December 8, 2008
"Minority" Report: Reaching LGBT Teens and Motrin Moms
Last week we wrote about how mobile is being used for social change. This week, one specific social change was brought up on the FH Out Front blog: California's Proposition 8 banning gay marriage. They say:
In this growing age of social networking sites and young role models like Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, youth today are quickly realizing their ability to connect and organize around an issue or candidate to affect change. They're throwing out marketer's traditional rule books for engagement, as they create their own and step into the public forum online and in the streets.
... I ask how marketers can communicate with LGBT youth and allies to leverage their energy, passion and grassroots connection to drive an issue, organization or product to success. What nuances and differences must be addressed? Do they want to be singled out in marketing? While the landscape is continually changing and new channels are created as quickly as current ones become passé, all youth - especially LGBTA - need to feel connected and heard, want customized, relevant and mobile information, and look for results from marketers and communicators.
Online and offline, young people are seeking out and forming relationships with like-minded others. Gay and lesbian youth are no different, and they too can be reached through digital multimedia. However, these real-time tools can also be a brand's downfall, as we saw with Motrin Moms. Online, gaffs are spotted faster than you can hit "esc."
In addressing niche or minority consumers, marketers shouldn't pretend to know what it's like to be them. The casual tone of the Motrin ads are what ticked off some vocal moms, and the same could happen with any group that feels unrepresented. Attempts to engage can alienate. The answer can be quite simple, though: just ask. Even better: hire. Make sure their voices are included from the start of campaign planning. Walk the walk, talk the talk, and don't fake it.
And while you're at it, stop trying so hard. As Benjamin Palmer of the Barbarian Group pointed out, groups are often self-selecting. "The more narrowly you talk to your audience through these new screens, the more people and products will gravitate toward one another. And nobody else will necessarily know or care that that's happening." In this way, a brand can embrace one audience without alienating another. Which raises the question: Are you still being "singled out" if everyone else is too?
