Transcript Slide 1

Entirely Comfortable with Its
Orientation: Subaru’s Successful
History of Gay/Lesbian Integrated
Marketing Communications
“Companies can’t just throw one ad at gay
consumers and think they’re done.”
– Mike Wilke, Founder and former Executive
Director of Commercial Closet Association
Roadmap
• The U.S. Automotive Industry
• Brief History of Gay & Lesbian Marketing
• Subaru
– Company Overview
– Gay & Lesbian IMC Efforts
– Recognition
• Ford
– Company Overview
– Gay-Friendly History
– Recognition
– AFA Boycott
• Comparing Subaru and Ford
• Current Dilemma
• Questions
The U.S. Automotive Industry
• 40+ automotive makers in the U.S.
• Current turmoil:
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economic recession
increased oil prices
poor management
Chrysler and GM file for bankruptcy in 2009
• U.S. sales breakdown:
– Japanese auto manufacturers = 47.5%
– American manufacturers = 34.8%
– Foreign imports (primarily European) = 17.7%
• Industry leads all in ad spending
– allocated $10.1 billion to advertising in 2008
Brief History of Gay/Lesbian Mktg
• Ad spending in gay media more than tripled between
1994 and 2007 ($53 million to $182 million)
• Companies across several industries market to
gays/lesbians, yet few total companies overall
• IKEA (1994), AT&T (1994), Mazda (1994), and John
Hancock (2000) receive conservative backlash for their
ads
• Gay automotive advertisements:
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Saab first to advertise to gays/lesbians in 1994
Saturn second  1995
Subaru third  1996
VW fourth  1997
Subaru: Company Overview
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1917: Nakajima Aircraft Co., Ltd. founded
1953: Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) created
1958: Subaru of Japan founded
1968: Subaru of America founded
Subaru: Company Overview
• Subaru today:
– Headquartered in Cherry Hill, NJ
– Led by Yoshio Hasunuma: Chairman, President, &
CEO
– 600 dealerships nationwide
– 2008: Sold 192,760 cars
– 2008: 2.2% of U.S. market share
– 2008: Spent $195 million on advertising
– Toyota owns an 8.7% stake in FHI
Subaru: Overview (Sales Figures)
Subaru: Gay/Lesbian IMC Efforts
• 1994: Research shows lesbians are key
consumer base
• 1995: Founding sponsor of Rainbow Card
• 1996: began advertising in gay media
– “Entirely comfortable with its orientation.”
– “It’s not a choice. It’s the way we’re built.”
– “Get out and stay out.”
– “Different Drivers. Different Roads. One Car.”
Subaru: Gay/Lesbian IMC Efforts
• 1996 - today: sponsors gay/lesbian events
nationwide
• 2004 - 2009: Brand integration on The L Word
• 2004 - 2006: founding sponsor of Sirius OutQ
• 2005 - today: founding sponsor of Logo;
current Logo Legacy Campaign using brand
interstitials
Subaru: Gay/Lesbian IMC Efforts
“Look, we know that our owner base and our
consumers are extremely well educated, and
they celebrate diversity. A person who would be
offended by our advertising probably would not
have bought our car anyway.”
- Tim Bennett, former Director of Marketing for Subaru
08/17/2001
Subaru: Recognition
• 2002 – today: HRC CEI ranking
• 2005: Bennett wins Visionary Executive Award
from Commercial Closet Association
• 2008: MediaPost’s Automotive Marketer of
the Year
• 2009: GLAAD’s Corporate Responsibility Award
Ford: Company Overview
• 2008: Net income of $14.7 billion
• 2008: Sold 2.3 million automobiles in North
America alone
• 2008: 14.2% of all U.S. Auto sales
• 2008: 6th largest U.S. advertiser ($1.4 billion)
• One of the Big 3 American auto manufacturers
– Only one of Big Three to not receive bailout
money in 2008
Ford: Gay-Friendly History
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1995: GLOBE founded
1996: GLOBE develops intranet site
1999: Jaguar sponsors GLAAD Media Awards
2000 – today: Ford sponsors numerous
gay/lesbian events
• 2001: Volvo starts advertising in gay media
• 2002: Land Rover starts advertising
• 2003: Jaguar starts advertising
Ford: Recognition
• 2000: HRC Corporate Equality Award
• 2002 – today: HRC CEI ranking
– 2004 and 2005: only automotive company to
score perfect 100
• 2003: Diversity, Inc. names Ford #1 for
diversity, second best for LGBT employees
Ford: AFA Boycott
• 05/31/2005: AFA announces boycott
• 06/2005: Ford meets with AFA for first time
• 11/28/2005: Ford meets with AFA for second
time; announces it’s pulling future Jaguar and
Land Rover ads
• 11/30/2005: AFA calls off boycott
Ford: AFA Boycott
12/07/2005:
“That is not something that came about in the
last week or month. It’s been evolving a long
time. This was made as a pure business decision,
not as a social statement one way or another.
This was not a decision in response to the
American Family Association. Jaguar and Land
Rover are streamlining their advertising in 2006.”
- Mike Moran, Ford Spokesman
Ford: AFA Boycott
• 12/10/2005: Ford agrees to meeting with gay
stakeholders
• 12/12/2005: Ford announces intent to run
corporate ad for all 8 brands in gay media
• 12/15/2005: Rev. Wildmon drafts letter to
Chairman Bill Ford
• 03/13/2006: Boycott reinstated
• 03/10/2008: Boycott ceases
Comparing Subaru & Ford
• Japanese vs. American auto manufacturers
– Size
• Sales figures
• Target markets
• Ad budgets
Current Dilemma
• Subaru needs to:
– retain its competitive advantage using
public relations strategies as competition
increases
– keep diversifying its IMC efforts in years to
come, especially if new gay media outlets
are not available for sponsorship
– continue to grow its consumer base without
damaging current stakeholder relationships
Questions
1) As competition increases, how can Subaru
retain its competitive advantage through
corporate communication efforts, particularly
to reach gay and lesbian consumers who are
unaware of their previous efforts?
2) Is Subaru’s IMC strategy for reaching gay men
and lesbians sustainable? Why/why not?
3) How can Subaru diversify its IMC efforts in
years to come?
Questions
4) What other niche markets can Subaru pursue
that would not alienate its current consumer
base?
5) Should Subaru’s initial reluctance to discuss
its gay and lesbian marketing efforts be
viewed as simply a protection of business
intelligence from competitors? Could their
strategy be interpreted differently by various
stakeholders?
Questions
6) Should Ford’s Mike Moran and others have
handled the company’s initial statements and
media questions differently? If yes, how?
– Consider Moran’s comment that in 2005, Ford
had considered pulling its Land Rover and
Jaguar ads for 18 months. The companies just
started advertising in 2002 and 2003,
respectively, which left little time to measure
the ads’ impact.
– Should Moran have elaborated on Land Rover
and Jaguar’s plans to pull ads from other media
outlets so as to not give the impression that the
pull was unique to gay media?
Questions
7) What can Subaru (and other companies)
learn from Ford’s handling of the AFA
boycott?
8) Based on the experiences of Subaru and
Ford, if companies decide to advertise to gay
and lesbian consumers, when should they do
so?
– Is advertising to the communities’ alone
enough?
– What sort of IMC strategy should be in
place?