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
Gay-Friendly History
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

7. 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

8. 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

9. Subaru: Overview (Sales Figures)

10. 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.”

12. Subaru: Gay/Lesbian IMC Efforts
today: sponsors gay/lesbian events nationwide
: Brand integration on The L Word
: founding sponsor of Sirius OutQ
today: founding sponsor of Logo; current Logo Legacy Campaign using brand interstitials

13. 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

14. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

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

23. 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

24. 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?

25. 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?

26. 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?

27. 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?