The LBM Gay Consumer Profile

The marketing and advertising sector is a multi-trillion dollar industry. Although the South African market is on top of cutting-edge techniques of consumer advertising and brand delivery there remains a large, ignored market out there; the gay consumer!

To-date, brands that have reached out to the gay community in South Africa are a drop in the bucket and mostly gay-owned, with the majority of corporate brands bucking the trend internationally and asserting: “We reach this consumer market through main stream advertising anyway.”

Previous studies, however, reveal that South African gay consumers feel that advertisers are in fact not identifying with them, even though 96% of respondents say that they would actively support brands that communicate directly to the gay community as consumers.

Lunch Box Media was formed in 2009 and brought together like-minded media owners, whose publications target the lesbian and gay market, to help mainstream brands communicate with these communities.

To update existing data and assist corporate brands in targeting this market through in-depth knowledge of the purchasing habits of the pink consumer, Lunch Box Media has now commissioned the ‘LBM Gay Consumer Profile’ survey.

Various gay and lesbian media outlets, such as Mambaonline.com, Queerlife, Alice and Out In Africa, who all have a large online presence, will help with the promotion of this survey.

Lunch Box Media owner Donovan Steyl says: “We are aiming to make this the largest survey of its kind in South Africa to make it a truly valid representation of the South African gay and lesbian population.”

Steyl notes that, thanks to the succinct format of the online questionnaire, respondents will be able to complete the survey in less than five minutes and due to its online nature it has already surpassed existing stats available on this demographic.

The ‘LBM Gay Consumer Profile’ results will be available in June 2012.