Gay eyes for gay guys

Global gay marketing, gay advertising, lesbian and gay market research leaders. Gay Marketing 101 - The Updates.
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Companies marketing and advertising to gays and lesbians.

TOPICS: Gay and lesbian market. Gay fashion. Lesbian marketing, gay marketing, gay community, lesbian and gay advertising, lesbian market, gay travel. Lesbian fashion. Gay market research.

On the weekend in Brussels I was reminded of something that many gay men have known for years. There is such a thing as a 'sixth sense' when it comes to spotting other gay men. Walking along it is often the normal situation for two gay men to look at each other making eye contact in a unique way.

What does that mean?

Well, if you are not gay and have never experienced this it is a little hard to describe, but I will try.

It is not sexual per se, but rather a look of acknowledgement. For just a moment there is a recognition present in the other person's eye before you pass each other that says "I know. And I know that you know that I too am gay."

Does it mean anything? Well of course some bolder people may turn looks into conversation or more, but that is not what usually happens. Usually both people just keep walking but often feeling slightly better as they head into their day, knowing that they, as a gay man, are not alone. Lesbian friends tell me they often have experienced something similar. One lesbian friend of mine even insists she can spot a lesbian by the way she is dressed but I don't really want to buy into discussions of what does a 'typical' gay or lesbian person look like. In a world where the mainstream seems to be adopting gay sensibilities and fashion, the line between gay and lesbian and mainstream culture seems to be constantly thinning.

This is not so much just about how gay people look in terms of a lesbian or gay fashion sense, but rather how they look at each other. There is even a web based contacts business that has adopted the term "Gaydar" - a term often used by gays and lesbians to describe this experience of being able to 'spot' a fellow gay traveller.

There is a point to all this too from a marketing perspective.

All good marketing should communicate effectively with its target market, so gay marketing needs to communicate effectively with a gay market.

Does that mean then that you can only ever work with models who are gay for gay targeted advertising?

Perhaps not. But you should usually ensure that the creative team are either gay or gay sympathetic.

There are many examples of advertising appearing in gay media that does a pretty poor job at communicating effectively with a gay market audience. When we test advertising in focus groups, there are often complaints by participants that some so called gay targeted ads are doing a poor job at connecting with them. They often can't identify a single element but in a Gestalt sense these gay market research participants are identifying a quite real phenomenon - we perceive the world not as single elements but in combination with all other elements around.

That really means that gay advertising that does not 'speak' gay will be less likely to communicate with the intended gay market audience.

And that will mean less brand impact and fewer gay market sales and that is bad marketing.

So in gay marketing...it is worth taking the trouble to hire the right team to make sure that your brand gets it right when you go gay marketing. Many advertising creative teams think they can do good gay marketing but clients might be shocked to discover just how poorly it tests within the gay and lesbian target market.

Feel free to contact us if you want to learn more.

And in the meantime, see if you can spot the next gay guy or girl as they pass you on the street. You might just be tuning up your gay marketing instincts without realising it.