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Entirely Comfortable with Its Orientation: Subaru’s Successful History of Gay/Lesbian Integrated Marketing Communication

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.

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Entirely Comfortable with Its Orientation: Subaru’s Successful History of Gay/Lesbian Integrated Marketing Communication

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  1. Entirely Comfortable with Its Orientation: Subaru’s Successful History of Gay/Lesbian Integrated Marketing Communications

  2. “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

  3. 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

  4. The U.S. Automotive Industry • 40+ automotive makers in the U.S. • Current turmoil: • 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

  5. 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: • Saab first to advertise to gays/lesbians in 1994 • Saturn second  1995 • Subaru third  1996 • VW fourth  1997

  6. Subaru: Company Overview • 1917: Nakajima Aircraft Co., Ltd. founded • 1953: Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) created • 1958: Subaru of Japan founded • 1968: Subaru of America founded

  7. 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

  8. Subaru: Overview (Sales Figures)

  9. 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.”

  10. 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

  11. 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

  12. 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

  13. 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

  14. Ford: Gay-Friendly History • 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

  15. 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

  16. 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

  17. 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

  18. 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

  19. Comparing Subaru & Ford • Japanese vs. American auto manufacturers • Size • Sales figures • Target markets • Ad budgets

  20. 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

  21. Questions • 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? • Is Subaru’s IMC strategy for reaching gay men and lesbians sustainable? Why/why not? • How can Subaru diversify its IMC efforts in years to come?

  22. Questions • What other niche markets can Subaru pursue that would not alienate its current consumer base? • 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?

  23. Questions • 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?

  24. Questions • What can Subaru (and other companies) learn from Ford’s handling of the AFA boycott? • 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?

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