This has been a tough two years for media across the globe! According to Advertising
Age, writes Jon Marks, the current recession has caused the worst advertising
slump since World War II, and although the overall economy has picked up in fits
and starts this year, the slump is by no means over.
So what does this mean for gay and lesbian media? After all, it’s almost a golden
rule in advertising that when times get tough, advertisers pull back to what they
know is safe, and niche-oriented media such as those targeting the gay and lesbian
consumer is one of the first advertising budgets cut.
But this time around, it seems a different path has been taken.
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There has already been a fundamental shift in how companies approach marketing and
ad placements in the past few years. The concept of “Permission Marketing” described
by Seth Godin in his book of the same name three years ago touched on a practice that
was gaining momentum even before this recent economic downturn.
The idea and fundamental shift is true “One on One Marketing” – i.e., to speak
directly to a consumer and deliver a message that is specifically relevant to him
or her. One on One Marketing is not a new concept… it’s how people have done business
for hundreds of years, but during the 20th century, there was an increasing shift
to mass production and mass consumption, and advertising followed along, reaching
consumers by the millions. Television became the medium of choice.
While “mass media” was the correct path for many advertisers, the alternative to
reach individual consumers was Direct Mail marketing, which is really the predecessor
to today’s One on One Marketing on the Internet. Advertisers were able to purchase
mailing lists from magazines and mail-order retailers and, based on key postcodes,
select demographics that were otherwise reachable only by a door-to-door sales person.
HIGHER ROI
Today, the Internet, combined with the growing strength of cable and satellite
television, makes direct One on One Marketing a reality. Advertisers no longer
need to spend millions of dollars trying to send a generic message to millions of
consumers at one time. Now, they can tailor their message to a specific demographic,
spending less and ensuring a higher return rate on their advertising investment.
This shift was already underway, but it took the recent advertising downturn to
help bring One on One Marketing to the forefront. As advertisers around the world
scaled back and became smarter about how they spent available funds, it opened the
possibility of testing new opportunities in Internet marketing. Many discovered
one of the gems hidden in the recent Dot.com rise and fall… marketing to a specific
niche market or affinity group online.
Although we know of the Dot.com failures, what we don’t hear as much about are
the true Dot.com success stories. In the gay and lesbian marketplace, there are
a wide variety of Internet sites that have a very strong sense of online community.
These “community sites” speak to the gay and lesbian consumer as never before.
Since gays and lesbians are a diverse group with widely varying interests, these
sites have successfully reached out to them and created a loyal following that can
range from 1,000 to tens of thousands of members online.
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CASE STUDY Crest Whitestrips
When the ad agency representing Crest Whitestrips had to reach large numbers of
a specific target demographic - gay male consumers residing in Canada – they faced
a dilemma. No gay and lesbian direct mail lists were available for rent. A new
gay and lesbian cable television channel had recently launched in Canada, but its
viewership was only around 20,000. Local gay and lesbian print in Canada was the
next logical choice for reaching the target segment, but it was decided that these
publications were inappropriate for the brand.
A few years ago, this dilemma would have proved much more challenging. However,
technology and GayMediaExpress.com enabled the ad agency to put together an effective
target-marketing plan that reached hundreds of thousands of gay male consumers
from Vancouver to Toronto and from Ottawa to Montreal! Working with 365Gay.com,
Direction Gay Quebec, GayCanada.com, GayCrawler.com, GayVancouver.net and GayWired.com,
the ad agency put the Crest Whitestrips brand in front of a of gay Canadian males
in ways that were both fun and informative.
The ads for the gay market were distinct from those used in the general market and
other market segments. The gay ads featured well-built, attractive men and
appeared on washroom posters in gay-popular bars, restaurants and health clubs
in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
A television commercial that reflected the “workout” concept was scheduled to air
on Canada’s gay cable channel, Pridevision TV, as well as at the Toronto,
Vancouver and Montreal GLBT film festivals, which Crest Whitestrips sponsored.
In addition, the brand sponsored the pride festivals in Toronto and Vancouver.
Several special promotions also made the Crest Whitestrips campaign stand out.
The Smile Team, a group of handsome, hunky men with great smiles, appeared at
pride and film festivals and in local popular bars and fitness clubs in Toronto,
Vancouver and Montreal during the summer.
An especially fun aspect of the campaign, according to Matt Skallerud, of
GayMediaExpress.com, was an online contest that gave everyone an opportunity
to vote, each week, for a Canadian man with a beautiful white smile.
“The “Reveal Your Whiter Smile Contest” gave this campaign a unique twist,”
Skallerud said. “Gay men love to look at handsome men. In this contest, they
got to look at 9 new, adorable smiling men every week, and were able to vote for
the best smile while having the opportunity to win a box of Whitestrips and $500.
How great is that?”
The contest began in mid-June, according to Skallerud, and has been publicized on
the five sites where Crest Whitestrips was advertised. Skallerud also said “It
would be great if the gay community lets Crest know how much they appreciate the
campaign and Crest Whitestrips recognizing the importance of the gay market.”
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EFFECTIVE BUY
The demographics these sites pursue are quite varied: Some sites are focused
geographically, bringing together gays and lesbians in the same neighbourhood who
might never have met had it not been for membership in an online community. Other
sites are focused on interests, such as sports, travel, entertainment and more.
Sites such as ProudParenting.com help to bring parents of similar interests and
backgrounds together for the first time. In addition, this site offers quality
news, content and resources that are specific to the gay and lesbian parenting
community. It may not be a large community in comparison to the millions watching
“Friends”, but it becomes an effective media buy because it
reaches specific demographics. There is no waste.
Working with the site owner or utilizing a media placement site such as
Gay Media Express,
an advertiser is now able to reach gay and lesbian consumers with banner advertising,
site sponsorship and direct e-mail. The privacy of the site’s members is never
compromised, as the site owner himself, not the advertiser, delivers this message
to his membership.
ENDLESS OPPORTUNITIES
So if the advertiser is a gay hotel in Amsterdam, this advertiser can now reach
potential hotel guests by advertising directly on the sites that a gay consumer
would use to find out more about the destination, book his flight as well as locate
his or her hotel room. The examples and opportunities are endless, especially
considering that every month new consumers gain Internet access (currently
estimated at two million per month and increasing).
As Internet communities continue to grow, advertisers are educating themselves about
how to better position their companies to reach the key demographics of online communities
and more effectively advertise with smaller budgets. Advertisers who can reach a
higher percentage of their key consumer demographic at the lowest cost will have a
distinct advantage over those who are still spending large sums and hoping to catch
a few potential new customers. Which advertiser do you want to be?
© Jon Marks, All Rights Reserved.
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