Posts Tagged ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’

Google Steps to the Plate, Now What?

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Yesterday, Google joined Cisco, Kimpton Hotels and the Gates Foundation in increasing pay to gays and lesbians to make up for the approximately $1,000 difference gay couples pay in domestic partnership taxes in comparison to their heterosexual counterparts.

So… what does this mean? Is this the case study we share with our employers to do the same or to our oppressors to validate our “marriages?” Do we just hang this up on our wall of accomplishments and hope that others follow suit? Just what does it mean that Google has returned one of the best results to its employees?

It means that talented gay and lesbian individuals power one of the most common household names, that the keywords you typed into the Google search bar has been routed to find your #1 response by someone who could be queer. Google is outing itself as a company with approximately 700 gay and lesbian employees and validating their equal rights as citizens of this country. It raises the profile of gays and lesbian in the workforce.

What can these companies do to keep the momentum?

They should continue to promote their policy by seeking opportunities so speak with gay and lesbian media (and general media as well) on the important decision to vouch for progress for the gay and lesbian community. This will create additional loyalty and showcase them as thought-leaders in diversity issues.

They can keep the momentum by encouraging partners and vendors to do the same. Yes, this sounds a bit like advocacy work – which is far off each company’s agenda in terms of gay and lesbian issues – but I am willing to bet each of these company’s LGBT employee groups would be willing to start this conversation.

What would you advise? What would you like to see? All comments are welcome!

| July 2nd, 2010 No Comments »
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Unicorn Booty Gives Businesses of All Sizes a New Channel for Reaching the Gays

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Pride Month brings with it a renewed or heightened fascination with the LGBT consumer for marketers and communicators. To start off your week right, here's the thoughts from one of the newest, provocative businesses leveraging social media and a unique business model to reach and engage LGBT consumers.

Nick Vivion and Kevin Farrell recently founded Unicorn Booty, a social media marketing platform that connects consumers with gay-friendly businesses. Nick spoke at the Community Marketing Inc. LGBT Marketing and Advertising conference in New York back in April. I personally remember being intrigued simply by the name at first, but quickly became impressed with Nick and Kevin's business model and thoughts on LGBT consumers and communications. Read on for the first portion of our Q&A with Unicorn Booty's Nick.


1. So just what is Unicorn Booty? How did you develop the concept and the name?

It's simple: Meet gay-friendly businesses every day. Unicorn Booty is an interactive marketing platform that connects the community with gay-friendly companies, so that we can support those companies that support us. Every day we feature a different business, and we give away a product or service from that business in our Daily Gay Giveaway. We then promote them through a custom video, photos, social media mentions and a complete takeover of our homepage. Each business gets an integrated social media campaign which is shared with an engaged, active and loyal audience. And our community gets a chance to win free stuff while learning cool products from gay-friendly businesses. It's a really cool symbiotic system!

After volunteering at the No on 8 campaign in California, and seeing how well-funded and organized anti-gay groups are, I realized that aggregating the LGBT buying power is more important than ever. After looking around, I couldn't find a solid resource to learn about gay-friendly businesses. Sure there was the HRC Buying Guide, but what about the small-to-midsize businesses that many of us frequent everyday?

Unicorn Booty was born out of the desire to encourage equality by allowing all businesses to be gay-friendly.

Since we believe that supporting businesses that support the LGBT community is the surest way to real and lasting change, we had to come up with a concept that would facilitate that.  We had seen a couple of interactive marketing websites that used social media and giveaways to promote a different company every day, and we thought that was the perfect model for what we wanted to accomplish. So Kevin and I put our heads together and we came up with Unicorn Booty. As we were brainstorming the name, we wanted something that was appropriately gay, had some magic in it and suggested bounty or prizes. Everyone loves unicorns and booty has the delicious double-entendre.

2. What’s your definition of the LGBT consumer/market today? What defines them, their purchasing decisions, and their communications?

The LGBT market is in many ways like any other market: It is fractured and affected by the current state of the economy. There is no longer one LGBT marketplace. They are segmented into groups along various lines: racial, sex, age, income, preferences. "Marketing to the gays" is pretty much meaningless, because it is a nearly impossible to create meaning for such a diverse group. For example, we have a different product every day. Not every product appeals to every one of our fans. But we are doing our best to diversify and reflect the varied interests of our community.

From our experience at Unicorn Booty, the most unique characteristics of the LGBT consumer community is that they are fiercely loyal. Once you have them on your side, they become instant evangelists. Brands are pieces of their identity, and so it's increasingly important to create an emotional connection with your customer. We knew that we had a powerful brand with Unicorn Booty, and know that a strong part of our success has been our brand. We wouldn't have been able to reach 8,000 fans on Facebook in 8 weeks with a different name!

