LGBTQ Community Stats for Marketers; More Fashion Brands Embrace Body Inclusion: Thursday's First Things First

Welcome to First Things First, Adweek’s daily resource for marketers. We’ll be publishing the content to First Things First on Adweek.com each morning (like this post), but if you prefer that it come straight to your inbox, you can sign up for the email here. What Marketers Need to Know About the LGBTQ Community in 2020 The highly comprehensive annual LGBTQ Community Survey has been released and is bursting with interesting data for advertisers looking to embrace the market. The results demonstrate the high effectiveness of multicultural marketing and break down the perception of brands as LGBTQ community allies based on factors including gender and race. The survey also shows how varied the LGBTQ experience can be. Here are two of the key takeaways: 80% of respondents in the U.S. said brands that support LGBTQ equality “will get more of my business this year.” 73% made a purchase over the past year at least partially because of a company’s LGBTQ support. Unexpected insights: The survey came with some surprises, like the fact that the majority of LGBTQ Americans do not reside in large metropolitan areas, but instead are scattered across smaller cities, suburbs and even rural towns. Premium | Upfront Negotiations in ‘Holding Pattern’ as Covid-19 Cases Surge As with everything else this year, upfront negotiations were thrown wildly off-schedule, leaving some clients negotiating in the usual time frame while others changed to a calendar year upfront. But after states have returned to lockdown over the past week or so, even those on the usual time frame are in a "holding pattern" because buyers don't want to lock in pricing with networks in case more lockdowns threaten the market. Some buyers also noted that the ratings erosion in prime time could get worse if production doesn't resume soon. For Adweek Pro Members: Even with the MLB and NBA returning in a few weeks, buyers fear more upheaval. Our team is working hard to continue bringing you the latest information to guide marketing professionals through the crisis. Support Adweek's coverage with an Adweek Pro Subscription. What Fashion Brands Are Doing to Make Their Products More Inclusive From expanded sizing options to adaptable clothing and partnerships with advocates and influencers, fashion brands are embracing body positivity and inclusion in more ways than just representation in advertising. Some brands like Universal Standard have long embraced a mission of body inclusion, but more classic brands like Target and Tommy Hilfiger are joining in too with clothing lines that adapt for people with disabilities and post-mastectomy swimwear. New partnerships are cropping up too: Aerie partnered with startup Slick Chicks on a disability-friendly underwear line. Real bodies, real people: Brands who are embracing more inclusive products are carving out a path for other fashion brands to follow. Key Updates and Job Moves from Top Agencies and Holding Companies In a unique partnership, Omnicom Media Group will pay Spotify $20 million for podcast ads through 2020. In return, OMG clients, including AT&T, State Farm and McDonald’s, will have first access to Spotify’s library of original podcasts through its proprietary Streaming Ad Insertion (SAI) service. Digitas was selected as creative and media agency of record for Edgewell Personal Care menstrual brands Playtex, Carefree, Stayfree and o.b. Kroger named a dedicated Dentsu Aegis Network unit, fresh@dentsu, as its first integrated media agency of record. Publicis Groupe’s Daimler-dedicated unit, Publicis Emil, hired Conrad Fritzsch as global chief transformation officer after Fritzsch spent years at Daimler. Huge hired Judith Hoogenboom as global chief strategy officer after she spent seven years at consultancy SYPartners. It's the fourth executive change at the agency since May 2019. Opinion | We Need to Uproot Racism From the Top. It’s the Right Thing to Do In an exclusive Adweek Voice piece, David&Goliath chairman David Angelo makes a pledge, explaining the steps he intends to take to combat racism in the industry. The measures he outlines include making and strengthening community partnerships with diversity and inclusion groups and continuing the dialogue about equity at events. He's also assembling a diverse internal culture team that addresses the needs of Black employees and gives more opportunities to people of color. The power of leadership: "True commitment to eradicating racism must not only be a constant in the workplace but also go beyond the walls of your company," he writes. More of Today's Top News and Highlights Exclusive: The Trade Desk CEO ‘Not Convinced’ Google Will Get Rid of Third-Party Cookies Amazon’s Latest Effort to Stop Fakes: Sharing Seller Information How the Cannabis and CBD Industry Is Adjusting Its Marketing (Again) How DTC Alchohol Brand Haus is Using its Growth to Elevate Local Restaurants Permutive Raises $18.5 Million as the Search for a Cookie Alternative Continues Brooks Brothers, Clothier to Power Brokers, Files for Chapter 11 BBC Global News Inks Native Ads Partnership With TripleLift Covid-19 Is a ‘Generation-Defining Moment’ for Internet-Obsessed Gen Z TikTok Expands Targeting With Widespread Rollout of Self-Serve Ad Platform Ad of the Day: Tampax Teams Up With Amy Schumer to Bluntly Talk About Periods In a series of Tampax ads that feel more like comedy sketches than commercials, Amy Schumer confronts misconceptions about menstruation and tampon sizes with those around her. The spots are directed by Kathy Fusco of Hungry Man and created with Publicis Groupe as part of a campaign to address ignorance and weaken stigma around periods. [kickout id="1"] More of the Latest Car Salesmen Come Off as Pretty Skeezy in Vroom’s New Ads This Birth Control Ad, Fed Up With Stigma, Is Unapologetic About Saying ‘Vagina’ Pressure Intensifies on Facebook After Meeting With Civil Rights Groups and Audit Burger King Paid Twitch Streamers to Plug Its Summer Deals Through Donations Feature Essence Turns Annual Festival Into a Virtual Experience for the Black Community