As marketers and advertisers, our ongoing goal is to engage existing and new consumers into the fold of brand loyalty. We set out to accomplish this by honing in on the synchronicity between the stories of brands and the stories of their key consumers. Authenticity is vital to make a brand resonate with consumers, especially the LGBTQ community.
The IAB Multicultural Council has recognized that marketing to community groups, vastly differs from marketing to demographic groups. The multifaceted diversity within the LGBTQ community of race, gender, religion, lifestyle, and relationship status to name a few, presents great challenges for marketers. In addition, this community is plagued with inaccurate stereotypes across our media, entertainment content, and commercial advertisements. This portrayal not only fosters negative campaign results, but more importantly is unintentionally alienating these incredible and valuable consumers.
When communicating to the LGBTQ community, our Council has determined that the formula for positive portrayal is Diversity + Accuracy = Authenticity. We all want to see ourselves depicted positively and thoughtfully. To help guide creative messaging to the LGBTQ community, our council has developed Top 10 Best Practices to offer positive support and sensitive engagement when marketing to this group. These considerations have been developed to encourage our creative and buy-side partners to take a stand and embrace a new approach rooted in authenticity.
Even more important than creative messaging is corporate culture and corporate values. Every company has a brand purpose and it is essential in today’s world that this purpose is humanized through thoughtful advertising, brand activism, social responsibility and diversity in the workplace.
The document, along with best practices for additional multicultural considerations, is available at iab.com/multiculturalhub.