The stuff we’re most excited to see at Canada’s inaugural LGBT marketing conference Tuesday.
WHAT The first public presentation of the findings from Environics Analytics’ “Gaybourhoods,” the definitive market research database detailing spending habits of the gay community in Canada’s urban centres.
WHY Several years ago, presenter Nigel Pleasants had a chance meeting with the former Toronto city councillor Kyle Rae at a CMA seminar. Rae challenged Pleasants to develop an analytics dataset relating to the gay market in Canada. He was very envious that the gay market in the U.S. was benefitting from the work of Michael Wilke (the conference’s closing keynote!) and told Pleasants he felt that Canada would benefit from an equivalent dataset. Tomorrow’s presentation is the result of that recommendation. And speaking of Wilke…
WHAT Marketing pioneer Michael Wilke as the closing keynote, featuring his wildly popular “Outing Madison Avenue” video.
WHY His video and presentation examine the spectrum of LGBT representation—from bad gay clichés to homophobia to same-sex kisses—that major brands have used in their marketing over the years. We’re stoked to hear his analysis about why these faux pas happen and the lessons brands learn on a daily basis. He promises to teach attendees about aspects of diversity that corporations rarely consider.
WHAT Mark Childs hosting the event and seeing the result of his input into planning such an ambitious project.
WHY The Campbell Company of Canada is lauded as one of the leading Canadian brands that does it right. Childs, vice-president marketing, founded OPEN (Our Pride Employee Network), a global employee network whose mission is to advance policies and practices for LGBTs, as well as their supporters. One of his learnings has been to engage employees’ families, friends and allies. Few people on the planet know about getting your brand’s house in order before instigating a conversation with the community than Childs.
For more information or to purchase tickets, click here.
