taken from commercialcloset.org

EarthLink Ups Its Connection, Gays Seen as More High Tech

Seeking increased connection with the gay market, EarthLink has ratcheted up its spending and presence with more advertising and special dance music remixes bundled with installation software

The move comes amid an increased awareness of gays as being more high tech oriented than the general population. A new Forrester Research study says that 80% of gay men are Internet users compared to 70% of heterosexual men, while 76% of lesbians are online compared with 69% of straight women.

The study also says gays got online earlier. Almost 30% of all gay men and women have been online for more than seven years, compared with 18% of straight men and women. In addition, Forrester found gay men are more likely to own portable MP3 players, browser-enabled phones and personal video recorders.

EarthLink, headquartered in Atlanta, began advertising in gay media last year and this summer paid for full-page inserts into gay magazines carrying pictures of same-sex couples and the headline, "Face the Music -- your Internet service should be as fabulous as you are." The campaign is to run throughout the year in Genre, Instinct, OUT and The Advocate, as well as Girlfriends and Curve, And Baby, local gay newspapers and Pride events. Online ads will run on gay.com and planetout.com, and EarthLink will hold a sweepstakes giving away an iPod and iMac.

"We've always sought ways to connect with the diverse community, they're a match with our core values and beliefs," says Elizabeth Halkos, EarthLink dial-up Internet brand manager. From existing research they've accessed, gays spend quadruple as much time online as the average user, and "our companies tend to be higher (time) users too," she says. EarthLink is also in the process of collecting data on its own brand in the community as well.

Many of the ads are a cardboard insert that includes a CD with software to install the service, along with three songs from Heather Headley, a Tony Award winner for Elton John's AIDA. Two tunes, "I Wish I Wasn't" and "He Is," are exclusively remixed by superstar DJ Junior Vasquez.

"We wanted music and artists that are relevant to our target," says Travis Pagel of Osmosis Medialab, New York, which handles EarthLink's gay market efforts. "One of the things we wanted to do was get this [software> into people's hands and the music was something that got people to connect with the CD and use it."

Forrester Survey Asks About Gays For First Time

Forrester's Consumer Technographics study of 60,000 households were asked their sexual orientation for the first time, and 5% of men and 2% of women identified themselves as gay or lesbian. Forrester notes that 20% of respondents didn't answer the sexual orientation question, and guesses that "significant numbers" of gays chose not to identify as such.

Consistent with previous studies of select groups, gays turned out higher incomes (lesbians earned $6,600 more than straight women) and education levels (19% of gay men and women have post-graduate degrees vs. 14% or straight men and 12% of straight women). According to the report, "Gays lead in the adoption of a whole host of emerging technologies and almost every online activity we ask about in our surveys. It's true that any group of higher-income and more highly educated consumer will be earlier adopters of technology. But even after adjusting statistically for online tenure and demographic differences -- including the likelihood to be coupled and have children -- we find significant differences in gay people's technology behaviors."

The report includes these details about gay consumers:

- Pick up new Net behaviors and nascent devices. (DVDs owned by 54% of gays vs. 46% of straights; Digital cameras owned by 30% of gays vs. 23% of straights; Surround sound owned by 37% of gays vs. 30% of straights. However, straights owned video games and camcorders in higher percentages.)

- Use the Internet more for dates and porn. (25% of gays vs, 7% of straights for personal ads; 41% of gays vs. 12% of heterosexuals for porn)

- Community, entertainment and fashion sites hold great appeal. (Gay.com brought in 39.9% of gays online in last 30 days, Planetout.com brought 32.8%, AOL Chat 8%; Sports sites held nearly similar appeal to gays, 21%, compares to 28% for straights)

The Forrester study falters in some of its conclusions to marketers.

Ironically, it says, "Don't ask your customers if they're gay even 'for marketing purposes in aggregate' … because sexuality remains a sensitive subject, asking about it directly could turn away many of your customers." This contradicts their own study -- if no one asked the question, facts would never be available.

Forrester also recommends, "Because gay men and women stand out from heterosexuals in many of the same ways, one ad campaign will usually suffice to reach them both." This does not take into account differences of media use for gay men versus lesbians or the challenge of making an equally enticing message for both sexes.