LGBT Consumers Warm to AdsTargeted to GaysSEPTEMBER 1, 2011

Facebook and smartphones are among top channelsfor reaching this demographic

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) consumers are more likely toconsider buying a product from a company that targets gay people in its adimagery, according to a survey done by Harris Interactive for consulting firmWiteck-Combs Communications.

LGBT consumers make up 5% to 10% of the population, according to marketresearch firm Community Marketing Inc. (CMI). Further, “gay men and lesbianshave the largest amount of disposable income of any niche market,” ThomasRoth, president of Community Marketing, said in a statement.

Nearly half (47%) of LGBT adults are somewhat or much more likely to considerpurchasing a company’s products or services when they see an ad that hasbeen clearly tailored to “a gay audience with gay imagery and people andspeaks to me as a gay person,” Harris found, compared with 40% who agreedwhen asked in 2007.

Survey participants for the 2011 study were less likely to be indifferent ornegative in answer to the question about ad creative than they were in 2007.

Those who said they were no more or less likely to purchase a productadvertised using gay imagery rose to 48% in 2011 from 35% in 2007. But thosewho said they were much less likely to purchase in response to ads targeted tothem fell to 2% in 2011 from 15% in 2007.

The LGBT demographic pays attention to brands that support causes that areimportant to them as an LGBT person. LGBT consumers who said they werelikely, very likely or extremely likely to consider brands that supported suchcauses increased from 62% in 2007 to 74% in 2011. Those who are not at alllikely to consider brands declined from 15% in 2007 to 3% in 2011.

“Even in a struggling economy, LGBT consumers express an unmistakable andstronger sense of brand loyalty to companies that support their community," saidWes Combs, president of Witeck-Combs Communications, in a statement."Maintaining this trusting and sensitive relationship requires a sustained effort toincorporate diversity, fairness and inclusion into a company's DNA.”

Digital ads tend to be successful with gays and lesbians—groups that have ahigher than average ownership of smartphones, according to CMI. When askedif they had completed certain activities related to digital advertising, around 20%of gay men between the ages of 18 and 44 said they had scanned a QR codewith a smartphone in the last week. Nineteen percent of gay men between theages of 18 and 29 reported having clicked on a mobile app ad—a rate higherthan that at which older gay men did.

Lesbians were much less responsive to smartphone ads than gay men. Butabout a third of lesbians of all ages said they had clicked on a Facebook ad—about the same percentage as gay men who did so.

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