Comments on: Catering to a New Audience

By: @sarahmerion

@sarahmerion — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:58:46 +0000

Nice article shedding light on an issue that I personally never really thought about before. I love your articles for the new dimensions they add to the mix.

By: @sarahmerion

@sarahmerion — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:58:46 +0000

Nice article shedding light on an issue that I personally never really thought about before. I love your articles for the new dimensions they add to the mix.

By: @sarahmerion

@sarahmerion — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:58:46 +0000

Nice article shedding light on an issue that I personally never really thought about before. I love your articles for the new dimensions they add to the mix.

By: Elisa Doucette

Elisa Doucette — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:30:22 +0000

I'd say that brands might not be marketing so much in the mainstream media, but if you open a copy of The Advocate or turn to the Logo network I bet you'd see a lot of national companies. I actually remember one commercial by Levi's that had both a straight and gay version, yet only saw the gay version on the late night. As open as mainstream consumers SHOULD be to seeing gay advertising we barely have gay programming in the mainstream. I mean, really, why were there not scathes of gay commercials on Will & Grace while it was on the air?

I think one of the things that thrives in the gay community is niche marketing, which is why we don't see it as much in the mainstream media sources (unless you see LGBT media as your mainstream, such as The Advocate or Logo.) Here you have companies that might cater very seldomly to the straight markets and instead focus on the LGBT community. For having that much buying power they have got to be buying from SOMEWHERE, right?

By: Grace Boyle

Grace Boyle — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:55:32 +0000

You're right.

I found this from the advertising section in Time Magazine in '06 (albeit a bit old) it's interesting because that market is flourishing but it still hasn't taken hold:

“Advertising in gay-oriented outlets is flourishing. Beverage companies like Anheuser-Busch, holiday firms including Travelocity and automakers such as Ford helped nudge advertising spend in the US gay and lesbian press to USD 212 million last year, up more than a quarter since 2003.”

By: JStolarcyk

JStolarcyk — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:06:49 +0000

I think there's a degree of fear that marketing aimed at that community is 1) going to be dissected to death by its target community, 2) cause a backlash among other demos who are insensitive to the LBGT lifestyle or 3) hyperconscious of how damaging a massive fail on this front can be and how subtle the line between a great campaign and a horrible campaign can be. I don't know that Expedia wants to start exhorting its customers to plan their next gaycation with them.

By: Stuart Foster

Stuart Foster — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:06:24 +0000

That website is awful. Just terrible.

Obviously you want to avoid pandering and stereotyping people. It's definitely going to be an interesting scenario to play out. A line does exist…but I think it hasn't come close yet to even being ventured near.

By: Alexis Karlin

Alexis Karlin — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:50:50 +0000

I agree 100% with what you are saying. But when you have companies out there that are trying too hard or just not doing the right amount of research you end up with a website like this: http://www.365black.com/365black/index.jsp. So where is the thin red line? When are companies pushing the envelope too far?

By: Tweets that mention Catering to a New Audience -- Topsy.com

Tweets that mention Catering to a New Audience -- Topsy.com — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:49:42 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Stuart Foster, Stuart Foster. Stuart Foster said: Catering to a New Audience http://bit.ly/hV8Fp [...]