Gay Market News is Out Now. Gay Marketing 101.

Gays and lesbians are not immune from the effects of recession. But a lower presence of children in gay and lesbian households can lead to higher levels of available disposable incomes. This article from Ireland explains just how much that can add up to.


Ian Johnson, Out Now
October 30, 2008

Gay and lesbian marketing. Out Now lesbian and gay market research. GCN Ireland. Gay Community News magazine. Dublin. Out Now GCN Gay Market Study.

The recession and credit crunch chatter continues unabated.

When times are tough, the tough get smarter. Or something like that.

Ireland's gays and lesbians are labouring under the same difficult prevailing economic conditions as all consumers. But what is interesting is that lesbians and gay men usually live in households with few children.

That is not to say that gay people do not become parents. Far from it. In 2005, Out Now research in the UK market revealed that one in five lesbians there is already a mother.

Nonetheless, kids are expensive, and having fewer children enhances consumers' levels of disposable income.

In this time of global credit crunch that means that smart marketers are looking for cost-effective marketing opportunities in which to invest sparse marketing funds for maximum returns.

Sounds a lot like the gay market to me.

Ireland's Evening Herald newspaper seems to agree, as they run with a front page story tonight on just this topic.

Here is an extract of their gay marketing news article today:


How the pink pound is helping Irish business beat the crunch

IRISH gay consumers are the biggest untapped marketing group, a new study has found.

While many people have slowed their spending in the midst of a recession, homosexual punters are still spending heavily on clothes and music downloads.

A new survey claims to be the most comprehensive analysis of the 195,000 recorded gays and lesbians living in Ireland, who earned a massive €8.75bn in 2007.

Spenders

It has been revealed that out of this income, this group spent over €58m on fashion, more than €33m on grooming products and put a total of €16m on their credit cards.

Marketing experts are advising their business people to appeal to the gay and lesbian consumers to cash in on the big spenders in this time of recession, following a survey which suggests that the the multi-billion-euro homosexual demographic is still spending heavily.

The Out Now GCN Ireland Gay Market Study found that gay and lesbian consumers offer marketers significant opportunities to grow their revenues during the country's worst economic conditions in more than 20 years.

"Gays and lesbians are obviously not immune to the effects of the general economy," said CEO of Out Now Consulting Ian Johnson. "But as a market grouping with much less competitive brand noise, and the positive effects on household disposable incomes of very large numbers of DINK -- Double Income No Kids -- consumers, the gay market makes a lot of sense for mainstream brands to target, especially at this time of recessionary fears.

"This research shows that gay consumers offer a significant new market opportunity for companies in a number of consumer categories that are currently hurting because of the recession in Ireland," he said. "Targeting this very brand-aware, extremely loyal market simply makes for smart business.

"That has always been the case, but this market is relevant now more than ever as marketers need to direct limited marketing budgets towards consumer target markets with the greatest disposable spend potential."

GCN - Gay Community News

The survey was undertaken on behalf of Irish gay glossy magazine GCN. Managing editor of the magazine Brian Finnegan said: "A new, diverse trend has grown in advertising towards the gay community of late. While luxury lifestyle brands continue to be perceived as relevant to gay consumers, more and more everyday issues and products are targeting this market."

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Gay market insight is Out Now: Gay Marketing. Solved. OutNowConsulting.com
To contact Out Now, send us an email.
-------------------

For information and help with understanding key gay and lesbian marketing issues, 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.

All content on all Out Now websites (C) 2008 - Out Now. If you find any material you believe is subject to other copyrights here, other than allowed fair use for copyright purposes, please contact Out Now with details. LGBT communications. Gay PR. Global GLBT marketing, gay public relations strategy, GLBT PR, LGBT issues training, gay advertising, LGBT market, lesbian and gay market research leaders, gay marketing. Gay Market News is Gay Marketing 101 - Out Now Gay Marketing, Advertising, Gay PR, Market Research. Travel Market. Training. Out Now Gay Market News -- Gay Marketing 101 gay market updates site. 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 glbt lgbt communications community pink euro

Gay Market Leaders - Berlin Tourism Marketing

To succeed in the lesbian and gay market takes commitment, budget and most importantly - time. Berlin Tourism Marketing provide a textbook example of how to do just that.


Ian Johnson, Out Now
October 29, 2008

TOPICS: Gay and lesbian marketing. Berlin Tourism. MyGayGermany. 100% GayGermany. Lesbian and gay travel to Germany. Tourism marketing of Berlin and Germany to the GLBT tourism markets. GNTO. BTM.

Berlin is a place that has vast appeal for many different kinds of tourists.

Lesbian and gay consumers are paramount amongst them.

Out Now has worked with German National Tourist Office and Berlin Tourism Marketing for several years to credentialize these destinations with lesbian and gay travelers.

