If you’re looking for a nice overview and intro to the LGBT market, please check out their “Pink is the New Green” post.

As advertising continues to shift away from mass marketing focused on reach and frequency on broad reach platforms like TV that no longer reach everyone, to targeted, niche-driven marketing focused on engagement, it stands to reason that appeal of niches like the LGBT market will increase.

The “Pink is the New Green” piece also addresses how LGBT marketing is evolving from the old days of focusing primarily on events and local print to a more integrated approached leveraging increasingly sophisticated media vehicles like digital media.

First, some general impressions and takeaways from the conference:
- It’s amazing how many people either make a living from blogging and twitting or use social media as their primary marketing tool
- The real estate industry is way ahead of other small business industries when it comes to using social media to grow their businesses
- There is an entire “sub-culture” of bloggers / twitterers complete with celebrities and household names I had never heard of!
- There were a lot of brands and media companies fully taking advantage of this “sub-culture” to grow their business – including FatBurger, the U.S. Army, and Bud Light.

Now, a couple of thoughts regarding multicultural blogging and social media. As I mentioned, I moderated a panel discussing the role of multicultural bloggers in the social media world and their influence on multicultural marketing in specific. First of all, there were some very interesting insights that emerged from our panelists regarding their respective communities. Our discussion was much more about how Hispanic, African-American, Asian and GLBT communities are participating in the social dialogue and how their voices differ from the general market – as opposed to whether they are even present.

The attendees were heavily engaged, bringing up some complicated questions ranging from how social media can reach low income, urban communities to some of the negative “race” conversations taking place on Twitter. One attendees even asked about how social media could be used to reduce racial tensions and improve multicultural relations. The broad dialogue also included the publisher of a newspaper trying to understand how to attract Latina readers and Gay bloggers concerned about being censored by conservative Christian social bookmarkers.

Probably the biggest takeaway came after our multicultural panel discussion when I actually took a look around and paid attention to the people who were attending BlogWorld. I would say that 30-40% of the attendees were either Hispanic, African-American, or Asian, not to mention people from all over the world. BlogWorld was a sea of multicultural and international bloggers, twitterers, marketers and voices. I wonder if the organizers realize that the blogosphere is already multicultural.

Historically, reaching these diverse audiences has been the sole domain of the traditional media world, particularly Spanish-language TV networks, urban radio, Asian newspapers, and GLBT lifestyle magazines. However, with growth of social media, sparked by the early and sustained growth of blogs and social networks, there has emerged a set of platforms with the potential to drastically change the way these multicultural audiences are reached. Specifically, the opportunity to truly engage multicultural and GLBT audiences in a two-way conversation represents a seismic shift in multicultural marketing and communications.

Looking at the growth of the multicultural and GLBT blogosphere during the last few years provides a unique glimpse into how social media is changing multicultural marketing. In many ways, the growth and establishment of multicultural and GLBT blogospheres represents the emergence of a powerful new group of influencers — individuals going online and sharing their opinions with their friends, family and broader community – that are at their heart of their respective ethnic, lifestyle and immigrant communities.

Sensis agency President and multicultural marketing blogger Jose Villa will be moderating an insightful panel of prominent multicultural and GLBT bloggers at the Blog World Expo tomorrow (Saturday, 10/17 at 3pm) to discuss this powerful marketing medium and how to use it to engage the Hispanic, African American, Asian American and GLBT communities. Panelists include:
• Matt Skallerud of Pink Banana Media, a prominent GLBT blogger and social media expert
• Ana Roca-Castro of Premier Social Media and LATISM, a top Hispanic blogger and social media marketer
• Wayne Sutton, an prominent African American blogger and entrepreneur
• Sumaya Kazi, Executive Director of The CulturalConnect andSenior Social Media Manager at Sun Microsystems, who will be speaking on the Asian blogosphere

The panel will involve a lively discussion of issues such as:
• Are multicultural and GLBT bloggers just a part of the broader fabric of a diverse blogosphere or do they represent unique voices that represent their respective communities?
• What makes multicultural and GLBT bloggers different?

Session attendees will walk away knowing:
• Statistics and trends of the growing multicultural blogosphere.
• Key / influential blogs in these communities.
• How to effectively use social media to influence this population and gain brand ambassadors for your organization.
• The importance of authenticity when interacting with these users via social networking.

Click here for more information on the panel discussion and BlogWorld..

Under the veil of “All marketing essentially is multicultural” this article lays out a vision for integrated multicultural marketing – i.e. the general market agency will be driving the programs, which will be part of / fully integrated into overall media plans, etc.

Am I over-reacting here?

While the article quotes some new data from eMarketer (based on some not-so-new data from sources like Pew and the ANA), it’s a nice affirmation of the growing importance of digital advertising in the multicultural markets.