3. What response have you seen to Unicorn Booty – both from consumers and businesses? What role do you play in the communications between the two?

The LGBT community is more well-connected than their straight counterparts. We know the Web, and we use it to our advantage daily. Whether for dating or shopping, for staying in touch or finding what to do this weekend, we are using the Web to discover and connect with the world around us. I think it's the nature of being a minority: You use all the tools at your disposal to connect with like-minded folk. We are working hard to leverage this affinity with the Web, so that people can really start seeing Unicorn Booty as a place to discover cool products from gay-friendly businesses.

As such, both businesses and consumers are responding.  Businesses look to the LGBT market for their engagement, loyalty and brand-consciousness. The LGBT market is looking for businesses that reflect their community. They don't want to be marketed to, they want to feel like the business is a permanent part of their community. We are helping facilitate that connection for businesses, acting as another conduit to the gay community. By being featured on Unicorn Booty, businesses are announcing to the world that they support the gay community.

We also see ourselves as a bit like a translation service: We take the business, synthesize its' core attributes through our filter and then present them as they appeal to us as gay consumers. We are a mix between a CoolHunting-style blog and a marketing firm. Interactive marketing is all about presenting information in unexpected ways, and we are working to position ourselves as a resource to any company that wants to engage with the gay market.

4. Is this business model sustainable for other target audiences? What plans can you share on Unicorn Booty’s growth and future?

There are most definitely opportunities within other niche markets for similar services. We are always looking towards the future and how we can grow this beyond the Daily Gay Giveaway. The gay market is incredibly underserved, and as it's estimated to be a $825 billion market by 2011, we are eager to serve.  There really are no good resources for consumers trying to learn about, and spend money with, gay-friendly businesses. We want to develop into a localized resource that empowers and enables the gay community to aggregate their buying power in a fun and unique way. This isn't a chamber of commerce, but a way of life.

Definitely be sure to check back tomorrow for the rest of our interview with Nick and more on their new ways of engaging the LGBT community.

| June 7th, 2010 No Comments »
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Transgender Win: American Eagle Updates Corporate Policy

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Thanks to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Make the Road New York, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting equity and opportunity for all New Yorkers, retail chain American Eagle has committed to changing its corporate guidelines and employee handbook to include transgender-friendly policies.

The retailer had an anti-LGBT policy on personal appearance for employees, requiring staff to wear gender-specific clothing. While this may not seem like a huge victory, the popular chain employs more than 2,000 people in more than 60 stores across New York State. That means that not only do current transgender employees are now allowed to wear the clothing that best expresses their gender, but that potential recruits will now not be deterred from working at the popular clothing store for fear of gender discrimination.

In addition to allowing workers to wear what they please, American Eagle has also agreed to train its staff on transgender issues, including which pronouns to use when referring to customers and fellow co-workers.

Although the change originated from a lawsuit that American Eagle decided to settle out of court on, an American Eagle company spokeswoman said “We wholeheartedly believe that transgender individuals should be treated equally.”

According to this New York Daily News article, the resulting settlement is “the first crackdown against a retailer under the section of the state's Human Rights Law that bars employers from discriminating against applicants because of their gender identity.” New York State’s Human Rights Law originally passed in 1945 was the first of its kind in the United States, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of “age, race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, military status, sex or marital status.”

While this is fantastic for transgender persons in New York State, let’s remember that a number of states still do not have any state-level protection for LGBT employees.

Of course, the Family Research Council (see here) has come out (no pun intended) stating that this violates the rights of American Eagle and its employees by imposing “cross-dressing” policies. Bill O’Reilly also covered the American Eagle announcement (see video below), seemingly comparing transgender people to "ewoks," as well as repeatedly asking the question, “So, if your name is Fred, you can dress like Dolly Parton?”

Now I love me some Dolly Parton (ewoks are another story) but comparisons like these only serve to bolster ongoing misconceptions about transgenders, particularly about what it actually means to be a transgender person.

Transgender is the state of one’s gender identify, self-identifying as a woman, man, neither or both. It doesn’t necessarily imply any specific form of sexual orientation. The term “cross-dresser,” while not exactly defined, is a person that identifies with one sex but who wears the clothing of the opposite sex.

It’s factually incorrect to suggest that all transgender are “cross-dressers” or vice versa, and it perpetrates misleading stereotypes about transgender people. This is why the Out Front Blog continues to stress that language matters and that words have power.

| May 20th, 2010 1 Comment »
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Looking Back, and Looking Ahead

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Happy Monday all. Hope you were able to enjoy the weekend.