With more and more locations vying for the lucrative lesbian and gay tourism dollar - destinations need to think outside last year's strategy, and put their gay travel marketing onto the leading edge.

Out Now's new campaign for Berlin - MyGayBerlin - is launched in partnership with Lufthansa and German National Tourist Office.

The campaign utilizes social media and involves starting a conversation with the gay travel market.

The web channel YouTube.com/MyGayBerlin connects the target markets with the story of Joe - a journalist from Gay Times GT magazine.

The nine short videos cover a diverse range of activities that interest lesbian and gay travelers. Sightseeing. Architecture. Dining. Shopping. And - of course - gay clubbing.

Here are a couple of samples from Out Now's new MyGayBerlin campaign for Berlin Tourism Marketing.




The trip to Berlin left our journalist tired, but happy -- and eager to return. A very good result for advancing gay tourism to Berlin.



If you would like Out Now to help you take your marketing to the leading edge, please do get in touch.

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To learn how to get lesbian and gay marketing strategy right -- rely on gay marketing expert strategic advice from Out Now -- the leading experienced global strategic gay marketing, research and communications agency.

Gay Market Leaders - UK Gay Market

Much of the gay marketing activity traditionally used to be centered on the North American gay and lesbian markets. Now increasingly it is Europe that leads the trends when it comes to the latest in lesbian and gay market developments.


Ian Johnson, Out Now
October 29, 2008

Gay and lesbian marketing. Mainstream trade media coverage of lesbian and gay market developments. Marketing magazine. Brandrepublic. Out Now 'So Gay' campaign. UK industry coverage of trends in gay and lesbian market.

One of the good things about my job is that after nearly two decades as a lesbian and gay specialist marketer, you begin to get an increasingly clearer picture of where the gay market has been - and where it's headed.

When we set up Out Now back in 1992, it was the US market that led the field.

Nowadays though, it is increasingly the brand marketing activities of companies in European markets that set the pace and develop new trends.

We are certainly seeing that with many of our clients - as the comfort factor increases between the brand and the market, so too does the ability to deliver leading-edge marketing solutions.

And all designed to maximize gay and lesbian target consumer response.

Sweet.

There is a very interesting (and lengthy) lesbian and gay marketing article discussing the latest that is going on in the UK market on the advertising, PR and marketing trade publication website BrandRepublic.

The article - which originally appeared in Campaign magazine - discusses some aspects of marketing trends that have seen many of the leading-edge gay and lesbian marketing campaigns of recent times originate in European markets.

Here is an extract:

The New Demographics: Gay Groups

With statistics showing gay men and women to be higher-than-average earners, advertisers are beginning to recognise a lucrative, if heterogeneous, market. Claire Murphy investigates.

With consumer spending power so curtailed by the effects of the economic downturn, what marketer wouldn't be interested in targeting a group whose members earn more than the national average, spend it more freely and display significant brand loyalty?

Income figures were (recently) updated by the Out Now 2008 Millivres Gay Market Study in May, which found gay men earning £31,099 and gay women £23,882.

The research was drawn from readers of the three publications owned by the Millivres Prowler Group, GT (formerly Gay Times), Diva and the Pink Paper. They show that the gay community has a significantly higher income than heterosexuals - men by 20 per cent and women by 17 per cent.

Given that 41 per cent of the gay community holds a degree and that 13 per cent of men and 11 per cent of women are in management, their elevated salaries are hardly surprising.

So far, so promising. But despite the potential commercial benefits to be reaped from targeting the gay community, it's hard to find marketers operating with any consistent strategy in this sphere. Barclays has been sponsoring Stonewall Football Club and the International Lesbian & Gay Yachting Cup since declaring, in 2005, that it wished to be the "bank of choice for gay people". This was the year that legislation was passed that introduced civil partnerships - clearly a motivator for the bank.

Yet marketers of blue-chip brands have been committing more of their budgets to the gay media over the past few years. Although the print titles and websites do still rely on ads from smaller, gay-oriented products, including DVDs, sex toys and dating services, brands such as L'Oreal, Vauxhall, American Express and Johnson & Johnson have also been booking space.

Gay magazines have moved down from their former "top-shelf" spot at newsagents. Titles such as Attitude, GT and Refresh, aimed at men, tend to sit next to the likes of Nuts, FHM and Men's Health. The gay women's title Diva can be found near magazines aimed at people from ethnic minorities, wedding titles and, somewhat oddly, puzzle magazines.

Ian Johnson, the founder of the gay marketing specialist Out Now Consulting, believes the market is still so fledgling that major brands that are seen to support it by advertising in the gay press receive a significant amount of loyalty: "Because this market has historically been ignored by marketers, those brands that are seen to be investing in the community can reap the benefits, as long as it's not just a case of running the gay flag up a pole and expecting gays and lesbians to stand and salute."