There are a couple of examples cited, including an effort by Microsoft targeting Hispanics, a push by Toyota to connect with Asians online, and Absolut creating programs for the Gay and Lesbian market online.

They did quote some interesting Hispanic online penetration numbers, specifically a 79% Internet penetration rate from Pew Internet. I think this one might be a little off, as it probably doesn’t count Spanish-speakers.

First off, if you are at all interested in the GLBT community, this report is a must-read (I know, it’s $695 – but well worth it).

The 20 page report pulls together a lot of different data and research on the Gay and Lesbian community, both in general and in relation to their Internet activity.

A couple of overall statistics regarding this market include:
- The GLBT population stands at 15.5 million
- The GLBT market has an annual purchasing power of $660 billion

In terms of the Internet, a couple of key statistics stand out:
- There are 11.5 million adult GLBT Internet users
- Internet penetration among GLBT adults is about 10% higher than for the U.S. population in general
- GLBT Internet users spend 57% more time online than heterosexual users

While I am sure none of these statistics are surprising, a couple of key themes emerge about this community and the Internet:

1. GLBT Internet users are experienced and have fully embraced most aspets of Web 2.0 (blogs, social networking, etc.)

2. The GLBT community has plenty of choices in terms of media and social media that cater to their specific interests

3. Gay and Lesbian consumers actively research , are sensitive to, and are influenced by whether a company is gay-friendly

4. Authenticity, in communicating and showing a commitment to the GLBT community is paramount

All the data, and more importantly, the insights that can be gleaned from the numbers, point to digital media is an integral medium to market to GLBT consumers (and businesses). Considering the importance of perception and authenticity in this community, I would argue that carefully developed social media programs can yield strong results.

If you have any insights or thoughts on marketing to the GLBT community online, we’d love to hear them.

There was one topic that was discussed in a few panels and kept coming up in my conversations at the various networking breaks and parties – what will the ad agency of the future look like?

This is a question that I think about all the time – I guess you could call it the “thing that keeps me up at night” (although my 16 month old daughter Maya holds that title most nights). I run a multicultural interactive agency – a niche within a niche. There were panelists at ad:tech from a handful of Hispanic-focused interactive agencies… another niche within a niche. One of the principals at one of these Hispanic interactive agencies made the case that interactive will be integrated within traditional ad agency capabilities in the future.

I had a similar conversation with the CEO of a large general market interactive agency who asked me “do we have to expand into traditional in the future?”

Someone even brought up the question of whether multicultural advertising will inevitably have to be integrated into general advertising as the U.S. population becomes more and more diverse (we already see this happening in places like Los Angeles where “minority majorities” are causing clients to hire multicultural ad agencies as their lead agencies).

This is a big question that I making some bets on. I am very curious what some of you out there think? Here are some interesting thought starters?

1. Will there room for specialists interactive agencies like Hispanic interactive agencies?
2. Will traditional agencies need to have specialty digital capabilties like SEO and mobile?
3. Will traditional agencies continue buying interactive shops or will the opposite start to happen?

My answer is that advertising will be digital-centric.

So you may ask, what do I mean by “digital-centric?” Basically, I anticipate a future where interactive agencies and digital media are at the center of the advertising and marketing services industry. In fact, this vision is not far off and in many industries this shift is already starting to occur. During my presentation I referenced the groundbreaking decision by Ikea UK in February 2007 to select Agency.com (an interactive agency) as it’s lead agency.

As more recent proof of this growing trend, today’s New York Times reports that Pepsi’s new zero calorie beverage Tava will be launching online only. The Times describes this as a “non-conventional” approach. The reality is that this will be the norm for more and more brands and marketers.

As far as multicultural advertising is concerned, digital will also inevitably take center stage. More to come on this topic on my next post.

To my disappointment, I have noticed that most publishers are highly involved when it comes to selling their product but when it comes to optimizing a campaign there is a HUGE drop off in customer service. If I had a nickel for every publisher that is proactive about campaign optimizations, I could probably afford to buy a stamp…….in Africa.

In my opinion, it’s not fair to leave the entire burden of campaign optimization on the agency side. I also think campaign optimization is a great opportunity for publishers to show that they care and to continue to cultivate agency relationships. The bottom line is that as our trusted partners we expect to get something from you too (Besides impressions and invoices).

So my advice to all publishers is: don’t get lazy! Help us help our clients. We’re all in this together.

JM

According to news reports, PlanetOut has retained Allen & Company to assist in the exploration of strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of the company.

I continue to believe that the Gay & Lesbian media and advertising market continues to be an excellent market in the long run. In fact, if PlanetOut finds the right acquirers for its properties, it could make them stronger. If not, there will be opportunities to fill the holes left by the 800 pound gorilla in this market.