Join Christie Hardwick in a conversation about Spirited Leadership. 
Eileen Kessler writes that economic diversity can help your business grow. 
The story of Double Platinum is perhaps the oldest one in business: find an unmet need, bring together the right people, and get to work.
That formula has paid off for the LGBT marketing firm founded in 2001 by Stephanie Blackwood, a specialist in LGBT marketing, and Arthur Korant, a veteran creative director from the corporate world, with the acquisition of one of the global giants, IBM.
IBM, which was one of the first companies to institute a supplier diversity initiative, recently awarded NGLCC-certified Double Platinum a contract to research LGBT consumers in its European markets, where IBM's outreach to the gay community lagged behind its efforts in the United States.
"We wanted to find out about LGBT diversity in Europe," says Albert Kehrer, IBM's Munich-based LGBT business development executive. "We chose Double Platinum because they have a network in Europe as well as the U.S., and we thought they could deliver what we needed."
Double Platinum's work for the company in Europe is "the first of its kind," Kehrer says.
For Blackwood, the opportunity to work with IBM has been instructional.
"IBM has been the client that's been the most proactive in reaching out and the most proactive in pulling in," says Blackwood. "But then that makes sense, it's the most experienced at it."
