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eMarketer LGBT Targeted Ads
1. LGBT Consumers Warm to Ads
Targeted to Gays
SEPTEMBER 1, 2011
Facebook and smartphones are among top channels
for reaching this demographic
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) consumers are more likely to
consider buying a product from a company that targets gay people in its ad
imagery, according to a survey done by Harris Interactive for consulting firm
Witeck-Combs Communications.
LGBT consumers make up 5% to 10% of the population, according to market
research firm Community Marketing Inc. (CMI). Further, “gay men and lesbians
have the largest amount of disposable income of any niche market,” Thomas
Roth, president of Community Marketing, said in a statement.
Nearly half (47%) of LGBT adults are somewhat or much more likely to consider
purchasing a company’s products or services when they see an ad that has
been clearly tailored to “a gay audience with gay imagery and people and
speaks to me as a gay person,” Harris found, compared with 40% who agreed
when asked in 2007.
Survey participants for the 2011 study were less likely to be indifferent or
negative in answer to the question about ad creative than they were in 2007.
2. Those who said they were no more or less likely to purchase a product
advertised using gay imagery rose to 48% in 2011 from 35% in 2007. But those
who said they were much less likely to purchase in response to ads targeted to
them fell to 2% in 2011 from 15% in 2007.
The LGBT demographic pays attention to brands that support causes that are
important to them as an LGBT person. LGBT consumers who said they were
likely, very likely or extremely likely to consider brands that supported such
causes increased from 62% in 2007 to 74% in 2011. Those who are not at all
likely to consider brands declined from 15% in 2007 to 3% in 2011.
“Even in a struggling economy, LGBT consumers express an unmistakable and
stronger sense of brand loyalty to companies that support their community," said
Wes Combs, president of Witeck-Combs Communications, in a statement.
"Maintaining this trusting and sensitive relationship requires a sustained effort to
incorporate diversity, fairness and inclusion into a company's DNA.”
Digital ads tend to be successful with gays and lesbians—groups that have a
higher than average ownership of smartphones, according to CMI. When asked
if 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 code
with a smartphone in the last week. Nineteen percent of gay men between the
ages of 18 and 29 reported having clicked on a mobile app ad—a rate higher
than that at which older gay men did.
