Gay Brands - Homogenius Game Marketing

TOPICS: Mainstream media news. US, Trivial Pursuit, Games, Gay, Lesbian. PR. Gay PR campaign for new gay brand board game - Homogenius. Dr Philip Kotler. Amsterdam. Brussels. Lesbian and Gay Pride. Holebi. Homo. Pride. Belgium. I amsterdam. Lesbian and gay tourism. Gay Travel. Gay marketing. Gay media news. Homo Light. Norway. Eurovision Song Contest. Finland. New board game targeting gay customers launces in US market. Homogenius latest in a long line of gay or pink brands.

You are at the Out Now Gay Market News -- Gay Marketing 101 gay market updates site. |||| To reach our main site on lesbian and gay market research, gay advertising and gay marketing strategies, visit OutNowConsulting.com.

To contact Out Now, send us an email.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gay brands come and go.

At Out Now we have seen, over the past 15 years, various efforts to promote a brand as a 'gay' brand.

Pink beer in Australia, Homo Light soda drink from Norway, and numerous other attempts to pinkwash a mainstream brand or product with a gay tinge have come and gone.

The latest effort Homogenius is a board game that targets the gay and lesbian customer's knowledge of gay culture.

It has a strong US focus so many from other countries may be left unsure of what to make of it all.

Homogenius even has it's own Homogenius - The Board Game website which tells us that "the object of the game, which comes packaged in a stylish trunk-like box, is to “come out of the closet” by correctly answering a series of gay trivia questions. The game consists of 355 question cards and 6 game tokens".

This effort may succeed where others have failed as it has a strong affinity with gay customers in a way that previous efforts - like 'gay' brand beverages - did not.

The issue is simple - it's all about brand relevance.

A gay beer or a gay soda has nothing to align itself with the consumer's own identity. Being gay is not a label one wears, or a product one buys, it is a fundamental part of who a gay person is, and attempting to suggest to the consumer that through buying a gay brand product they will achieve fulfilment is an odd notion to most gay customers.

To my mind though, this product is perhaps likely to see a marketing curve similar to The Billy Doll - a fad product that sells well to gay customers for a few seasons and then fades away.

Billy was a gay man's Barbie - and the range expanded to other dolls dressed in different costumes. Billy even had a 'friend' Carlos for a while. It was once quite chic and camp all at once to have a Billy doll at home to greet gay friends - with different costumes depending on where the evening was heading.

Now though Billy is a has-been doll - a true "collector's" item and he - and Carlos - are no longer being manufactured.

Homogenius is a fun idea - but probably one with a limited shelf life until the next big gay family fad happens along.

All of which reminds me of a conversation I had with the marketing guru Dr Philip Kotler in Amsterdam at the start of the 'Iamsterdam' destination marketing travel and tourism campaign to rebrand Amsterdam.

Dr Kotler asked me what Out Now Consulting did.

I replied: "Gay marketing."

The good Doctor looked puzzled, thought about it, then came back with: "Oh... Okay Ian... So... Your clients? They'd be brands like X-Box, Sony Playstation - and so forth?"

I stopped and looked puzzled.

Then the penny dropped.

Dr Kotler thought I had said "GAME marketing."

I explained we were the leading global gay marketing, advertising and PR agency, gave him a copy of our corporate brochure and a copy of my card.

It always pays to market yourself of course, and Out Now is now featured on a full page of the Dutch language edition of Kotler's seminal text 'Principles Of Marketing' Principes van marketing, 2005.

So to finish where we started - Out Now sees a short bright future for Homogenius, mourns the loss of Billy and Carlos - the gayest brands ever, and is not surprised nobody orders a Homo-light soda anymore.

As the gay Summer season of Pride starts in earnest with Brussels Lesbian and Gay Pride taking place today, with gay marketing mingled with gay pride celebration, we move the discussion on to perhaps the gayest gay brand there is - at least in Europe...

A truly gay brand that never seems to go out of fashion in the gay communty is not even gay branded but is gayer and camper than almost all the other attempts combined - The Eurovision Song Contest.

I am so pleased to be back in Europe for this one tonight - my husband and I have a difficult time finding scores low enough when we grade each entry in what is usually a Eurovision Song Contest debacle.

In my personal opinion, it all peaked for Eurovision when Dana International, the transgender Israeli contestant won it, but tonight's Eurovision Song Contest - in Helsinki Finland - promises much to astound and confound. Just like every Eurovision.

Sir Terry Wogan on BBC1, the Eurovision Song Contest on the box and a score sheet with marks that can never quite seem to go low enough all mean that a very camp night of entertainment is to hand!

As an old Antipodean, the UK Eurovision song entry, Flying the Flag - by Scooch, is my Eurovision pick.

It really is gay and camp and that is what Eurovision is today - the gayest gay brand of all.

And we love it.

Good luck England. Go Scooch!

To better understand how we never see the gay market as a trivial pursuit, contact Out Now.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For further gay marketing information, or to seek gay market advice, please contact: Ian Johnson, MD, Out Now Consulting
UK landline: +44-20-8123 5288 BE landline: +32-2-514 6443
mobile: +32-4737 60886
web: OutNowConsulting.com
news: Gay Market News - Gay Market Updates by Out Now

Gay PR. Global gay PR marketing, gay PR strategy, PR, training, gay advertising, lesbian and gay market research leaders.
Gay Market News is Gay Marketing 101 - The Out Now Gay PR Market Updates.
OutNowConsulting.com |||| GayMarketing101.com |||| Companies marketing & advertising to gays and lesbians. |||| Better understanding of the lesbian and gay consumer market. Gay market insight is Out Now.

gay market gay advertising gay marketing gay tourism gay travel pink dollar pink pound gay agency advertising marketing travel tourism gay lesbian gay and lesbian market research