| Volkswagen, Volvo and Jaguar Make Gay Drive |
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by Michael Wilke
Long known as a conservative industry, car makers are slowly driving into the gay market, with Volkswagen, Volvo and Jaguar recently parking themselves in gay media.
"We think it's an opportunity, and the job of a marketer is to let the right people know about its product," says Volkswagen's US spokesman, Tony Fouladpour. "Being a brand oriented toward younger people and younger-minded people, diversity is important to the brand and to expanding our advertising. We believe diversity is an important part of what makes us unique and part of the younger generation."
Europe's top carmaker, Volkswagen first appeared in June issues of OUT magazine and The Advocate, and is expected to be there throughout the year. Volvo appeared in the July issue of Genre and Jaguar was a sponsor of the 2001 GLAAD Media Awards, with plans to expand it s presence.
The brands join existing players Subaru, Saturn, Saab and BMW, who've already had a presence in the U.S. gay market. Saab arrived first in 1994, Subaru in 1997, Saturn once in 1995 but then consistently afterward in 1999, while BMW had just a one-time 1999 appearance in Profile Pursuit's Pride guides. While General Motors Corp.'s Saturn continues to be the sole American brand with a gay market presence domestically (Daimler Chrysler's Jeep and Ford Focus appear in British gay media but not in the U.S.), it is no longer as simple as saying that international marketers are more progressive at reaching out to gays.
The newly arrived European-born brands are guided by their American offices into the gay market. But also the changing nature of the auto industry has brought many overseas brands into American ownership. Sweden's Saab is a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Motors, Japan's Subaru is 20% owned by GM, Sweden's Volvo and Britain's Jaguar are now both owned by Ford Motor Co. Volkswagen and BMW remain independent.
Volkswagen's 'Da Da Da' Commercial Wins Hearts
Many remember the 1997 commercial featuring two young guys who salvage a discarded chair from the sidewalk by popping it into their Golf hatchback to take home, as the tune "Da Da Da" plays from the 1980's band Trio. It debuted during the coming-out episode of ABC's "Ellen" and a large portion of the audience thought the ad depicted a male couple.
The commercial from Arnold Communications, Boston, left many in the gay community feeling touched by the German auto maker, but the official word from the company is that it never intended the ad to depict gays – but it's okay if you still want to think so. "A lot of our commercials can be seen differently by people," Fouladpour says. "We're saying there's no real (straight) story behind it either."
The landscape was very different just four years ago, there had never been a lead gay character in a TV program and numerous advertisers fled the episode fearing the rising controversy. But Volkswagen was prepared and did not flee. Says Fouladpour, "That program had been a 'green light' for us for some time, among those that thought were good opportunities for us. The intention was not to take advantage of the situation, but we had been advertising on the show for a long time and we didn't think we needed to abandon it for the short-lived controversy."
The show got great ratings, and the ad was widely seen. It was even parodied several times, including a promo for ABC's former "Spin City," which featured the show's star Michael J. Fox and his gay cohort Carter from the program (Michael Boatman).
Gay Market Appealing Now That VW Sales Are Strong
As it enters the market, Volkswagen says it did not conduct research among gays, but that doing so had been a gut feeling for a while. "It's something we've looked at for a long time," Fouladpour explains, but notes that U.S. sales in 1993 totaled just 50,000 vehicles, compared to a more robust 350,000 last year. "There was a time we were wondering if we were going to even survive in this market."
Fouladpour says to remain true to the brand, the company doesn't conduct as much traditional research as other companies but, rather, pursues "psychographics." "We'd rather visit people for a few hours and see what's hanging in their closet," Fouladpour says, stumbling into a pun. "Psychographics are more important to us than demographics. It's a general attitude about driving. There are a lot of great cars to get you from Point A to Point B -- we're not saying we're the best, we're just different."
Being different is a concept Volkswagen is hoping the gay community can relate to. The company's ads in gay media support the new Beetle, which some people think of as a women's car. Indeed, women buy it 64% of the time, compared to men at 36%, but Fouladpour says, "Pegging a car as macho or feminine is pigeonholing it, something we never do. We never tell people who should be in it with any particular models in our advertising. It's just the car."
He adds that the Beetle's sales, while stronger in the U.S. than in Europe, have been slipping here and the company is currently pushing the vehicle harder. Fouladpour expects other VW models to appear in gay media later as well.
GAYBC Radio Promotion Goes Sour
But gay marketing isn't always smooth sailing for media companies. Prior to the decision to pursue the gay dollar, in the spring of 2000, the Internet radio station GAYBC Radio Network (www.gaybc.com) set up a nearly three month promotion through Volkswagen's ad agency, Arnold, to give away a new Beetle. The arrangement was made through a former GAYBC investor and an Arnold executive who are neighbors in Massachusetts. The investor did not initially mention that the station was gay oriented and, after Arnold learned it was, the agency pulled out of the arrangement saying that Volkswagen was not in the gay market -- in mid-February, after the promotion had already begun.
"After hearing from an Arnold Company executive that they weren't interested in working with us because we were a gay radio station, we were extremely disappointed. It really felt homophobic."
Volkswagen's Fouladpour offers that the company never actually gives away cars in promotions and that the arrangement must have been a miscommunication.
GAYBC Founder John McMullen says that the station was then forced to buy its own Beetle for the giveaway, and when he requested images to use for the promotion, Volkswagen asked him to pay for their use. "It was a miserable experience," says McMullen. "We thought they'd be falling all over themselves to promote their vehicle."
Jaguar and Volvo Join In
Meanwhile, newcomers Volvo and Jaguar are also starting to create a presence from themselves among gay car buyers. Jaguar was a sponsor of the 2001 GLAAD Media Awards for its first time and is expected to have a presence in more gay media later this year, according to an executive at Mindshare, the brand's media buying agency.
Genre magazine won a test of the gay market's waters from Volvo's Western Regional Brand Manager, Scott Druian, with an ad in the July issue of the magazine and a promotional presence with the magazine in the Los Angeles West Hollywood Gay Pride Parade. Volvo provided three convertible S60s to carry Genre cover men Bill Brochtrup, of ABC's "NYPD Blue," Alec Mapa, of CBS's "Some of My Best Friends," and another for magazine publisher Richard Settles.
The mainstream print ad for the S60 shows a man's shirtless torso in the foreground, as he looks at the champagne-colored car. The text says, "Lust and logic. Don't they make a lovely couple?" While the Volvo ad was a one-time effort for this year, Settles says the company is considering Genre for more truly national ads in 2002.
Genre was first to win automotive advertising into the gay market, a month before OUT magazine, with Saab in late 1994, according to Settles. "We were their stepping stone." Back then, advertising for auto companies and others was still a "dangerous hot potato," Settles says. Despite a strong debut in the mid-1990s, Saab has had an inconsistent presence in gay media in recent years but still advertises.
Volkswagen says it has solid plans for the gay market right now. "We have both sort and long-term plans." says Fouladpour. "We're not just here today, gone tomorrow."
And if OUT/Advocate publisher Joe Landry has his way, more American car brands will soon be joining the lot.
"The door opened when the American companies began offering DP benefits" in 2000, says Landry. "We're spending a lot of money and resources on winning them now. We're getting a lot more appointments with the agencies than in the past. It really demonstrates a shift in corporate culture."
Landry says that he sees the auto ad category acting like others did five years ago, when there was resistance first. "It's about to break open."\n
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