Unsurprisingly, publishers in the gay media sector believe their brands offer the best way to target a community that identifies itself clearly as a group. "This is a very complex sector - it would be naive to think an ad in The Guardian would deliver the gay market en masse," Kim Watson, the media director of Millivres Prowler Group, says.

Gay parents are a growing group worth the attention of marketers, Watson adds, as are gay professional groups. Diva has been carrying increasing numbers of ads for adoption agencies, although none of the large nappy brands has yet booked space.

"The gay media generally offers the best-value cost-per-thousand, but there are opportunities in mainstream media," Johnson says. "The TV programme Project Runway, for example, has a high proportion of gay and lesbian viewers, so would be a good media target."

AMRO WORLDWIDE

Amro Worldwide is a travel agency set up by Andrew Roberts in 2002 to cater specifically for the gay market. Its marketing edge is that all the hotels it books clients into have been personally checked to ensure gay people will be welcome.

Although he is a supporter of gay media - and advertises in GT and Diva - Roberts branched out into a poster campaign in June this year to coincide with London Pride.

With financial contributions from the six US tourist boards from the regions the ads were promoting, he ploughed £20,000 - three years' worth of marketing budget - into buying up escalator and lift ads at the nearest Tube stations to the parade, Covent Garden and Leicester Square.

Out Now Consulting was given the task of managing the process and creating the ads.

"By adding these poster sites, we (got) two million people passing our ads over the two weekends - and 100,000 gay men and women."

The creative for the London Underground poster campaign centred on the line "So gay", and subverted its increasingly common use as an insult.

Early responses show that the campaign struck a chord - hits on Amro's website were 30 per cent higher than in the month before the campaign ran.

Gay market insight is Out Now: Gay Marketing. Solved. OutNowConsulting.com
To contact Out Now, send us an email.
-------------------

For information and help with understanding key gay and lesbian marketing issues, 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.

All content on all Out Now websites (C) 2008 - Out Now. If you find any material you believe is subject to other copyrights here, other than allowed fair use for copyright purposes, please contact Out Now with details. LGBT communications. Gay PR. Global GLBT marketing, gay public relations strategy, GLBT PR, LGBT issues training, gay advertising, LGBT market, lesbian and gay market research leaders, gay marketing. Gay Market News is Gay Marketing 101 - Out Now Gay Marketing, Advertising, Gay PR, Market Research. Travel Market. Training. Out Now Gay Market News -- Gay Marketing 101 gay market updates site. 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 glbt lgbt communications community pink euro

Credit Crunch - Gay Market Research

With endless tales of doom and gloom on the economic front, new Out Now research released today shows that there are still smart marketing opportunities out there. For those who know where to look.


Ian Johnson, Out Now
October 28, 2008

TOPICS: Credit crunch. Gay marketing research data. Lesbian and gay consumer market spending. Out Now gay market research. Gay Community News. Irish gay market data.

New figures released from the Out Now GCN Gay Market Study show lesbian and gay consumers present significant marketing opportunities in a broad range of consumer categories of expenditure.

Lesbian and gay consumers are not immune from the effects of current economic conditions.

New market research shows though that, for many marketers, gay and lesbian consumers offer a somewhat 'safer' haven for targeted marketing efforts - due primarily to the lower presence of children in gay and lesbian households.

This new gay market research shows significant expenditure opportunities available.

The Recession is Biting, But Guess Who’s Still Spending? New Market Research Released

New research reveals that gay consumers can offer marketers a new and steady revenue source at a time when the overall market is slowing.

High levels of gay market spending in Ireland on credit cards, internet shopping, music downloading and more are giving many marketers good reason to sit up and take notice of a multi-billion value market many have not previously considered - the gay and lesbian consumer market.

Lesbian and gay men remain relatively under-targeted and can offer suppliers of consumer goods, tourism, clothing, homewares, technology and other consumer spend categories significant new marketing opportunities. 

Today’s research reveals just how much gays and lesbian consumers are spending on a broad range of consumer categories.



The research shows that gay and lesbian consumers offer marketers significant opportunities to grow their revenues during the country’s worst economic conditions in more than 20 years. 

The ’Out Now GCN Readership Survey’ is the most comprehensive analysis ever of the 195,000 gays and lesbians living in Ireland. 

Data released shows that this group earned over €8.75 billion in 2007.



Gay consumers spent in excess of €58 million on fashion last year, more than €33 million on grooming products and put a total of €16 million on their credit cards during a year of enthusiastic shopping.

Various consumer categories were tested, enabling a total value to be placed on the worth of annual gay consumer spending on a range of key consumer items.



The research was undertaken by leading global gay marketing strategy company, Out Now for GCN, Ireland’s much-loved gay glossy magazine, which reaches the grand old age of 21 next February and has a readership of 33,120.



