Should brands have an LGBT marketing strategy? In Conversation with Bob Witeck, President of Witeck Communications, Inc.

In Conversation | Thought Leaders and Iconoclasts

Should brands have an LGBT marketing strategy? In Conversation with Bob Witeck, President of Witeck Communications, Inc.

Over the past several months and even weeks, the headlines have made it clear that more and more Americans, not to mention people around the world, believe that gays and lesbians have the right to marry.

From the domestic world to that of work, and even the military, the sea change in attitudes towards issues of sexual identity have caused many brands to take a second look at how they speak to gay and lesbian audiences. Does that mean we’ll start seeing more consumer products targeting the LGBT?

The real question might be: does it even matter, and what is a brand’s goal in implicitly targeting gays and lesbians?

We posed this question and many more to Bob Witeck, president and founder of Witeck Communications in Washington DC. For 20 years, Witeck has been one of the country’s leading consultants in developing strategies for companies looking to reach lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender audiences.

For over a decade Witeck served as communications director for the U.S, Senate Committee on Commerce, and serves on numerous boards including the Matthew Shepherd Foundation, Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors Foundation, and GLAAD.

His 2006 book, Business Inside Out: Tapping Millions of Brand-Loyal Gay Consumers (Kaplan Publishing) reveals many of the unspoken truths about reaching this audience, and with the recent landmark decisions surrounding gay marriage, we wanted to know jf we’d see more brands seeking the gay stamp of approval.

BERTRAND PELLEGRIN: With the recent landmark decisions involving gay marriage, what do you think will change in how LGBT are targeted and courted by commercial enterprises?

BOB WITECK: Without a doubt, the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act will send a million ripples across American society and our economy. However, it is the business and market trends leading up to the decision that really set the stage.Most large corporations have long realized that the rewards now outweigh the risks in crafting an LGBT-inclusive strategy, the kind that leaves no household behind. Over the past two decades, we have seen the travel and hospitality fields, electronics and telecommunications, banking, fashion, retail, film and entertainment, automotive, pharmaceutical and personal care, as well as the more conventional spirits and tobacco industries navigate LGBT tastes, impressions and channels.

And this year, history was made when 278 major businesses and associations took their first-ever public stand to join an amicus brief seeking to overturn DOMA. The fact is, business leaders often tend to see these trends and public attitudes long before politicians do.

But when is it pandering? Is there a risk of tokenism?

There is always a risk of pandering and tokenism. Ask African-Americans when February rolls around and it’s once more African-American history month. For LGBT audiences, they can be especially cynical or judgmental if they sense a brand is tarted up with rainbows and shallow symbolism, while the company fails to offer equal and inclusive workplace policies, for instance, such as equal partner benefits. My friend and ally, Tom Roth, coined the expression “pink-washing” just to frown on superficial efforts and fleeting gestures. He’s right.

Is there a company you think has been able to establish a meaningful connection with the LGBT community?

We have worked with American Airlines for two decades – a company that assumed a global leadership role reaching out to the LGBT community and workforce. American was the first airline to add sexual orientation and gender identity to its employment protections, to implement domestic partner benefits, to establish its own LGBT marketing team and create an LGBT-friendly travel page, and significantly, to endorse federal legislation to promote workplace fairness and equity. They walk the walk better than most, and are the only airline, and one of only a handful of companies that has earned a perfect 100% score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index – a benchmark of gay-friendliness and fairness.

It’s estimated that the LGBT’s buying power hovers around $800 billion. Considerable, but does that mean that every brand should consider this customer? When is it irrelevant?

Understandably, while some marketers focus on the prize and the buying power of the market – that should also remind us to avoid stereotyping too, by promoting the myth of gay affluence. Sure, there are affluent and high-spending LGBT households, but there is zero evidence that gay people are wealthier than others, or earn more on average. Raising fewer kids, on average, and having different tastes and preferences tends to help form some traits – but these facts do not magnify wealth itself.Over 50 years ago, Madison Avenue steadfastly avoided including images, messages and stories about African-Americans and any races apart from white people. When we watched television, read our papers and magazines, and saw popular brands, the families that used those brands were invariably white. Given the nation’s racial divide, it was clear that markets were distinct, separate and safely apart.

So it’s really not imperative that every brand consider an LGBT target strategy or connection. However, it is important that almost all brands remember not to overlook same-sex couples, their families, their tastes, their expectations or their inclusion.

How do you advise a client who is specifically looking for guidance in reaching this audience?

It’s essential to start by assessing the current status of their policies, practices and experience. Are they prepared and engaged internally, and will their CEO and senior management be on board? The company should be very self-aware of its reputation, and its true commitment to cultural competency including its own LGBT stakeholders.

Are we in fact already approaching the point where developing an LGBT marketing strategy makes less sense than re-defining a brand’s overarching core values and total marketing strategy?

Perhaps we are approaching that point, or even past it in many cases. While some brands, especially in hospitality and travel it seems, are likely to keep dedicating resources to LGBT-centric campaigns, many more brands will consider their mark on LGBT-inclusiveness.Brands that ache to remain contemporary in thinking, and to connect with their fast-forward, younger audiences must find ways to incorporate gay sensibilities and identities in their total marketing philosophy.

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