As a gay man, there’s a mental disconnect between LGBTQ+ absence in advertising effectiveness standards and our community’s proven ability to get things done. We just witnessed a Pride month where celebration and progress advanced without any notable boom in brand support. Our U.K. friends at Outvertising led a worldwide pledge whereby partners held themselves accountable to new actions. But brands weren’t developing or sharing their own standards for proven progress.
LGBTQ+ communities provide prime opportunities to demonstrate excellence in effectiveness because we’re constantly at the forefront of meaningful social change. Because we have to be. If you’re a brand that likes to get shit done, it’s clear that we’re ready to collaborate. And if your creative efforts can engage LGBTQ+ people, you develop advantages in reaching everyone else.
So I ask brands and marketing leaders to consider a future where you specifically redesign and publicly share goals that have mutual business and community benefit to advance ROI conversations past sheer profit. Put the trainer before the abs, and discuss what those goals can look like.
Goals can mean the journey
A meme said it best: While the destination is important, “the journey is usually the part you remember anyways.” And while I’m definitely asking for a proven destination in terms of measured impact for marketers and communities, the consumer journey itself should certainly be a standout element of that impact. Think past well-worn summary goals of exposures, and reflect on the meaning of those interactions.
Accounting for controversies around its pricing, Gilead is still a prime example of this principle in action. Their public commitments on LGBTQ+ education and transgender justice, and their contributions to help end the HIV epidemic by 2030, demonstrate that they’re working toward a very specific challenge, that they’re in for the long haul, and that the very nature of the work will be led with the community via the HRC.