"Gays and lesbians are obviously not immune to the effects of the general economy,” says Ian Johnson, CEO of Out Now Consulting. 

“But as a market grouping with much less competitive brand noise, and the positive effects on household disposable incomes of very large numbers of Double Income No Kids (DINK) consumers, the gay market makes a lot of sense for mainstream brands to target - especially at this time of recessionary fears," Johnson says.



Johnson elaborated: “This research shows that gay consumers offer a significant new market opportunity for companies in a number of consumer categories that are currently hurting because of the recession in Ireland. Brands looking to find smarter ways to allocate tight marketing budgets would do very well to assess the strategic opportunities delivered by Ireland’s 195,000 lesbian and gay consumers. Targeting this very brand-aware, extremely loyal market simply makes for smart business. That has always been the case, but this market is relevant now more than ever as marketers need to direct limited marketing budgets towards consumer target markets with the greatest disposable spend potential."



According to Brian Finnegan, Managing Editor of GCN: “A new, diverse trend has grown in advertising towards the gay community of late. While luxury lifestyle brands continue to be perceived as relevant to gay consumers, more and more everyday issues and products are targeting this market. Among those seeing the potential of the gay market at the moment are financial institutions, financial advisors, diversity employers, and also household brand names such HMV, Vodafone, Canon, Swatch and Meteor.”

For copyright reasons, any reference to this information must include the following research reference: “Out Now GCN Gay Market Study”.

GCN is Ireland’s leading gay and lesbian media product. 

Out Now is a leading global gay marketing specialist agency. For two decades Out Now has been relied on for gay marketing research and strategies by brands including Barclays, Hilton, Lufthansa, Orange, IBM, Toyota and Citibank. On November 12 Ian Johnson presents the ’Out Now Gay Marketing Masterclass’ to the largest travel and tourism trade show, London (WTM) World Travel Market.

-------------------
To learn how to get lesbian and gay marketing strategy right -- rely on gay marketing expert strategic advice from Out Now -- the leading experienced global strategic gay marketing, research and communications agency.

Gay Market Leaders - Apple

Apple has long been a brand that is both supportive of, and has been supported by, the lesbian and gay communities of the world. Now Apple is putting their support firmly on display against anti-gay proposal, Proposition 8 in California.


Ian Johnson, Out Now
October 27, 2008

Apple Computer Corporation. Gay and lesbian communities. Gay community support. Lesbian and gay community recognition. Gay market supports brands that support them.

Gay and lesbian consumers have a growing history of supporting those that support us.

This can translate into votes for a supportive politician, increasing house values for a supportive real estate location, growth in tourist numbers for a supportive travel destination and increased sales for a supportive consumer brand.

One brand with a long history of supporting its gay customers is Apple.

In the 1990s, Apple made history and achieved major favorable PR and positive gay and lesbian community media attention when they relocated an industrial site from a US State to another State with more favorable anti-discrimination laws to protect lesbians and gay men.

Since that time, Apple has consistently tested well in the gay consumer market. Apple were one of the first brands to advertise in gay media in the US market from the mid-1990s.

No On Proposition 8

Recently Gay Market News readers learned of the decision by the California Supreme Court to overturn as unconstitutional a ban on lesbian and gay marriages.

This has led to a rush to the registry office by many thousands of gays and lesbians from around the United States, eager to get married under California's current legally protected status.

One high profile example is Ms Ellen DeGeneres who recently married her long term partner, Portia de Rossi.



That joy though risks being short lived, with anti-gay forces in California seeking to enshrine discrimination against its gay and lesbian citizens in the California constitution.

If Proposition 8 is passed next week, California will become a US State that expressly discriminates against its gays and lesbians in the Constitution by making it law that they cannot enjoy the equal right to marry under the law.

This has led to many individuals and corporations coming out against this attempt to normalize discrimination in California.

Corporate firepower

Soon after the Supreme Court decision that opened gay marriage, none other than major US department store brand Macy's entered the gay marriage market in a very public - and strongly supportive manner - with full page advertisements praising the newly-recognized equal rights of gays and lesbians to marry. Of course the Macy's brand knows a smart business opportunity when it sees it. Gay and lesbian gift registers have become an increasingly lucrative part of UK department stores' business since the advent of Civil Partnerships in the UK almost three years ago.

Now Apple has made a strong public statement urging people not to support Proposition 8.

They did not have to do this. They chose to do it.

That sort of support is long-remembered by lesbian and gay consumers, and will do much to strengthen what were already strong bonds of brand loyalty between the Apple brand and the gay consumer market.

At Out Now we often say that brand loyalty cannot be bought - it has to be earned.

All credit to Apple for taking such a clear and public stance against Proposition 8.

