IPC Extends Loaded Fashion With New S
This morning saw the unveiling of the largest ever piece of advertising research into the gay and lesbian community, with the launch of Outright 2006 revealing to marketers the power and potential of the illusive “pink pound”.
Jointly commissioned by Channel 4, OMD Insight and GaydarRadio, the survey of 18,000 gay and lesbian and 4,000 straight respondents, looked into the validity, strength, brand preferences and purchasing power of the UK gay and lesbian community.
Outright 2006 identified three clusters of gay consumers.
Gay Style Setters, were found to be men and women who give the gay community a reputation for trend setting, are happy to spend beyond their means, like to go to the best clubs and listen to cutting edge music.
Gay Pods who were found to be slightly less into club wear, interested in the latest gadgets and always the first to buy the latest technology. They read NME and Heat, love going to music concerts and spend a lot of time downloading music onto their 3G phones.
The final category was Gay Home Birds. This sub-section is comfortable with themselves and their lifestyle. They are likely to be found hoping off to the continent on EuroStar or shopping at mainstream stores like Tesco. They appreciate the value of companies like Easyjet.
Turning to the gay trends spotted in the study, Outright 2006 found that gays are more likely to be early adopters with 60% looking out for new products and services, while 71% say they like to be well informed about new brands and services.
Gay people are more likely to source their product information on the internet at 93%, followed by TV with 60% and radio at 26%. Gay consumers were found to be immensely brand loyal, with 72% saying once they find a brand they like they stick to it, compared with 65% of straight people.
Gay travellers took more city breaks, with 64% having done so in the past 12 months, compared with 27% of singles. The study also claimed that 49% of gay consumers were more likely to use functions on their mobile phones such as video messaging and downloading compared to 35% of straight people.
Looking at media consumption, almost all respondents, 98%, were shown to be online more than two times a week, with 79% of gay people saying they listen to radio.
Channel 4 was the favourite TV channel for both gay and straight respondents, at 22% and 23% respectively, followed by BBC1, with 16% of the gay vote ITV and E4 were at 10% and Living TV drew an 8% gay presence.
Favourite radio stations among the gay community were found to include GaydarRadio, Classic FM and Radio 1, with gay people found least likely to listen to Xfm and Smooth FM.
The Guardian is regularly read by both groups, 13% gays and 12% straight, with 19% of gays saying they read the Metro regularly, compared with 14% of straight people.
Commenting on the research’s findings, Clare Grimmond, controller of research at Channel 4 said: “Channel 4 has a clear remit to appeal to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society. This research will help us to understand the lifestyle and attitudes of the gay and lesbian community in additional to giving us a wealth of knowledge about their purchasing and brand behaviour.”
David Muniz, commercial director of GaydarRadio added: “Today we no longer ask the question if we need to advertise to this group, but how do we effectively reach a market with a distinctive identity and unique needs.
Channel Four: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com OMD Insight www.omd.com GaydarRadio www.gaydar.com