NIVEA FOR MEN Proves Effectiveness of Gay Online Advertising Targeting Gay Men

NIVEA FOR MEN Proves Effectiveness of Gay Online Advertising Targeting Gay Men

PlanetOut Campaign Delivers Major Branding Impact

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A targeted marketing campaign on the web sites Gay.com and PlanetOut.com, both owned by parent company PlanetOut Inc. (NASDAQ:LGBT), has led to a dramatic increase in brand awareness among gay men for NIVEA FOR MEN, a skin, hair and body care product-line. PlanetOut Inc. operates web sites catering to the gay and lesbian community, a market with an estimated buying power of $485 billion annually in the U.S. alone.

In an effort to reach gay men, NIVEA FOR MEN developed an online advertising campaign to run on Gay.com and PlanetOut.com. The goal of the campaign was to show an overall increase in aided brand awareness, online ad awareness, message association, gay community support, brand favorability and purchase intent.

"NIVEA's branding campaign was a tremendous success," said Mark Elderkin, PlanetOut president and founder of Gay.com. "All of the brand metrics established by NIVEA's online campaign, such as message association, purchase intent and brand awareness, showed significant increases."

The campaign was launched in the summer of 2004 on the PlanetOut Inc. websites, with a Dynamic Logic AdIndex(R) Research Study commissioned to measure the program's effectiveness. The research was conducted through online interviews with 798 site visitors. The NIVEA FOR MEN campaign research study showed especially large lifts average increases in the following areas:

-- +17.1 points (delta)(1), 173 percent lift in online ad awareness
-- +4.0 points (delta), 112 percent lift in message association
-- +9.0 points (delta), 30 percent lift in purchase intent
-- +6.7 points (delta), 21 percent lift in gay community support
-- +5.9 points (delta), 17 percent lift in brand favorability
-- +7.5 points (delta), 10 percent lift in aided brand awareness



"NIVEA FOR MEN believed it would benefit from targeting gays," said Joseph Venezia, NIVEA FOR MEN's marketing manager. "Our ad campaign case study results showed that we had been missing out on a huge market. We couldn't be more thrilled with our decision to launch an advertising campaign with PlanetOut."

The study also demonstrated product need and interest in the gay market. Nearly two-thirds of respondents from the exposed group(2) felt that skin condition was either extremely or very important to them. Frequency of exposure to the advertisements was also important. When respondents saw the ad four or more times, the study showed an estimated 12-point increase (a 37% lift) in the perception that NIVEA is supportive of the gay community. Various independent studies show that a majority of gays and lesbians go out of their way to purchase products and services marketed directly to them in gay media.

About PlanetOut Inc.

PlanetOut Inc. is a leading global online media company offering consumer services, news and entertainment to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. The company serves its growing base of more than 3.3 million active members worldwide through a comprehensive group of branded businesses featuring diverse chat, news, entertainment, travel, dating, personal finance, career, shopping and community services at Gay.com, PlanetOut.com and Kleptomaniac.com. PlanetOut, based in San Francisco, offers FORTUNE 1000 advertisers access to what it believes to be the most extensive network of gay and lesbian people in the world. Gay.com ranked number one, among all websites measured, for average time spent per visitor in September and October 2004, according to Nielsen//NetRatings' Loyalty Stickiness Report for at-home visitors in the U.S.

About NIVEA FOR MEN

NIVEA FOR MEN, the first mass market line of face care for men to go beyond shaving, is a complete range of skincare products specially designed for men to help improve the condition of facial skin. The NIVEA FOR MEN line includes Double Action Face Wash, Deep Cleaning Face Scrub, Daily Protective Lotion SPF 15, Revitalizing Lotion Q10, Oil Control Wash & Lotion, Shaving Gel and After Shave Balm in Mild, Sensitive and Fresh Cooling.

About Dynamic Logic

Dynamic Logic is a leading independent research company with expertise in marketing effectiveness. Dynamic Logic's three main product areas are: AdIndex(R) for online advertising, CrossMedia Research(TM) for multi-vehicle campaigns and MarketNorms(R), an advertising effectiveness database. Founded in 1999, the company is headquartered in New York City with offices in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and London.

About AdIndex

AdIndex is Dynamic Logic's research application to measure advertising effectiveness. AdIndex studies are run in conjunction with an online ad campaign and are designed to provide advertisers, agencies and publishers with traditional brand metrics that allow them to gauge the impact of their online advertising campaign. Every time a client's ad is served to a web site visitor, an exposure is recorded in the AdIndex exposure database. Visitors are randomly intercepted to take a brief survey and, upon their consent, are asked a series of questions designed to measure the branding impact of an ad campaign. Responses are broken out by those exposed to an ad and compared to those not exposed. To isolate the impact of online advertising on various communications metrics, AdIndex uses an exposed/control methodology: Since both groups are recruited from the same websites and the only variable between the groups is exposure to an ad, AdIndex can measure the impact that exposure has on metrics such as brand awareness, ad recall, message association and purchase intent. The strength of AdIndex's methodology ensures that results are valid and reliable, as well as actionable since results are reported in real time via the online results interface.

(1) Source: Dynamic Logic AdIndex, Sept. 2004, n=798; Delta=Exposed- Control; Lift=(Exposed-Control)/Control

(2) n=400 exposed respondents


Source: PlanetOut Inc.

CONTACT: Trea Robinson of PlanetOut Inc., +1-415-834-6361, or
trobinson@planetoutinc.com

Web site: http://www.planetout.com/


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