Alternative Approach : Finding New Ways to Appeal to Gays, Lesbians

Two months from now, when nearly 1 million gays, lesbians and their supporters are expected to come to Washington in a massive march of unity, many participants might be surprised by who else will be joining them there in force.

Marketers.

But it won’t be marketing as usual. There are some surprising new twists to tapping into the gay and lesbian markets--from the upcoming marketing at the April rally in Washington to recent attempts by aggressive junk-mailers to target gays in their homes.

Even as President Clinton grapples with the issue of gays in the military, many firms are struggling to devise strategies to attract gay and lesbian consumers. Some marketers--either hit by the recession or peddling products with declining market share--are simply targeting new niches for survival.

Just how diversified has gay marketing become? Well, at the march on Washington, one firm is hiring 350 people to distribute 500,000 “event packs”--postcard-size packets jammed with promotions from marketers eager to attract gay consumers. Although the advertisers haven’t been finalized yet, the packets will probably include everything from gay-oriented travel agencies to book publishers to health clubs.

What’s more, there are mail-order catalogues that sell products mostly made by--and aimed at--gays and lesbians. One such catalogue, Shocking Gray in San Antonio, Tex., even offers leather wallets guaranteed to have been stitched by lesbians living in Lake Tahoe. Each wallet has etched on it, “Handcrafted by California women.”

And the latest Los Angeles edition of the Community Yellow Pages--a directory of businesses that encourage gay and lesbian clientele--is more than 200 pages thick.

“Companies that market directly to gays tend to get the stranglehold for that product in the gay market,” said Rick Dean, senior vice president of Chicago-based Overlooked Opinions, a marketing research firm that specializes in the gay and lesbian market.

At the Washington march, the firm will stick “informational cards” into the event packs it passes out, hoping to update and enlarge its own valuable mailing list of gay households.

A decade ago, few marketers had much interest in speaking to gays. Then--just as interest started to grow--the specter of AIDS frightened off firms that didn’t want any association with what was then considered a “gay” disease.

There was also a reluctance to advertise in gay-oriented magazines such as the Advocate, in part because of the sexual nature of many other ads in the publication. To quash those fears, the Advocate--which has 75,000 paid subscribers--stopped printing sexually explicit ads.

Beyond magazines, savvy marketers are seeking other targeted ways to reach gays and lesbians. They are increasingly aware of the massive spending power of the gay and lesbian market--about $500 billion annually. The average annual income of a gay household exceeds $51,000--the highest of almost any market niche, according to Overlooked Opinions. The average annual income for lesbian households is about $43,000.

“The general trend in marketing today is to focus on smaller and smaller segments,” said Valerie Folkes, associate professor of marketing at USC. “Marketers interested in the bottom line should be interested in targeting gays.”

While most gay and lesbian organizations generally say they appreciate new attempts by marketers to reach them, they also offer some warnings. “I would caution marketers who think there is only one way to reach gays,” said Robert Bray, a spokesman for the Washington-based National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. “It’s very different trying to reach gay men in West Hollywood than, say, lesbians in Columbus, Ohio.”

Only a limited number of major companies--including Absolut Vodka, Miller Lite, Hiram Walker and Evian--have placed ads in gay publications. Many big advertisers fear that other consumers won’t accept them pushing their products in widely read gay magazines. At the same time, many gays are reluctant to broadcast their sexual preferences by receiving gay literature in the mail.

As a result, at least one marketer is testing a more discreet method.

Direct Male is a packet of promotional advertising material mailed to households with gay men. The outside of the packet, however, offers no indication that the contents are aimed at gays. The exterior foil envelope simply says, “Catering to the lifestyles and interests of sophisticated men only.”

“Let’s face it, some people are uncomfortable with homosexuality--either their own or someone else’s,” said Andrew Isen, president of Washington-based WinMark Concepts, a gay marketing firm that devised Direct Male. “We’re not selling a referendum on whether or not one likes or doesn’t like a gay lifestyle. We’re selling access to one of the most lucrative niche markets in the country.”

The Direct Male packets are mailed three times a year to 50,000 gay households in all 50 states. Advertisers have varied from tobacco giant Philip Morris to the Ramada Inn in West Hollywood.

Philip Morris--which has seen a decline in both smoking and in its own market share--enclosed a smoker’s survey in the packet, offering free cigarette lighters to consumers willing to tell them what brands they smoke. “It was an inexpensive way to reach adult males--with a high response rate,” a company spokeswoman said.

The Ramada Inn in West Hollywood recently tucked a promotional card into the packet. It prompted more than 50 responses in three weeks--far more than executives at the Ramada expected.

But the first company to mail postcard packets aimed at gays was New York-based Strub Media Group, which four years ago started sending out “Community Card Packs” nationally.

The firm’s database contains names of 500,000 gay and lesbian households. Sean Strub, who founded the firm, gathered many of the names by visiting gay nightclubs, bookstores and travel agencies nationwide. “It took some coaxing,” he said, “but I talked them into letting me rent their customer lists.”

Among his biggest advertisers are gay magazines, including the Advocate and Out. But Strub, who is also a play producer, recently decided to use his cards as a way to promote an off-Broadway play about modern gay culture, “The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me.”

The show, which became a hit in New York City, will be opening in May at the Tiffany Theater in Los Angeles.

Marketing the play specifically to the gay community was a big reason for its success in New York, Strub said. But he has turned down numerous requests by gay-oriented marketers who have since asked him to stuff inserts about their products and services into the play’s program.

Said Strub: “I tell them all the same thing: Buy an ad.”

Briefly . . .

The Los Angeles agency Larsen Colby has picked up the $1-million account for “Shutters,” a new beachfront Santa Monica hotel scheduled to open this summer. . . . The Los Angeles ad firm Robert Elen & Associates has won the $4-million account for the Culver City-based video-game maker, Turbo Technologies. . . . Coppertone, which gave the world “Little Miss Coppertone”--the girl with the white backside--is seeking two new “Coppertone Kids” to appear in future ads. . . . Talk show host Tom Snyder will speak at the Cable Television Day workshop, sponsored by the Advertising Club of Los Angeles, on Wednesday beginning at 8 a.m. at the Beverly Hilton.