Here is the statement Apple released this week:

No on Prop 8

Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.

Gay market insight is Out Now: Gay Marketing. Solved. OutNowConsulting.com
To contact Out Now, send us an email.
-------------------

For information and help with understanding key gay and lesbian marketing issues, 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.

All content on all Out Now websites (C) 2008 - Out Now. If you find any material you believe is subject to other copyrights here, other than allowed fair use for copyright purposes, please contact Out Now with details. LGBT communications. Gay PR. Global GLBT marketing, gay public relations strategy, GLBT PR, LGBT issues training, gay advertising, LGBT market, lesbian and gay market research leaders, gay marketing. Gay Market News is Gay Marketing 101 - Out Now Gay Marketing, Advertising, Gay PR, Market Research. Travel Market. Training. Out Now Gay Market News -- Gay Marketing 101 gay market updates site. 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 glbt lgbt communications community pink euro

Gay Market Leaders - IGLTA

I was pleased last week to be invited to speak for IGLTA at the first ever gay and lesbian travel marketing event in Eastern Europe. Just why was this gay marketing seminar in Eastern Europe so groundbreaking?


Ian Johnson, Out Now
October 25, 2008

PIC: Ian Johnson - Interviewed in Poland at
Eastern Europe's first ever gay travel
marketing event.
Image credit: www.outnowconsulting.com

TOPICS: Gay and lesbian tourism. Out Now. IGLTA. Gay travel marketing. Lesbian and gay tourism. Out Now presents at the first ever gay tourism marketing seminar in Eastern Europe, hosted by the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association.

IGLTA last week took a major step forward for the growth of gay and lesbian travel globally, with the first ever gay travel marketing seminar to be held in Eastern Europe.

I seem to have a rather full program of speaking engagements lately.

With the dog days of summer now far behind us, work has ticked up several notches, and - credit crunches notwithstanding - there seems to be no shortage of willing audiences looking to hear more about the importance of the gay and lesbian market.

Last week I was very pleased to find myself in Eastern Europe in the conference capital of Poland - Poznan - for a very important marketing event.

The IGLTA - International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association - gay travel marketing presentation at the annual Tour Salon event was a major milestone that made history for the growth of the gay and lesbian consumer market and it was my honor to be a part of it.

Why this matters

During my presentation at Tour Salon I got the opportunity to touch upon the fact that it is just twenty years ago when the concept of a gay and lesbian market was foreign to most marketers.

In fact, it was less than a decade ago that the development of branded advertising and marketing began in Europe.

That means that Poland, for whom the development of a gay market is a new concept, is hardly that far behind, given how relatively new the advent of LGBT marketing has been elsewhere.

In spite of that though, the development of any new market needs to start somewhere. And that is exactly what we witnessed last week in Poznan in Poland at the IGLTA seminar on gay travel marketing.

Get with the program

The program was outstanding and was complied by Piotr Wójcik - IGLTA's Poland Ambassador, who was also responsible for recently launching IGLTA's first ever foreign language website in Polish.

Amongst the various speakers were Tom Nibbio - IGLTA's Global Ambassador. Tom gave a great "All Welcome" presentation that covered the growth of LGBT travel worldwide during the past 25 years.


Also presenting was Darek Pałęcki - President of leading travel operator, Polish Travel Quo Vadis. Darek is one of the true innovators in Poland in the area of travel. He was one of the first in that country to recognize the impact that the internet was to bring to the development of travel and tourism - and his business benefited greatly from his foresight.


Iva Trifonov, Director General of the outstanding Sheraton Poznan Hotel gave a presentation. Her hotel also hosted a reception for the IGLTA presenters and was the site for TV interviews of myself and Tom Nibbio by leading Poland news channel TVN News 24.

Maciej Zimowski of Poland's Bird Service gave an innovative presentation on diverse potential gay travel activities focused on the countryside.

The airline sector was represented by Julian Cotignola - Manhattan-based marketing rep for Czech Airlines, one of the niche market specialist airlines that has been carving out a very strategic marketing niche in the lesbian and gay consumer market. Czech is also host to an IGLTA travel industry FAM trip next year as well.


My presentation is online where you can get a flavor of some of what was discussed at this truly groundbreaking travel marketing event.

To Tom, Piotr and all at IGLTA who worked on this one - congratulations! Truly impressive.

Future developments in gay tourism in Poland can be traced back to this important moment.

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To learn how to get lesbian and gay marketing strategy right -- rely on gay marketing expert strategic advice from Out Now -- the leading experienced global strategic gay marketing, research and communications agency.

Making a Lesbian Market Magazine

There was an interesting article recently in a leading UK newspaper about how magazines are targeting the lesbian market. Is it just about rearranging mainstream content and swapping women for men? Or is it a bit more complicated than that? Read on and learn more.


