• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
The purchasing power and brand loyalty oflesbians and gay men has been thorough-ly researched, documented and reportedover the past several decades. CommunityMarketing, Inc., a research, marketing and
communications rm established in 1992,
succinctly states on its website:
“The facts are plain: gay men and les-bians travel more, own more homes andcars, spend more on electronics, and havethe largest amount of disposable incomeof any niche market. Undaunted by eventsin the news, gay and lesbian consumersmake up at least 10% of the consumermarket. Critically, their dollars go to products, services and destinations that recognize their unique buying preferencesand offer them differentiated value.”
GLBT buying power in the United States
in 2009 was estimated to be $712 billion,
according to the research and marketingcompany Witeck-Combs Communica-tions. That number is expected to rise to
$835 billion in 2011. Results from a poll
conducted by Witeck-Combs and Harris
Interactive in November 2009 underscore
the extraordinary discretionary income
gay men and lesbians have to inuence
the marketplace and illustrate that even inthe midst of a struggling economy gaysstill spend.
In a press release from Dec. 7, 2009,
Witeck-Combs stated:
The nationwide survey of 2,516 U.S.adults, (ages 18 and over) was conduct-ed online between Nov. 2 and 11, 2009,by Harris Interactive, a global market 
research and consulting frm, in conjunc
-tion with Witeck-Combs Communica-tions, Inc., a strategic public relations
and marketing communications frm with
special expertise in the GLBT market.The survey revealed that compared to what they spent last year on holiday gifts, 29%of GLBT adults planned to spend more. In comparison, only 9% of heterosexualadults planned to spend more.
The GLBT community in Atlanta is bothlarge and active. In the American Com-munity Survey (US Census Bureau) of
2005, Atlanta ranked third in cities withthe largest GLBT population at 12.8%.Only San Francisco (15.4%) and Seattle(12.9%) ranked higher. There are 250+
GLBT and AIDS-related organizationswithin the metro area alone and Pride at-
tendance has placed Atlanta in the top ve
in the country for well over a decade.Atlanta was named “America’s gayestcity” by “The Advocate” in its January
2010 issue. Reporter Mike Albo count
-ed points based on same-sex householdsper capita, statewide marriage equality,
gay elected ofcials, gay dating per sin
-gle male population, gay bars per capita,
cruising spots per capita, and gay lmsin Netix favorites to determine rst
place. Albo explained that social andcultural life put Atlanta at the top of theAdvocate’s list.“Atlanta is undoubtedly our gayest city
- with 29 gay bars here, there’s a reason
it’s dubbed Hotlanta,” Albo wrote. “At-lanta guys are hunky, the ladies are gra-cious, the gay sports leagues are seriouslywell organized, and its housewives (andtheir gay BFFs, complete with handbagsand heels) are now camp icons. And whodoesn’t love the sweet lilt of a Georgia ac-cent on a knockout guy or gal?”While the article in The Advocate waslow on science and high on camp, it
nevertheless conrms what both activ
-ists and the party crowd have knownfor several decades: Atlanta in its ownlaid back style is the epicenter of GLBTlife in the South and can hold its ownas both a bastion of civil rights and gayculture with any other city in the coun-
try. In 2007, Atlanta won the “Dinner ofthe Year” award from the Human RightsCampaign (HRC) based on attendanceand fundraising. HRC is the nation’s
largest LGBT civil rights organization
with some 700,000 members and sup
-
porters. Corporate sponsors of the HRC
Dinner in Atlanta have included Coca-Cola, Delta, Home Depot, Bank ofAmerica, Wachovia and Cox Enterpris-es among others. Atlanta LGBT Prideis one of the largest in the country withmajor corporate sponsorships and atten-
dance in excess of 100,000 every year.
Georgia Voice, in addition to loyal local
advertisers, has within its rst few issues
garnered marketing dollars from nationalcorporations and organizations such asOrbitz, Bridgestone, Miller Lite/Coors,GlaxoSmithKline, US Census Bureauand Frito-Lay.
