| Far Eastern Economic Review
Issue cover-dated October 28, 2004
SPECIAL REPORT: GAY ASIA
In Search of a Hot Currency
Just as mainstream advertisers are moving to tap
high-spending gays, the stereotyped image of that target
market is showing signs of change
By Michelle Innis/SYDNEY and Cris Prystay/SINGAPORE
EARLIER THIS YEAR, car maker Subaru ran a print advertisement
in Singapore showing the back of a man, clad in a sleeveless
white undershirt, with his hands braced on the top of
a cubicle. The headline: "Grips like hell."
The ad made its debut on August 9 at the Nation party,
a three-day gay event hosted in Singapore by Fridae.com,
which claims to be Asia's biggest gay Web site and which
is running the ad as part of a year-long advertising
deal.
Subaru has used gay-specific marketing in the mainstream
American media for more than eight years. Now it's starting
to court high-spending gays in Asia through the gay
media, largely because--thanks to the Internet--it can
finally reach them.
In Australia, however, where such advertising has never
really moved outside the gay press, the old stereotypes
of gays as single people with high disposable incomes
are fading. Instead, there's a growing perception of
gays as couples sharing similar concerns as their straight
counterparts--buying homes and bringing up kids. Marketing
to them isn't always that much different from marketing
to any couple.
That's a long way off in Singapore, where the gay community
is only just beginning to find its feet. For advertisers
like Subaru, the Internet has proved to be the missing
link in targeting these gay consumers. Until relatively
recently, says Glenn Tan, a director at Motor Image
Enterprises, which distributes Subaru in Singapore,
"we couldn't follow the lead taken by the U.S.
because there was no medium in Singapore or clear way
to communicate."
Subaru, which helped pioneer gay marketing globally,
may have been waiting for Asia's gays to come of age,
but other companies were harder to woo. When Stuart
Koe started Fridae.com, he had a tough time finding
advertisers. "Most people politely declined and
said 'we're not ready for something like this,'"
says Koe. "They were concerned about backlash,
and worried about what marketing to gays would do to
their brand."
But the statistics swayed many. As Fridae.com built
up its subscriber base, it proved it offered access
to a very moneyed niche: Fridae says that 43% of its
subscribers are professionals or executives, 50% earn
more than S$45,000 ($26,800) per year and 71% are between
21 and 40 years old. "These people have a high
disposable income, no kids and they spend it on themselves.
Sexuality aside, it's an important demographic to attract,"
says Koe.
Howard Tai is a typical gay consumer. A Hong Kong event
manager, he earns $95,000 annually and takes four beach
vacations a year. He's attended Nation since its inception
four years ago. This year, he spent S$1,200 on hotels,
S$4,000 on food and beverage and another S$2,800 shopping
for clothes and CDs during his three-day visit to Singapore.
Tai says he's pleased to have been singled out by marketers
like Subaru. "It makes me feel happy. It shows
we're being respected, in a way," he says. "They're
acknowledging that we're there, and that they realize
this is a sector they need to take care of, instead
of pretending we don't exist." Some, however, dispute
the stereotype of high-spending gays, and believe gays
can be victims of a "pink ceiling."
"Gays self-select workplaces and industries that
won't penalise them for being gay," says Robert
McGrory, lawyer and convener of the Gay and Lesbian
Rights Lobby in Sydney. "These industries often
provide poorly paid jobs--especially the arts-based
industries; therefore, gays have less income than the
general population. But when you're young and thinking
about a career, you think about discrimination and which
industries will be difficult for you."
Nevertheless, in Singapore there are plenty of signs
that advertisers want to jump onto the bandwagon. Motorola
launched its new E398 music phone at this year's Nation,
which was sponsored in part by Cathay Pacific Airways
and InterContinental Hotels. Internet travel guide VisitBritain,
which runs a Web site for American gays wanting to travel
to Britain, used Nation as test for Asia. It developed
a series of print ads in Singapore for the event, and
is now hunting for local gay media in North Asia so
it can broaden its campaign.
But conservatism does pose a problem in Singapore.
Local property developer SC Global advertised apartments
in a new development on Fridae.com last year, and even
arranged tours for Fridae subscribers--then pulled its
ads after residents complained. The company declined
to comment.
Such issues are rarer in Australia, where there's wider
acceptance of gays. "There are still issues, like
equal rights, but it is a mature community and it is
easier to accept who you are," Leong K. Chan, a
senior lecturer in graphic arts at the University of
New South Wales.
"Gay and lesbian life crosses every socio-economic
group," adds Trent Zimmerman, a directors of the
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Business Association. Indeed,
he argues that the behaviour of gay couples is becoming
less distinguishable from that of straight couples.
"It was thought gay people had more money because
few of them had children and the expenses that go with
having children," he says. "But more gays
are having children and more straight couples are deciding
not to have children."
That blurring of identities is on view at the former
hospital site of St. Margaret's in Surry Hills, an inner
suburb of Sydney, which has been converted into 220
upmarket apartments that start from A$500,000 ($365,100).
The building sits right in the middle of the city's
gay district, so gays are clearly target customers.
But they're not the only ones.
"If the project is located near the inner city,
then you have to consider the gay community," says
Bradford Gorman, whose marketing firm, Design Communications
Associates, conducted the strategic marketing of St.
Margaret's. "But we have not marketed this project
exclusively to gay people. We have aimed for people
who lead trends. People who lead trends can recognize
the clues in our marketing, the way the images are put
together that make it attractive. These might be gay
people or single young people. They are early adopters."
"There is a recognizable, credible gay market
segment and you can market to that," adds Jennie
Tsen, Sydney-based senior strategic planner with ad
agency Saatchi and Saatchi. "But the stereotype
was more apparent when the gay community was still developing
its identity. When it was trying to find and define
itself, the stereotype was much stronger than it is
today.
"Today, the gay community is established and matured,"
she adds. "It would be a sweeping statement to
stereotype a 'gay' person. For example, you would not
pigeonhole all women in their 20s as wearing white pants
suits, Gucci sunglasses and aspiring to the same goals
and role models. It's now the same for the gay community.
It is not as sharply defined. It is so diverse."
See pdf file (2.72Mb). |
