Abstract
Brand authenticity and brand meaning in targeted marketing, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) marketing, are important topics for empirical research as we live in an age of equality and inclusion of diversity in many different forms. LGBTQI+ consumers provide unique but uncomplicated selling points by striving for inclusiveness in societal marketing. However, brands seemingly believe that LGBTQI+ consumers need to be targeted in a specific manner, leading to the belief that marketing towards LGBTQI+ consumers during pride parades is the only way brands can include LGBTQI+ consumers in their market segments. Through brand authenticity and brand meaning, marketing campaigns and tactics by brands directed at the LGBTQI+ community are scrutinised by the LGBTQI+ community members to find how brands can provide LGBTQI+ consumers with offerings that are aligned with the consumers, but do not deviate from other consumer segments or business objectives. As literature surrounding LGBTQI+ community members as consumers is scarce, the present study aimed to bridge gaps and realise measures to authentically market towards more diverse market segments. This qualitative study’s aim was to explore LGBTQI+ consumers’ opinions about targeted marketing campaigns, how these impact the perceptions and the meaningfulness of the brands, and how the brands could alter their offerings to provide more authentic experiences.
Using purposive exploratory discriminative snowball sampling as a research design and technique, a sample of 15 LGBTQI+ community members who have attended pride participated in the study. The interviews were semi-structured to explore opinions and themes that might have been unbeknownst to the researcher. The open-ended, semi-structured interviews were used to collect evidence from participants to explore and analyse brands’ marketing during pride parades, and how their efforts are perceived. The interviews were mostly conducted via Zoom and Microsoft Teams meetings, save for three participants who preferred in-person interviews. The interviews took place between September and November 2021. The interviews underwent intense transcription, followed by in vivo coding that made the themes of the areas of exploration prevalent. An inductive analysis approach was used due to
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the flexibility available when using the findings of the participants to form themes and theories in literature.
The study identified that LGBTQI+ consumers mainly sense confusion when they see brands’ marketing towards them during pride parades. LGBTQI+ consumers feel there is a willingness of brands to market towards LGBTQI+ consumers, but the lack of representation of the community in their efforts causes hesitance, as brands use stereotypical content. Furthermore, LGBTQI+ consumers prefer inclusive marketing to exclusive marketing – marketing campaigns during pride parades focus on the LGBTQI+ community as a group outside of society, instead of emphasising that LGBTQI+ people are part of society. The participants believe that there is a lack of communication between LGBTQI+ consumers and brands, creating misunderstanding of the community and therefore mistargeting the community when marketing towards them.
The study brought forward multiple recommendations for the industry and future researchers. The study underlined the importance of communication, which creates understanding between entities that can enhance the offerings between brands and consumers. Since LGBTQI+ targeting is seemingly only face-level and most brands do not understand the construct of pride, it becomes important for brands to open communication channels with consumers. Another important recommendation is for brands to include LGBTQI+ consumers in their campaigns as inclusive in society. Instead of separate targeting during pride, brands need to include all types of people, relationships, and identities in their targeting, but outside of times where these diverse qualities are celebrated (Black History Month, Pride, etc).
The findings contribute to literature in that there are several other facets of literature that can be used to further the exploration of brand authenticity and brand meaning when targeting diverse communities. Two main ideas are the constructs of sincerity and willingness. Sincerity can be explored as a separate construct, and not only as a sub-construct of authenticity, as done in this study. Sincerity creates the opportunity to identify authenticity more accurately, but so does willingness. Brands need to be willing to support diverse communities, and not merely market towards them as a tactic. Rather, brands need to prove to consumers that they are willing to support diverse
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communities in spite of the potential of losing customers who are non-supportive or willing to align with the welfare of diverse communities.