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With Pride Month in full swing, a new survey from Collage Group shows that more than eight out of 10 (83 percent) LGBTQ+ Americans celebrate the event and nearly half (44 percent) of them expect all brands to celebrate or acknowledge it.
When combined with the 21 percent of survey respondents who think that at least certain brands should do marketing around Pride Month, its power as a way of connecting with LGBTQ+ audiences becomes evident.
The power of Pride itself is rising as well. 64 percent respondents said that Pride Month is important to the LGBTQ+ community (up from 57 percent in 2023) and 59 percent said it was important to them personally (up from 48 percent in 2023).
However, many respondents are not ready to unquestioningly accept a brand’s motivations for including cultural holidays such as Pride in their communications efforts. One of the biggest complaints centers on brands that only target LGBTQ+ consumers during Pride Month. Almost two thirds (63 percent) of respondents said this tactic would make them think the brand was insincere.
Other warning signs include brands that feed into “stereotypes of LGBTQ+ people” (which would make 57 percent of respondents suspicious), and those whose communications are “not representative of the real LGBTQ+ experience” (55 percent).
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LGBTQ+ audiences are also more likely to know which brands have curtailed their DEI initiatives—and are willing to act in response to that. Almost three quarters of LGBTQ+ respondents (72 percent) said they are aware of brands that have cut back on DEI, as opposed to 51 percent for non-LGBTQ+ respondents.
While more than half of LGBTQ+ people surveyed (58 percent) said they have either already reduced, or plan to reduce, their spending with brands that have scaled back on DEI, that number drops to 31 percent for non-LGBTQ+ respondents.
In addition, 45 percent of LGBTQ+ consumers said they would reduce or stop purchases from a brand that stopped celebrating a holiday or month.
This is happening in an environment in which the overall trust that LGBTQ+ audiences have in brands is not doing so well. While 76 percent of respondents said that “trusting a brand is important when making purchase decisions," only 36 percent said they thought “brands and companies are trustworthy.”
The study also outlines some ways that brands can improve on their LGBTQ+ engagement strategies.
Maintaining year-round engagement, it says, is essential, as is reinforcing emotional value as a key differentiator of trust and engagement.
Even brands that need to scale back can make the most of the Pride Month interaction. Co-creating with LGBTQ+ groups is one suggested strategy, as is creating connections through other holidays and occasions.
Amid the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, PRSA's ICON conference in Wash., D.C., Oct. 28-30 featured a collection of panels exploring the intersection of political communication and PR from a variety of angles, navigating how practitioners can rebuild trust and uphold transparency in an increasingly polarized climate.
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