Ian Johnson, Out Now
October 21, 2008

Lesbian market. DIVA magazine. Marketing to the lesbian consumer market. Gay and lesbian magazine media market. Gay marketing. Out Now.

Out Now is often cited in mainstream media as a reference point for the leading edge of lesbian and gay consumer marketing.

That is a little flattering usually, but sometimes reporters get it wrong.

A recent article from leading British newspaper, The Guardian is a case-in-point.

The article makes some great points about the valuable extent of the lesbian market.

Out Now often makes the point that brands that ignore the immense purchasing power of the lesbian market are missing out on gay market opportunities worth billions of pink pounds, dollars, yen and euro.

But the article over-simplifies the fact that lesbians are valuable and ought not to be ignored as target market.

That somehow got massaged into an assertion that "lesbians are more affluent than gay men" - a rather vast and not entirely correct statement.

Lesbians are in some consumer product categories, in certain markets higher spenders than gay men. The UK market for lesbian spending on cell mobile telephone bills is a good example. Out Now's research has shown that lesbians outspend gay men on their mobiles.

That does not equate though with a statement that lesbians are more affluent than gay men.

Nonetheless, the Guardian article makes some useful points about the nature of designing lesbian media products for the lesbian consumer audience.

Here is an extract of the article.

Fed up with straight talking

As far as most women's mags are concerned, lesbians don't exist. So should gay readers stick to specialist titles or is there room for middle ground?

How to please your man. Bag the guy of your dreams. Britain's most eligible bachelors. Sex tips he'll love. The women's glossies often seem to have but one thing on their minds: sex. And lots of it.

But not, perhaps, if you're a lesbian. There's the odd titillating feature about getting off with your best mate, but as far as most mainstream glossies are concerned, gay women only exist as a subculture. Images and words virtually always assume heterosexuality, and there is little recognition that a portion of the readership (at least 6% of the female population) will not be straight.

So what does a gay woman read on the bus? There is, of course, the long-established Diva magazine, which launched 14 years ago, and g3 - a popular, monthly free title distributed on the gay scene in London and other UK cities. And, new this month, Crave, a bi-monthly glossy trying to position itself as a mainstream women's mag with a "gay slant".

Which does give lesbians some choice. But there's an argument that separate gay and straight magazines shouldn't really be necessary. Isn't there room for more middle ground? And why don't mainstream women's magazines care about their gay readers - or apparently even realise their imagery and language ignore them?

We wanted to ask the editors of She, Cosmopolitan, Company and Marie Claire to comment - but they were all unavailable.

Gay men, of course, have the same issue as lesbians. Men's Health is popular with gay and straight men alike - but it still assumes its audience to be heterosexual in language and imagery. However, both gay and mainstream men's titles seem so focused on sex that finding some kind of middle ground may be trickier than it is in the women's market (though it does a fairly good job in keeping up, particularly when it comes to younger titles).

So is setting up a successful gay magazine just a case of swapping some pictures and pronouns around? Or is there some new ground on which to build magazines that appeal to both gay and straight readers?

But her approach does seems to be helping circulation: it has risen from 35,000 to 60,000 in the last five years. Thriving too, free magazine g3 has raised its print run from 5,000 to 40,000 since it launched, and gay women's site Gingerbeer.co.uk attracts nearly 55,000 unique users each month.

Growing readership is attracting advertisers. Gay men have traditionally been seen as having pockets full of pink pounds, but, according to research from Out Now Consulting, lesbians are actually more affluent - and brands such as BA, Amazon, Guess and French Connection all now advertise in Diva. Crave has secured a double-page advert from Marks & Spencer in its first issue, albeit at a highly attractive rate, and g3, after initially struggling, now carries adverts from LG, Bang & Olufsen and Barclays.

There are at least 1.5 to 2 million gay women of working age in the UK. Advertisers have cottoned on, so perhaps it's time for the glossies to catch up. And no, more features on snogging your friends are not the answer.

Gay market insight is Out Now: Gay Marketing. Solved. OutNowConsulting.com
To contact Out Now, send us an email.
-------------------

For information and help with understanding key gay and lesbian marketing issues, 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.

All content on all Out Now websites (C) 2008 - Out Now. If you find any material you believe is subject to other copyrights here, other than allowed fair use for copyright purposes, please contact Out Now with details. LGBT communications. Gay PR. Global GLBT marketing, gay public relations strategy, GLBT PR, LGBT issues training, gay advertising, LGBT market, lesbian and gay market research leaders, gay marketing. Gay Market News is Gay Marketing 101 - Out Now Gay Marketing, Advertising, Gay PR, Market Research. Travel Market. Training. Out Now Gay Market News -- Gay Marketing 101 gay market updates site. 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 glbt lgbt communications community pink euro

Is Sarah Palin Anti-Gay?

