Welcome

We wanted to take this time to introduce you to something very new and exciting. We are in the early planning stages of creating a virtual advisory group focused on the world of LGBTQ+ advertising, marketing, social media, new media & PR. Our goal is to create a virtual version of LGBTQ+ PopUp, our newly formed association targeting LGBTQ+ marketing, advertising, communications and PR professionals.

The Objective

During this time of decisiveness, we want to bring people closer together, and there are many in the LGBTQ+ advertising, marketing, PR and new media world that want the same thing. We want to create a group that would function as a virtual leadership think tank and bring together the brightest minds in LGBTQ+ media. This group would potentially have a different name from PopUp and work to establish themselves as the foremost thought leaders on a variety of topics.

Initial Goals

Our primary goal is in connecting and collaborating, to strengthen and enhance our respective business, and the clients we serve. The activities to get us there touch on the sharing of knowledge and information, as well as developing out virtual workshops, seminars and networking opportunities to bring this knowledge to a wider group of brands, ad agencies, media, travel companies and more, all sharing in the belief that this work will strengthen the LGBTQ+ business community as a whole.

Why

Over the coming months, there will be many topics to discuss related to advances in media, technology, politics and more. The reality of the world is that more and more LGBTQ+ agencies and media companies will be closing or consolidating over the coming months. Additionally, technological growth continues to explode and we're seeing strong advances in mobile advertising, video on connected TVs, and more. This climate provides an incredible opportunity to come together so that we can thrive. Collaborating and building relationships will make all participants stronger and help grow everybody's respective businesses and generate revenue through project partnerships brought to this forum.

The Work

At first, we would love to have a core team meet once a month. The group should be small enough to have productive and meaningful conversations, yet large enough to bring in a diverse set of thoughts and ideas. Discussions would include the relevant topics of our time as well as daily impacts to our business such as: programmatic advertising, print and digital marketing mixes, PR, and how integral it is to connect all of this to social media. There's no doubt that there would be a plethora of topics in this ever-changing world. Some key discussion prompts could be:

What have been successes from our own respective companies during this time?

What are some growth areas in the LGBTQ+ market?

What have been failures we've seen recently?

What areas of business are not recovering quickly? Why, and how can we help?

What are exciting things on the horizon in our respective companies that will propel us to the next level?

Participation should be optional for attending every meeting, which means there will be a mix of individuals each month. Folks who choose to attend and participate in the conversation would submit a brief listing of topics they'd like to discuss, and then our core group will help facilitate and moderate each session. After these sessions, we could then present learnings and findings to the larger LGBTQ+ media world. These could be in the form of a blog post or white paper that positions the group as the author of a State of the LGBTQ+ Advertising, Marketing, PR, and New Media World series. Additionally, sessions could be recorded on video to create edited "video podcasts" of the discussions and findings. Only information approved by the individuals speaking and presenting would be shared.

Time Commitment: this is the only time commitment we would anticipate asking from you. 45-minute online gatherings you attend once per month at the most, based upon your schedule and the discussion topic's interest to you. There is no commitment to join every monthly online meeting. We will also be limiting each topic's meeting size to ensure the conversations online do not become too large and unwieldy.

Group Session Time Commitment: one thing that has come up quite often is the question of offline time commitment outside of these Zoom meetings, specifically with collaboration tools such as Slack or Teams. For the time being, we won't be creating these offline collaboration groups, as the feedback we've received so far is that this is not desired at this time.

Who We're Looking For

We are looking for members in this leadership group that meets all three of these criteria:

     1. Individuals who are active and visible during the quarantine and pandemic

     2. Professionals in the LGBTQ+ marketing, advertising, PR or new media industries

     3. People who are positive, forward-thinking, and inclusive by nature

Overall, we're looking for individuals with a track record of success in the LGBTQ+ marketplace and community... a track record that they can then use as a lesson from which to share their path to success with others, in a leadership and perhaps even a mentor role.

All members would abide by simple rules set forth. First and foremost, every member would have to be respectful of each other during and outside of meetings. Additionally, for us to discuss client successes, we would have to enforce a rule of no client-poaching allowed.

Looking to the Future

Ultimately, as this expands, we would look to create sub-groups (Specialist Circles) in the world of LGBTQ+ travel, finance, sports, etc. There could also be regional Specialist Circles. Apart from the core leadership team, we could also create Specialist Circles related to corporate and small business members. In this way, organization leaders from companies such as Pepsi, TD Bank and more could participate. Another example would be to create an ad agency Specialist Circles and invite similar global organizations such as Outvertising, a new LGBTQ+ marekting and advertising group formed in London.

Another endeavor could be virtual education panels, seminars and workshops focused on a variety of topics. This would potentially encourage organizations such as IGLTA and NGLCC to partner with us when programming LGBTQ+ advertising, marketing, PR and new media workshops at their respective conferences. The sky is the limit in regards to what a successful group could achieve!

Thank you!

We are so excited to embark on this journey with you! We hope you will seriously consider being part of this new group that has the potential to really shape and grow the LGBTQ+ advertising, marketing, PR and new media world.