DEARBORN, Michigan, October 30, 2000 (FCN) -- Until recently, Ford Motor Company had no target marketing activities in place for the Gay and Lesbian community. It's a segment of society that numbers more than sixteen million people, and has buying power of $450 billion dollars. Now, Ford is taking steps to better understand the gay and lesbian consumer, and will be working with gay.com, a popular website, to start moving in that direction.

"We want to market to everybody," said Jim Schroer, vice president, global marketing, "and it's about time we stepped up our efforts in the gay and lesbian community."

"It's really just part of becoming the leading consumer company for automotive products and services" said Schroer, who outlined the new effort at "Gay in 2K: Celebrating our history, building our future." The event was sponsored by Ford Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Employees (GLOBE), and the Marketing, Sales and Service Diversity Council. Also attending were Jim Donaldson, group vice president, Global Business Development, and Martin Zimmerman, vice president, Governmental Affairs.

"Ford is interested in doing the right thing," said Robert Wagner, GLOBE Education Coordinator, "and they need to show the public that Ford is interested in the gay and lesbian market not just to sell cars, but as part of it's commitment to the community."

Ford recently had its first consumer insight gathering with members of the gay and lesbian community to better understand what they really want. What they want is more participation in their community and Ford will be working with gay.com to make that happen.

A recent survey found that more than 80 percent of gay and lesbian consumers prefer to buy from companies that advertise to the gay market, and 57 percent like to buy top of the line. Right now, 51 percent are planning to buy a new car in the next six months, but only about 10 percent are looking at Ford products.