Sarah Palin has been seen as both an asset and a liability for the Republican ticket in the US Presidential campaign. With upwards of six percent of the vote going to be drawn from gay and lesbian voters, could Sarah Palin's gay attitudes determine the election?


Ian Johnson, Out Now
October 2, 2008

TOPICS: US elections. Gay and lesbian voters. US elections voting intentions. Republicans and Democrats in US elections. Sarah Palin - is she anti-gay?

Tonight Sarah Palin, Alaska's Governor and John McCain's nominee for VP of the US will debate her Democratic opponent Joe Biden.

One important constituency is the gay and lesbian community of America.

With potentially around 6% of the vote likely to be cast by lesbians and gay men, how do Sarah Palin and her stated views on homosexuality play out with this potentially election-determining constituency?

Despite the efforts of the Log Cabin gay Republicans group, most gay voters are finely attuned for pro- or anti- statements made by candidates.

Answered Prayers

If you want to get a lesbian or gay person riled - easy.

Just suggest to them that their homosexual orientation was a matter of personal choice.

Like choosing which breakfast cereal brand to prefer or whether to drive a Ford or a Honda.

For most lesbians and gay men, coming out as gay has been a journey of longstanding effort, fears, and discovery - and a matter of immense personal tribulation.

To hear anyone describe this as a 'choice' they just happened to make along the way is usually quite galling.

Yet that was exactly what Sarah Palin did this week in the latest of a series of installments from the CBS News reports by Katie Couric.

In a question about the gay attitudes of her former Church in Wasilla, Arkansas - Palin responded by referring to a lesbian friend of hers, by way it seems of some form of defence.

You see Palin's former Churchmates think the way to 'cure' gay people is by praying for them to become not gay.

When Couric put it to her that this seems out of step with modern America, Palin said:

"I don’t know what prayers are worthy of being prayed, and I don’t know what prayers are going to be answered, but as for homosexuality, I am not going to judge Americans and the decisions that they make in their adult personal lives."

A Matter of Choice

So far so good, perhaps.

But then Palin drops the C-bomb.

"One of my absolute best friends for the past 30 years happens to be gay ... I love her dearly. She is not my gay friend -- she is one of my best friends. She happens to have made a choice that isn’t a choice that I would have made."

Ouch.

And then - the real kicker: "I'm not going to judge her."

A statement replete with the clear implication that Palin may well harbor suspicions that someone else will do that in due course.

I don't want to sound disrespectful of a woman that wears her hair exactly like my Auntie Gwennie, but to just be so ill-informed in 2008 that lesbian and gay Americans are people living lives on purely natural trajectories, with no aspect of personal choice in sight, really bugs me.

Most people that know LGBT people know that they are not 'choosing' anything when it comes to their own sexuality.

Just like every other person in society - they just 'are'.

Vote for whom?

Sarah Palin might do well in tonight's debate against Obama's running mate, Joe Biden.

But for my money (and I have no vote next month at all so this is purely academic) - despite all the good efforts of the Log Cabin Republicans - to muster conservative support for LGBT rights in the US, with Sarah Palin's unaware comments on the rostrum, you may just have to not count on that 6% gay and lesbian component of the US vote for your candidate.

Making a choice seems a bit easier when you consider that one candidate for VP comes from a Church that thinks gay people can be 'cured' and their former member Sarah Palin thinks being gay is "a choice".

Well Ms Palin - so is voting Democrat - and there are many more thousands of voters that support GLBT rights than just gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders themselves.

Freedom of choice is ultimately what makes America great, and you never know - Sarah Palin and John McCain might just find their attitudes on GLBT are out of step with a crucial, and election-deciding, constituency come November 4, 2008.

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To learn how to get lesbian and gay marketing strategy right -- rely on gay marketing expert strategic advice from Out Now -- the leading experienced global strategic gay marketing, research and communications agency.

Gay Travel Market: IGLTA Partners With GayComfort

Peak industry body partners with GayComfort online training, accreditation and marketing program. IGLTA Two-for-One GayComfort Advantage benefit announced. GayComfort described by IGLTA as "a great product for the travel industry wanting to tap into the multi-billion dollar global gay travel market".


Ian Johnson, Out Now
October 1, 2008

Gay and lesbian travel market. Gay marketing. Out Now. International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association. IGLTA and Out Now announce launch of IGLTA Two-for-One GayComfort Advantage.

Gay Travel Market: IGLTA Two-for-One GayComfort Advantage Announced

Gay travel industry peak body IGLTA announces new partnership with leading gay travel training, accreditation and marketing program - GayComfort from Out Now. IGLTA membership delivers exclusive two-for-one benefit.

The International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association - IGLTA - today announced a partnership designed to enhance the success of gay and lesbian travel market development globally.

