by Geoff Livingston
Since the holiday shopping crush has begun in earnest, perhaps we can acknowledge one of the great undercurrents of our time, the rise of the female economy. To quote Harvard Business Review, “Women now drive the world economy.” This reality will become even more obvious as we pull out of the recession, but can marketers adapt?
Traditionally, when faced with a predominantly female stakeholder, marketers created the same product in pink, purple, and pastels, rather than design their products to actually meet the needs of modern women. Wrong approach. Dell learned this with its pink laptop controversy earlier this year. The same thing can be said for some well discussed communications programs (hello, Motrin!).
With women driving a vast majority of purchasing decisions – yes, even those big screen TVs – marketers must adapt. The days of pink TV sets won’t work anymore (though some will try).
Consider how brands like Banana Republic have evolved. From end to end, they have come to understand their female customer. The in-store experience matches their research, but so does their product marketing.
A Banana Republic size 6 is really a size 6, and will always be that. Different style lines match women’s actual body shapes, from petite to tall, from slender to full figure. The result? Women don’t have to go through agonizing hours to see if the 6 is really a 6. That means online sales, ladies and gentlemen, lots of them. Why? Because women really don’t want to go shopping, they want more time! They want to live, have a career and a family, and yes, maybe even go to the gym (source: the aforementioned HBR article).
Of course, that brings up another very savvy female marketing organization, Curves. Focusing on efficient 30-minute workouts designed for women, Curves has built phenomenal word of mouth marketing, revolutionizing the fitness industry. BTW, Curves is a male owned company. CEO Gary Heavin understands that marketing to women means understanding their fitness needs, not forcing preconceived gym notions into the market. Heavin has succeeded garnering a significant portion of the female exercise market in spite of his pro-life views.
So communicators face the great challenge of adapting or failing (as if social media wasn’t enough). It comes down to this: Because it has been a male dominated world marketing has catered to the presumed buying power. Now that buying power belongs to women, marketers must change theirfocus to what their “new” customer wants.
Even industries that specifically target women get it wrong all the time. Look at maternity and juvenile, for example. Forty Weeks (yes, that is me) is focused working with brands to elevate their messaging – and to help them move beyond the very dated and ineffective language of “ducks and bunnies” or pastels when communicating to expectant women. This journey began in 1998 and continues on today — old, safe habits are hard to break. And as brands like Bugaboo, Fleurville and tuetonia (among others) have shown – the ROI is there for the taking.
The cool thing about Banana Republic’s focus on the full customer experience from standard sizes to store/site layout and sales associates – is that serving the higher standards of their female customers also serves their male customers. Given the choice, men like a lot of the same things when they shop (they just never thought to ask, or tell, brands – as women have been doing a lot more lately). As for Curves – which has an appropriately women-only focus – it emphasizes strength, fitness and goals – and not “woe is me” and “how will I ever lose the weight?” That brand has the tone and language right in reaching its target market – a very specific group of women (not all women everywhere). Curves did its research and was inspired and guided by the very women it serves, so it gets it right without cliches, stereotypes or assumptions. You are so right, Geoff, the women’s market is key right now – and one of the reasons is that it represents the high standards of the toughest customers of either gender.
Love the examples, both good and bad. Here’s another tidbit for companies who want to connect with women: more than three-quarters of women say that advertising doesn’t depict them accurately. Why? Many believe it’s because only 3% of creative directors at ad agencies are female. I am one of them. And we need more!
This also means that I don’t want pink, sky blue or glitter on my sneakers, Adidas, Nike or New Balance.
Unfortunately, this I am experiencing while here in China.
Stop that. I just want sneakers with great traction so I can run.