Rivendell Media has seen many Prides come and go in our 47 years representing LGBTQ media for national advertisers. Many of those years were lean and some were especially bountiful. The founder once told me that you absolutely cannot count on anything from one year to the next as national advertising is fickle and how true that ended up being now that I have run the company for over 30 years. I’d have some prides that knocked it out of the park and others I wanted to forget. This year was one of the years you want to forget but with change always comes opportunity.
As Pride organizations will tell you many of their biggest supporters withdrew or went silent- keeping the sponsorship but removing the logo. While I like the latter more than the former- it really has the same effect- they disappear from the consumer they wanted to reach. I know that starting over is sometimes much harder as you stopped building and must now rebuild and just like a house- so many times it is easier to start fresh then try and renovate or explain why you went absent.
Each company has their own reasons for doing what they do but most want to be good companies and most want to support their best customers which is why they pursued the LGBTQ consumer. Let’s not forget that the pharmaceutical companies, spirits companies and travel companies came to market in the first place BEFORE IT WAS TRENDY OR POPULAR because they understood the LGBTQ consumer was either their target or among their best consumer group. I would also add for all that the LGBTQ consumer is among the easiest and least expensive of all consumer groups to reach and speak directly to.
So what do you do now if you are one of these companies that has gone silent? You have a few choices. One, come back big and strong- dominate the market and have a PR brief handy in case you need an explanation. Two, stay out and hope no one takes your place- ie Titos, Kettle One or Grey Goose- this is YOUR opportunity to enter or three show up in another way via a non-profit like rVoices.org.
Yes, that is my introduction to rVoices.org a new 501(c)3 non-profit that was created to help LGBTQ media and these companies alike- to get their message out or keep the conversation going in a unique way. What rVoices.org does is plain and simple- it purchases advertising in LGBTQ media for campaigns that it designs with messages by and for the community. It might be BIG pharma getting the ever so important message out about PrEP, or perhaps a condom company messaging about safe sex. Perhaps a travel company sponsoring campaigns on LGBTQ friendly travel destinations or even a Spirits company speaking about the best LGBTQ bars in the market or imagine them resurrecting some “classic” ads from LGBTQ marketing’s Golden Age. The topics are limitless, the help is real and the conversation keeps going until companies get back their stability and want to pursue GROWTH again. rVoices.org makes reaching out easy as it does not depend on any company having creative or disturbing their AOR Agency status and avoids the culture wars completely. It is a solution for those between times- when companies are not sure which way the wind will blow but want to ensure they have not left either the conversation or their best customers.
Niche markets can be so powerful, that it can lead to mainstream success which is why the story of Absolut was and IS so powerful, because not only did Absolut gain the following among the LGBTQ community- it launched it’s status in mainstream community. Remember when you ordered Absolut and cranberry?
The lesson is simple: when companies show up early, consistently and authentically, they do more than buy advertising — they build loyalty, trust and cultural relevance that can carry far beyond the niche market they first entered. That is what Absolut understood, and it is what today’s companies should remember. The LGBTQ consumer has not disappeared, LGBTQ media has not disappeared, and the need for thoughtful, community-centered messaging has certainly not disappeared. What has changed is the climate around us, and in that uncertainty, silence is not a strategy. rVoices.org offers companies a way to keep showing up, keep supporting the media that speaks directly to this community, and keep the conversation alive until they are ready to return bigger, stronger and with purpose. Because history has shown us again and again: those who stay in the conversation are the ones remembered when the market turns.
