Gay Market 2007 - Enrique and Gay Branding

There was a lot that went on in 2007. The cult of celebrity combined with increasing acceptance of gay people to create strong interest in gay celebrities. What does Enrique Iglesias have to teach about gay market branding? A lot.
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Ian Johnson, Out Now
December 30, 2007

Access market research and gay marketing at the leading edge -- gay marketing expert strategic advice from Out Now -- the experienced global strategic gay marketing, research and communications agency, specialized in targeting the lesbian and gay consumer market.

In our rundown of some of the leading gay marketing articles from Gay Market News during 2007, we discussed earlier how a years long integrated gay marketing strategy by the Fort Lauderdale destination marketing organization was put in jeopardy in 2007 by anti-gay remarks by the city's mayor, which threatened to damage the Fort Lauderdale brand in the gay market.

Following on from that theme, a great lesson in branding for the gay market came in 2007 from a perhaps unlikely source: Enrique Iglesias.

It is worth understanding the strategic impact Enrique Iglesias made in positioning the 'Enrique' brand for the gay market -- with insight and strategy demonstrated at a personal appearance in London's GAY club.

Enrique Iglesias and lessons in gay market branding.

Enrique delivers a textbook gay marketing lesson well worth learning by the increasing numbers of brands seeking to target the lesbian and gay market.

Here is a video of Enrique Iglesias's performance in 2007 at GAY London, and below is an extract from the Gay Market News reporting on it at the time.



Enrique and Gay Market Branding

So what does Enrique Iglesias have to teach us about market positioning and communications strategies for the LGBT market?

Last weekend in London, Enrique Iglesias gave a very good lesson in 'Gay Marketing 101' on how to take a mainstream brand and better position its communications strategy to target an LGBT market.

If you were to think of celebrity brands that convey mainstream heterosexual sex appeal, Enrique Iglesias would be a brand quite at home in that list. Does that mean that Enrique - as a brand - does not, or should not seek to, appeal to a gay male audience? Not at all, as the audience at G-A-Y club in London discovered last weekend to their great delight.

The issue really is - what to do then with a mainstream brand in a gay market space?

How do you take a mass market brand targeted at the mainstream market and reposition it to have relevance and authenticity for gay consumers? One thing Out Now has advised customers for years is to not try to pretend your brand is a 'gay' brand when it isn't.

Unless your brand is one that targets an exclusively gay audience, your brand communications strategies in the LGBT market need to 'walk the line' between demonstrating support for GLBT consumers whilst not patronising gay and lesbian attitudes and opinions.

Lack of sincerity is almost always obvious from a long way off, so it is important for a brand to send a message to gay and lesbian customers that the brand is supportively positioning itself to say: this is quite clearly not a gay brand but this is a brand that values you, the LGBT consumer, as a part of the brand vision.

So what does Enrique Iglesias have to do with all that?

Enrique Iglesias gets it right.

He showed a gay audience that he understood the market space - or media environment - in which the brand was positioned - where he was and who he was in communications with.

The audience did not need to think or care that Enrique himself may not be gay.

What they wanted - and what Iglesias delivered extremely well - was the clear message that here was a non-gay brand, seeking to appeal to a gay customer base by extending its brand relevance to include gay customers.

The message was 'I am here in your gay market space, I support you and hope you might choose to support my brand as a result.'

That is good gay marketing at its best - subtle yet unambiguous - and at least one young gay man understands that now, and better than most - thanks to Enrique Iglesias last Saturday night at GAY club in London.

For information and help with understanding gay marketing issues at any time of year, as well as how to reach gay market consumers with effective gay marketing communications strategies -- and how to most effectively understand and meet the consumer needs of the lesbian and gay market, rely on the gay market experts, Out Now. Leading in the gay market since 1992.
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