
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2007 Predictions Follow-Up

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J0433165In January, I offered my predictions for the year. Now that the end of the year is upon us, I thought I’d review my prognostications. Here’s what I predicted:

  1. “at least one luxury hotel chain/brand not currently engaged with the LGBT market will decide to engage LGBT people this year.”
  2. “The growing fallout from religious scandals and schisms related to LGBT issues will actually backfire on anti-gay supporters by boosting mainstream acceptance of LGBT marketing and communications outreach…”

I think my predictions were pretty close, if not completely realized:

  1. Harrah’s and other Vegas-focused hoteliers are now actively courting the gay and lesbian market and Canyon Ranch and other spa industry leaders are now advertising to us in publications like Passport. So, that’s almost a full point.
  2. More industry leaders in various segments have engaged our community – for example, Southwest Airlines launched a gay travel site earlier this year. So, although it’s hard to prove a statement like that, that’s almost a full point too.

What do you think? Any thoughts on other trends this year that impressed you? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below. We’ll run another edition of our year in review and predictions for the new year next week. 

Happy Holidays!

| December 24th, 2007 2 Comments »
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We Are Everyday Consumers Too!

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J0411743

In today’s consumer-driven, U.S. economy, smart targeting and reach take on a whole new dimension. Marketers continue to refine, segment, target, and drive deeper into niche audiences to get their message across to the consumer. So how are we, the LGBT audience, different? We really aren’t!

In many ways, we are just like the everyday consumer. We read books, we obsess over our pets (OK, maybe a bit more than the average person!), we live in the ‘burbs, we pay our bills online, and we shop at the local grocery store. For the most part, day in, day out, the LGBT market is just as consumer-driven and consumer-savvy as the next person. So, why and how do marketers successfully reach us with their message? Here are two differing points of view I can offer:

1. Marketers do a great job of targeting us. How?

If you read any of the typical gay mags like Out or The Advocate, or go online to check
out your next dream trip with Olivia.com, you will notice some pretty smart marketing!
The advertisers here do a great job of not just showing off their products; they do so
in a gay-friendly way. Southwest Airlines may be the master of this. A recent Southwest
ad featured the headline “We’ve been a great travel partner for over 35 years.” The ad
features various recognizable destinations and two men holding hands on a beach in the
center photo. Make no mistake, Southwest was targeting us! And — surprise — when I
looked for the same ad in my Vanity Fair, Vogue, and Oprah magazines, I could not find it!
Why not? Why don’t we see ourselves in mainstream media more often? I love the customized landing page Southwest developed for those of us who go online to check out their tempting travel destinations (www.southwest.com/gaytravel). But hey, isn’t America ready for us to be seen in everyday places too?

2. Marketers waste their money trying to target us with their message. Why?

In some ways, we blend in to our communities. Many of us have lifelong partners,
we live in the suburbs, and we want to have a “normal” life. Why can’t we just mow our
yards, plant a summer garden, walk our dogs, jog in the neighborhood every morning,
and throw a holiday party for all our straight and gay friends and family? Well we can! And
we do. My partner and I recently hosted our annual holiday party. We did bother to select
a particular vodka that is well known as being a gay friendly brand, Absolut®. And we
were not swayed by the recent gay targeted ads for Svedka Vodka with their catchy headline “Homometrosexuals prefer Svedka over trendy labels.” We did not, however, select gay-friendly wine brands to serve just because they support gays. And I can report
we had a nice mix of our friends from work, our family, our neighbors, and our gay friends
for a great holiday celebration!

So, we can see smart and effective LGBT marketing continues to be a challenge. See Ben’s post from November 13th on this blog for his point of view on the Top Ten Mistakes to Avoid when Targeting Gay and Lesbian Audiences. Also, Community Marketing, Inc. (CMI) offers “Three Steps to Gay Market Success” for investing in gay and lesbian marketing: Step 1. Research; Step 2. Positioning and Preparation; and Step 3. Market Planning. While all of this may seem like Marketing 101, both Ben and CMI point out some unique challenges and difficulties in effectively reaching this audience. Check them out for more info on how to do smart LGBT marketing.

Bottom line: I still think good marketers will reach LGBT consumers in very relevant and
targeted ways. I’d love to know what you think. Let me hear from you. More to come next
month on consumer marketing to the LGBT audience.

| December 21st, 2007 1 Comment »
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