IGLTA is partnering with the leading gay travel training, accreditation and marketing program - GayComfort - to enhance the global travel industry's ability to deliver quality travel product to the gay and lesbian travel customer.

GayComfort is a product of leading gay and lesbian specialist marketing agency, Out Now. GayComfort trains staff online, then via their accreditation process, allows consumers to decide to stay with specific hotels as a result.

In 2006 research by the Travel Industry Association (Witeck-Combs/Harris Interactive) showed that most gay and lesbian travelers actively seek to stay where they believe they will be most welcomed. Out Now's latest research (Out Now 2008 Millivres UK Gay Market Study) shows that in the UK, 3 out of 4 gay travelers actively seek out hotels they believe to be gay-welcoming.

GayComfort gives consumers reassurance that staff working at the hotels they stay in understand gay travel concerns and have received specific training to meet these concerns.

Out Now and IGLTA announced that from today, IGLTA members will gain significant market advantages as a result of the launch of the 'IGLTA Two-for-One GayComfort Advantage'. The IGLTA Two-for-One GayComfort Advantage means that after purchasing GayComfort trainings online at www.GayComfort.com - IGLTA members receive two trainings for each training purchased.

"IGLTA is pleased to be partnering with Out Now to bring better lesbian and gay travel market staff training to the global travel industry, thanks to the innovative GayComfort program," said Tom Nibbio, IGLTA Global Ambassador.

"Gay and lesbian travelers consistently remark that the 'missing link' in the gay travel experience is knowing that they can relax and be themselves when on vacation," said Nibbio. "GayComfort solves that issue, by setting the industry standard for gay travel training. As a result, gay consumers know they can book and relax at every stage of their vacations. GayComfort is a great product for the travel industry wanting to tap into the multi-billion dollar global gay travel market."

GayComfort comprises a suite of online training knowledge for staff working in the travel industry worldwide. It covers key areas of gay travel concern such as appropriate terminology, debunking stereotypes and provides practical tips on how staff can make their lesbian and gay customers feel comfortable being themselves.

According to Ian Johnson, CEO of Out Now, GayComfort meets an important market need.

"Before now, consumers could not be certain when staying in a particular property how well trained staff were about the issues that concern gay travelers," Johnson said. "Now, when staying in a GayComfort accredited property, consumers are able to know before they go that it is okay to relax and be themselves when on vacation. That is really valuable to gay people on vacation, and it is something that most other travelers take for granted and never have to think about. When I travel with my partner, we are constantly having to 'out' ourselves to the staff working in hotels, and it makes a big difference when we stay in a GayComfort accredited property - since we know that staff there are comfortable with us being ourselves and know how to make us feel welcome."

Johnson added: "It is not about treating gay people differently, it is about teaching staff the skills they need to extend the same welcome that allows all other travelers to relax and be themselves on vacation without even thinking about it. Understanding the concerns of gay travelers makes all the difference and GayComfort gives staff the knowledge they need to do this."

"Out Now believes very strongly that all members of the travel industry serious about gay and lesbian travel should do two things," Johnson said. "They should be members of IGLTA and they should be part of GayComfort. The advantages in gay travel marketing gained go far beyond training. GayComfort membership opens up a world of improved gay marketing options. We are delighted to now be able to give IGLTA members twice the value when they buy GayComfort trainings."

Nibbio added: "Best of all is that the ultimate winner in all of this is the lesbian and gay travel consumer. Being able to be ourselves on vacation is a major step forward for gays and lesbians in the global travel industry."

IGLTA is the peak industry body for the lesbian and gay travel market.

On October 17 in Poznan, Poland IGLTA is hosting the first gay travel seminar in Eastern Europe. Ian Johnson of Out Now is presenting a paper to delegates at that event in Poland.

Out Now was established in 1992, and is a recognized leader in the development of gay and lesbian travel around the world. The Out Now Gay Marketing Masterclass at the London World Travel Market WTM event - the tourism industry's premier annual trade show - is being held on November 12.

A recent Lufthansa campaign by Out Now was awarded the prize for Outstanding Interactive advertising campaign at the 'Commercial Closet Images In Advertising Awards' in New York, for an Out Now campaign for Lufthansa German Airlines.

GayComfort is a trademark of Out Now.

IGLTA is the world’s leading authority, resource and representative of gay and lesbian travel. Its membership is located in 55 countries around the world and consists of accommodations, airlines, tour operators, travel agents, tourism offices and other key players in the tourism industry. IGLTA works to help the tourism industry attract gay and lesbian consumers and learn more about the gay and lesbian market. Since its founding in 1983, IGLTA has expanded its international influence from just 25 members to well over 1,400.

Gay market insight is Out Now: Gay Marketing. Solved. OutNowConsulting.com
To contact Out Now, send us an email.
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