MUMBAI: PlanetOut Partners, Inc., the leading media company serving the gay and lesbian market, announced the winners of the Gay.com and PlanetOut.com Advertising Awards on 11 February. The awards honour companies showing innovation and excellence in advertising within the gay and lesbian community.
PlanetOut Partners president Mark Elderkin said, "The value and accessibility of gay consumers is being recognised by American corporations, and as a result, gay online media is becoming a rapid growth business. The award-winning advertisers we honour today have created interactive media programs that leverage their core brand messaging while engaging our community members in a positive and relevant way."
Added Verizon's group marketing manager, multicultural marketing Vincent Reed, "Verizon is committed to the progress of all its customers and is proud to be a part of this group of companies who are successfully connecting with the GLBT community. Verizon's online marketing program demonstrated the support and commitment to the communities it serves. We are very pleased by the response to our gay marketing online program and look forward to a successful lesbian and gay online marketing program in 2004."
"Diageo North America is extremely proud to be a part of this distinguished group of companies who are successfully connecting with the gay and lesbian market," said director of commercial innovation and former lifestyle and multicultural marketing manager for Diageo NA Tracey Mason. "We didn't just want to market to our gay and lesbian consumers, we wanted to craft a solid foundation on which to a build lasting relationship with them. Our online media program provided a powerful medium by which our gay and lesbian consumers could connect with our company, our brands and, most importantly, one another. We are thrilled by the response we have received from our gay media program thus far and we hope to increase our gay marketing efforts online in 2004."
The following are the winners of the Gay.com and PlanetOut.com Advertising Award:
* Best Gay and Lesbian Interactive Campaign: VISA
* Best Branding Campaign: Bridgestone
* Best Rich Media Campaign: Famvir/Novartis
* Best Corporate Marketing Campaign: Verizon Corporation
* Best Integrated Campaign: Diageo
* Automotive Industry Leadership Award: Daimler Chrysler, Jeep Brand
* Best Diversity Marketing Agency: Osmosis MediaLab
* Best DTC Healthcare Campaign: Procrit
* Best Direct-Response Campaign: Quicken Loans
As more and more advertisers are reaching gay consumers online, Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) president and CEO Greg Stuart said, "The steady recovery of the interactive advertising industry can be seen in the positive quarterly growth for the last four quarters, with the third quarter of 2003 coming in at a 20 per cent increase over the same period in 2002." PlanetOut Partners reported a 44 per cent increase in its national online advertising business in the second half of 2003. Already in 2004, several first-time advertisers launched interactive advertising campaigns on Gay.com and PlanetOut.com, including Scion, a division of Toyota, Volvo, Heineken, Wrigley and Kraft.
