'Stodiest of industries' - furniture -
gets gay workout
Highlighting of gay issues sets Mitchell Gold's marketing apart
by J.A. Lopata
The ad could hardly be more provocative.
The words, “There’s a New Man in Town … Incredibly good looking
and built to last,” accompany a photo of a buff, toned
hunk-of-a-man wearing only a pair of dark boxer briefs. Oh yeah,
and there’s a piece of furniture there.
And you can’t miss it as you exit the doors of Boston’s biggest
gay business complex, Club Café’s 209 restaurant and the
Metropolitan Health Club.
That new man in town must really know the neighborhood.
Mitchell Gold is the name of the man and the name of the
company. He’s opening his largest showroom on the East Coast in
Boston’s South End on September 15.
And he’s selling more than just furniture. He’s selling
personality, according to the Commercial Closet Executive
Director Michael Wilke.
“He’s selling fashion, in a sense,” Wilke told in newsweekly.
In that sense, Mitchell Gold’s marketing is more akin to
marketing in the fashion industry – companies like Benetton,
Calvin Klein, or Diesel -- which are unafraid of using edgy and
politically controversial advertising.
“Send Mitchell Gold (furniture) to The White House,” declared
one of the many Mitchell Gold billboards surrounding the Fleet
Center during the Democratic National Convention.
Mitchell Gold, an out loud and proud Democrat, attended the DNC
as a delegate.
He’s also an out loud and proud gay man, who has advised Vice
Presidential candidate John Edwards on gay and lesbian rights
issues.
Gold is unafraid to trumpet his donations to the likes of the
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. In fact, Mitchell
Gold is coordinating the grand opening of the Boston showroom
with the popular Human Rights Campaign dinner near the end of
October. That week, ten percent of sales’ proceeds from the
South End store will be donated to the Human Rights Campaign.
Is Mitchell Gold concerned that all of this overtly partisan and
gay-oriented mainstream marketing may alienate potential, more
conservative clients?
Gold received a number of questions regarding an ad portraying
two men and little girl.
“I got lots of questions about what [the two men] were supposed
to be,” he said. “I emailed them back, saying, ‘It’s whatever
you want them to be..’
“We wanted to be ‘family oriented,’ just not Pat Buchanan’s view
of ‘family.’”
This is not a traditional sales approach for the furniture
trade, which Gold calls “the stodgiest of industries.”
Bringing these kinds of social issues into marketing “is hardly
new,” comments Wilke, but what makes Mitchell Gold unique, is
the company’s willingness to bring gay issues into mainstream
and gay media at the same time.
Wilke cited Kenneth Cole as another firm committing to the gay
market in that respect. A new ad by the clothing accessories
firm shows two men holding hands – one wrist wearing a Kenneth
Cole watch – with an accompanying Kenneth Cole quote that reads,
“52% of Americans think same-sex marriages don’t deserve a good
reception. Are you putting us on?”
But Kenneth Cole and Mitchell Gold are the exceptions to the
rule.
Other companies that target gay customers such as IBM,
Firestone, or Absolut, may be larger, may have deeper pockets,
and/or may have been tapping the gay market for longer, but
Mitchell Gold has had a more consistent and most likely higher
share of overall budget devoted to attracting gay clientele,
according to Wilke.
Only firms such as RSVP, Atlantis, and Olivia Cruises probably
spend a higher percentage of dollars on their gay oriented
advertising, but these firms don’t cater to mainstream audiences
at all.
Of course, furniture is something that everyone needs,
regardless of sexual orientation or political persuasion.
Consequently, the latest advertising campaign from Mitchell Gold
emphasizes durability along with lifestyle. Thus, the tag line
that concludes with “built to last,” after declaring “incredibly
good looking.”
Andrew Terrat is one of the three partners opening the South End
showroom. His introduction to Mitchell Gold furniture was
serendipitous. Having bought furniture for his own design
projects over the years, he was surprised to notice that most of
the pieces he picked and loved were designed by Mitchell Gold.
Only after delving into research on the company did he discover
how he and Gold had more in common than similar design sense.
Terrat too is an openly gay liberal.
Terrat and his business partners Steve Elbaz and Barbara Maran
Goldberg all found an affinity with the Mitchell Gold corporate
culture, and decided to open the new showroom together. Mitchell
Gold was the one brand all three completely agreed on.
The location, at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Berkeley
Street, fits “the furniture’s character perfectly.” At the
meeting place of Boston’s traditional Back Bay and the more
fashionable South End, the placing conveys the style of Mitchell
Gold – “a cozy feel and modern look that will never go out of
style.”
Terrat and his partners are hoping that customers will not only
visit the new location, but actually hang out there. The company
welcomes potential and current customers to bring their kids and
their pets to experience the comfort and durability.
The “new guy in town” wants the store to feel less like a
showroom and more like “a huge living room in the city.”
And that is what makes Mitchell Gold more than your average
furniture, more than your average company, and more than your
average new guy in town.
As the Mitchell Gold ad portraying the two cute guys and the
little girl declares, “A kid deserves to feel at home.”
Photo Credit: Mitchell Gold.
This piece first appeared in "In Newsweekly: New England's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender newspaper."
September 12, 2004