GLBT Market strongdespite economy
 
Who we areis what we do
We are more than a newspaper
MISSION:
The Georgia Voice is the news outlet of re-cord for the state’s LGBT communities and their allies.Through ethical, professional reporting, we aim to edu-cate and empower our readers to become informed advo-cates for the rights that lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender people continue to be denied in the 21st century.The Georgia Voice offers three products: a bi-weekly news-paper; an actively updated, interactive website (www.thega-voice.com); and “Destination: Gay Atlanta,” Atlanta’s ofcialLGBT travel guide published annually in partnership with theAtlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau.On stands every other Friday, our full-color newspaper is freeto readers across the metro-Atlanta area and free to downloadin a page-by-page format online. We regularly print 7,000 cop-ies, more for special issues, and estimate a readership of 18,000in metro Atlanta and Savannah. Our page-count averages wellabove our 28-page minimum, with special issues topping 80 pag-es. There are more than 4,000 subscribers to our weekly e-mailblast that summarizes developing news and upcoming events.Our website, www.thegavoice.com, is updated daily withgay-specic breaking news, arts and events coverage. Thesite currently counts about 1,500 unique visitors a day (about2,000 visits in total), and when news breaks, trafc spikes toapproximately twice that and has reached as many as 18,000unique visitors in one day.“Destination: Gay Atlanta” is our full-color, glossy, digest-sized travel guide. It hit the streets for the rst time in April2011 with 80 pages of restaurant, retail, nightlife and lodg-ing listings for Atlanta’s gay-owned and gay-friendly busi-nesses. Georgia Voice is also instrumental in contributing towww.gay-atlanta.com, the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bu-reau’s gay-specic travel website.Each product is covered by a social media strategy that in-cludes Facebook,YouTube, Twitter and other platforms dis-tributed exclusively under the Georgia Voice brand.
 
Experience matters
Laura Douglas Brown
Editor and co-founderLaura Douglas-Brownserved as a reporter andnews editor for SouthernVoice from 1997-2006. In2006, she was named Edi-tor and served in that roleuntil the closure of South-ern Voice in November 2009. She is known in thecommunity for her fairness of reporting, her highstandards of journalism and her superb writ-ing skills. Brown is responsible for the hiring andmanagement of the editorial and art departments.The staff she has assembled for the Georgia Voiceincludes three employees of Southern Voice whoserve in the same capacity as at Southern Voice.She is a proud soccer mom and at last count had 84Diet Coke cans on her desk.
Chris Cash
Publisher and co-founderCash founded SouthernVoice in 1988 and served atvarious times as publisherand editor until 1997 whenthe newspaper was sold toWindow Media. During hertenure Southern Voice grewfrom a very small start-up to a protable businesswith revenue in excess of $1,200,000. Cash has vastexperience and knowledge in all aspects of the al-ternative newspaper publishing business. She is thegrandmother of one perfect child, a mediocre golferand an amateur musician who sounds way to muchlike her distant cousin, Johnny Cash.
Tim Boyd
Associate publisherTim Boyd, associate pub-lisher, is also a founder andhas been a member of theGeorgia Voice managementteam since its inception. Heworked as a sales executivefor Southern Voice in theearly 1990’s before purchasing his Virginia-Highlandstore, Metropolitan Deluxe, which he grew to a chainof 11 stores throughout the southeast. Boyd’s Frenchbulldog, Sophia, is the unofcial ofce dog.
Ryan Watkins
Web manager
Ryan Watkins began hiscareer in publishing asa writer with print newsoutlets, magazines andcontent-driven websites.As the publishing land-scape turned more digital,Watkins changed his focus to digital content man-agement. Another staff member with tenure atSouthern Voice, Watkins is responsible for GeorgiaVoice’s website maintenance, content uploads, so-cial media and all things web-related. A new father,he still nds time to read, camp and watch Man-chester United FC matches.
Marshall Graham
Sales executive
In 2001 Marshall Grahambecame the top produc-ing sales representativefor Gay Community YellowPages, exceeding all previ-ous records for the nextve years. With a strong background in advertis-ing sales and a focus on networking, she laid thegroundwork for Georgia Voice in the Atlanta LGBTbusiness community. With a degree in journalism,Graham became the rst female sports reporterfor the college TV station at UNC Chapel Hill.
John Suggs
Sales executive
John Suggs has an exten-sive background in salesand holds an MS in Market-ing. He has recently re-turned to Atlanta from LosAngeles where he also worked in the lm industry.He works as an actor in commercials, lm and televi-sion in his spare time. John was rescued by Graciethe Boston who continues to shower him with herlove and affection every day.
Dyana Bagby
Deputy Editor
Dyana Bagby began hernewspaper in Cookeville,Tenn., where she inter-viewed wearing a skirtand pumps. She still gotthe job. Bagby moved toAtlanta in 2001 and wentto work for the GwinnettDaily Post. She found her dream job with SouthernVoice in 2004 and worked there until it closed in2009. In 2010 she came on board as Deputy Editorof Georgia Voice — her second dream job.
Bo Shell
Art Director
Bo Shell started as an in-tern with Southern Voicein the summer of 2005. Hisskills were such that it didnot take long before he wasnamed art director of DavidMagazine and worked onboth publications until they folded. When he is notdesigning he watches trashy TV, any documentaryhe can get his hands on and plays music. He is fromMilledgeville, Ga. and loves nothing more than liv-ing in the “big city.”
The Georgia Voice, LLC, is managedby its co-founders, Christina Cash andLaura Douglas-Brown, bringing al-most 25 years combined experienceto lead both the editorial division andbusiness division of the company.
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...