Breaking Barriers to Validate LGBTQ+ America

The Challenge: Mobilizing an Underserved Market Segment

Showtime needed to reach every lesbian-identified woman in America to raise awareness for The L Word, the first television series made by and for women who love women, an audience overlooked by mainstream media. The objective was to deliver a critical mass of demand—measured by new and renewed subscribers—to secure a multi-season commitment for the series franchise. The stakes were high. Showtime needed a new approach, starting with a partner who could bring a deep understanding of the consumer segment. It meant breaking through silos to energize the base—from media executives and grassroots organizations, to cable/satellite operators and local affiliates, to marketing partners and influencers. It also involved testing new methodologies and taking chances on gut instincts.

The Solution: A Cause-Related, Grassroots-First Movement

GRC’s founder, Geof Rochester, in his capacity leading distribution marketing for Showtime, first worked with Sivan when she was recruited to design the LGBTQ+ consumer strategy for The L Word launch. Sivan led with cause-related strategy, prioritizing a grasstops and grassroots approach to earn trust with lesbian-identified women through the nonprofits they support. By strengthening existing community platforms—led by an "army of she"—our strategy transformed a television series launch into a national cultural movement still talked about today.

Key Initiatives Supported by GRC and Led by Sivan Schlecter

• Multicultural Audience Development: Designed the comprehensive LGBTQ+ marketing plan for reaching consumers and influencing distributors and partners, earning the industry’s top award for multicultural audience development—strategy adopted by MTV Networks to launch Logo, the first advertising-supported, 24/hour LGBTQ+ TV network.

• Strategic CSR Partnership with Human Rights Campaign: Developed a decade-lasting partnership with the Human Rights Campaign, leveraging their national infrastructure and Showtime’s regional distributors to reach key influencers and members, generating over $1 million in cumulative support for the nonprofit and fight for marriage equality.

• Grassroots, Nonprofit & Corporate Engagement: Led national efforts to engage millions of women across hundreds of markets through guerrilla tactics, F500 employee resource groups, local nonprofits, and small businesses, creatively leveraging resources to scale support for a range of LGBTQ+ causes nationwide across policy, legal, health, family, arts, and more.

• Email Channel Innovation: Built Showtime’s inaugural email channel by conceiving and winning Melissa Etheridge’s participation in a sweepstakes, generating 40% of the network’s target consumer list within the first four weeks.

• Media Planning, Asset Development & ROI Analysis: Managed paid media planning and development of marketing assets, and designed a proprietary ROI analysis tool used for internal CBS audits.

The Impact: Validating a Market and Scaling a Brand

• Market Share Discovery: Strategy that is credited with identifying the “L” segment in LGBTQ+ market share, which drove crossover success for other mainstream hits like Dexter and Weeds, and multiple reality series spinoffs.

• Record Growth: The premiere achieved record tune-in, leading to an overnight series renewal and helping Showtime double its subscriber base in a decade.

• Nonprofit Membership & Revenue: The Human Rights Campaign partnership drove an approximate 3% increase in membership among women, a critical strategic goal, in addition to sustainable revenue for the fight for marriage equality.

• Industry Benchmark: Established the definitive consumer marketing blueprint for major media networks targeting LGBTQ+ consumers, proving that niche-targeted entertainment could achieve massive mainstream success while providing powerful platforms for life-affirming talent such as Ru Paul and causes like equality.