Many thanks to Bryan for doing a great job blogging from the New York City Gay and Lesbian Marketing Conference on Friday. If you take the time to read through his posts, you'll see that we were able to network with some great minds in the LGBT space and share some best practices for outreach, and inreach, to our community. It was a terrific opportunity to hear about the latest LGBT data and trends to help inform our own work and recommendations.

As Bryan promised, I wanted to share my thoughts on the conference and key learnings. In no particular order:

  • The aging LGBT community needs specific attention. Members of this community were pioneers for us and our movement, and require tailored messaging to get their attention and to retain their loyalty. Lots of opportunities for companies to be first to market in this segment.
  • The young LGBT generation is a moving target. They are wiser regarding marketing strategies, and are incredibly informed and connected and don't follow the traditional LGBT media outlets. Additionally, this is a much more ethnically diverse generation. Harnessing their interest and plugging into their trusted forums is the best way to start a conversation.
  • There are still opportunities for companies to be first to market in the LGBT community, especially first to market in the lesbian community. According to some of the focus group data shared at the conference, lesbians feel that we are too focused on gay men, and that a majority of clients looking to engage with this community are advertising in magazines with an 85% male demographic. We need to market with them as women first, and appeal to their interests. We need to also be very careful with imagery in the lesbian space, because this community really notices when companies are using clip art/stock imagery and "hetero-cropping" images to fit the lesbian community.
  • There is no longer one catch-all LGBT demographic. It is vital that as communicators, we determine which segment within the LGBT demo that we are targeting, i.e. older vs. younger, gay vs lesbian, single vs. parents, and then tailor our outreach accordingly.
  • My new favorite terminology? DINKS = Double Income, No Kids segment
  • LGBT is now the term of the future, but let's make sure we don't forget about the B and T, even though there is not a lot of data out there to help guide these interactions.
  • Measurement with LGBT communications is key– make sure that you establish at the beginning how you will measure success and make sure your clients and colleagues understand the various ways you can measure your work.

Lots of key learnings, but even better, lots of great handshakes and new relationships formed. I look forward to working with Bryan to impletment all of these great ideas, and sharing more insights with you on here.

Have a great week.

  

| May 3rd, 2010 No Comments »
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True Financial Reform

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There is a lot of talk about Wall Street reform this week. The financial sector has always been just outside of my comfort zone—I know enough to be able to follow industry news, but I wouldn’t call myself a dangerous expert in it (my savings account reflects this as well).

The financial reform news I have been following this week comes from London and Hong Kong. According to the Financial Times, Galileo Capital Management has launched “LGBT Capital,” a corporate advisory and investment management company focused on the LGBT consumer market. The firm will initially provide two primary services: corporate advisory and business development consultation to companies that serve the LGBT sector and a fund investing in companies providing services to the LGBT sector.

The design of the business is rooted in proprietary research and conversations within the LGBT community. According to a survey commissioned by LGBT Capital, 30 percent of LGBT sector businesses felt they needed to adopt a degree of secrecy when setting up and seeking funding. Additionally, while a majority of these businesses have expansion goals outside of their current geographic location, 80 percent lacked specialist advice on how best to secure funding.

Who will benefit from this new service? According to the story, the company will be looking for good quality businesses that give investors – gay or straight – access to a market segment whose already substantial potential is set to be boosted by expanding gay liberation in both the developed and developing markets. And, what’s really great about LGBT Capital’s business model is that the company has committed to donating 10 percent of profits back into the LGBT community.

In today’s economy, we know that many small businesses are struggling. However, data keeps showing us that the LGBT community represents an affluent, untapped market. LGBT Capital clearly recognizes the value proposition of not only working in the LGBT community, but working with the community by funding big thinkers and innovators and helping LGBT business-owners realize their full funding potential. And the company is not just capitalizing on our community—they are giving back as well. Talk about a smart “return on investment.”

What do you think about LGBT Capital’s business proposition? “Innovative” or “It’s About Time”?

Self promotion moment… Remember when I blogged that I would be presenting at the New York Gay and Lesbian Marketing Conference? It’s tomorrow—and we’ll be blogging live, providing the latest trends, case studies and best practices on marketing to the LGBT community. Mr. Blaise will be providing real-time coverage, so check back throughout the day for news. Perhaps you’ll even get a picture of me looking like a pundit on cable news. That alone is worth bookmarking.

Have a great Thursday.

| April 29th, 2010 No Comments »
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