Will women at the top lead to better marketing campaigns? Maybe.

Smart marketing to women isn't just about the way in which we relate brands to their female consumers, it's also about the corporate cultures in which the marketing decisions that affect female consumers are taken.


Traditionally corporations were driven largely by men and male qualities, which no doubt accounts for many a failed marketing-to-women campaign. A lack of awareness and recognition of gender differences in communication begins at home, inside the corporation behind the brand. So unless corporations change on the inside, they cannot hope to change - authentically - in the interaction with their consumers.


Fellow gender expert Michele Mees recently wrote the post
"Should we expect women to change corporate culture?"


Now that the pendulum is in full swing and more and more women are assuming positions of power, the question is: will they demonstrate balanced leadership styles with the necessary respect for feminine qualities and values, or will many simple become clones of the male bullies they so despised during their own careers?


I agree with Michele: we cannot put the responsibility for changing corporate cultures solely on women's shoulders, but we can expect our female leaders to set an example that will help change those cultures.


All too often, women who assume power - whether in large corporations or in their own companies - begin to emulate the domineering, destructive leadership styles they were forced to navigate to craft their own careers.


So yes, female leaders should be held accountable to "walk the talk" and demonstrate balanced leadership styles based on the respect, power-sharing and empowerment they fought so hard for. And so they will help affect a shift in corporate culture - and ultimately in the way in which we approach female consumers.

Sexist Super Bowl ads.

Oops they did it again!

The ladies over at Momlogic.com give us a look at this year's misplaced Super Bowl ads.
It's interesting to note that Dove - for years at the vanguard of gender equality and a beacon of light in the banishment of stereotypes - is on the list too!

Dove recently launched Dove Men+Care a range of personal care products for men. With it, Dove again uses positioning based on gender peer identification to attract men to the brand. I understand why the ladies at momlogic.com don't particularly like the Dove Super Bowl ad (nor do the guys over at Guardian.co.uk, by the way). It's not original nor creative, and it does go through the whole list of stereotypes - for both genders - in less than a minute. But it does have a positive, empowering take-away, so we'll give them credit for that.

Come on Dove, we're still looking to you to go beyond the standard cut-and-paste approach, to inspire us and to break new ground! Don't loose us now!

Let's talk about sex baby

A new meta-study conducted throughout 87 countries puts it to rest for once and for all: when it comes to sex, men and women aren't as different as we think.

The study, conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, reports that "men and women are more similar than different in terms of sexuality". They start having sex at almost the same age, they overlap in the number of partners, the frequency of intercourse, extramarital sex and condom use.

But there was one notable difference: reported masturbation and pornography use.
Not so strange, you may think: men simply prefer these "autoerotic activities" to women.

Maybe not. Women are taught from a very early age that "autoeroticism" is bad, socially unacceptable and certainly not discussed. Actually: it simply doesn't exist. So the difference does not lie in the fact that men prefer auto erotic sexual activities more than women do, it just means it is more socially acceptable for men to talk about it than it is for women to do so.

The report also supports some of the more popularly held theories of evolutionary psychology.

This Newsweek article discusses the theories through believers and non-believers.

You can read Tom Jacob's review of the report here.

The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Marketing measures much of its relevance and success by doing consumer research. From surveys and questionnaires to focus groups, we want (no we need) to know what our consumer is thinking. But what if the consumer we're asking isn't telling us the truth...? What if the method we're using to get information is no longer appropriate or effective. Chances are that we're then also producing data that does not reflect the truth, or even a part of it!

At Muse Communication we've long said that traditional focus groups no longer deliver the depth of data they should. We have a different way of approaching qualitative research (contact us if you want to know more). This article on Forbes.com, called "Listen up marketers: women aren't telling you the whole truth", touches on a few very relevant points to consider - and gives a few tips on how to improve the information you gain from your research.

If you think your female consumers aren't telling you the whole truth, then maybe its time to look at the way you're asking them...That's where the problem lies!

Social media: the new matriarchy?

An interesting report on social media usage trends throughout Europe.

The bottom line?

1. Internet usage is still largely task-based. News consumption, research & information gathering prior to purchase and staying in touch with friends are the most frequent activities.
2. We research EVERYTHING - from snack foods to holidays - online.
3. Comfortable strangers. The fabric of our social network is changing significantly. In the UK, for example, people stay in touch "face-to-face" with 21.4 people, while they stay in touch online with 49.3 people.

So what about women and social media?
It's definitively a new matriarchy! See "Information is beautiful"



Women now outnumber men on:
Facebook: 57 percent women users.
Twitter: 57 percent women users.
Flickr: 55 percent women users.

When we look at the influence of social media on Generation-Y women's behavior (view the stats here), we see exactly how powerful a communication tool social media networks are becoming...!

Iab Social Media Research October 22nd 2010

View more documents from Tom Smith.

How to appeal to Hot Chicks (101).

I'm back from my Africa-adventure and ready to dive back into the wonderful world of marketing and marketing-to-women!

What a better way to start off again than by reintroducing Sarah Haskins and her "Target Women" spoof project. Sarah has been in the news lately as "the girl that takes on ad men". Incase you don't know Sarah, she's the lady who puts all the silly, misguided advertising aimed at women back into perspective.Sarah first made headlines in marketing-to-women land with this spoof on yogurt "the food of all women".


Here is her latest spoof "Hot Chicks!"

Why we love our hairdresser: customer loyalty from a woman's perspective.

There's a commonly held theory in marketing land that says women are more loyal as customers than men are. (It's one of the reasons many companies have discovered women as a lucrative target audience.) But here's the thing: it's not exactly true.

A recent study by The Journal of Marketing points out that there are significant differences in the type of loyalty men and women display toward service providers. Women are more loyal to individuals (a specific hairdresser, doctor or salesperson), while men's loyalty is toward group-like entities, such as teams, companies or organizations.

These findings support the principles of gender psychology, which hold that women see themselves as part of an interconnected web of specific individuals and thus also place greater importance on individual relationships. Men, on the other hand, view themselves as part of groups and larger societal networks.

So in actual fact, women are not naturally inclined to be loyal to groups, organizations and "group-like structures" such as brands. It does confirm what we tell our clients: it is harder to get a woman to become a loyal customer, but once you have her (and if you foster that relationship in the correct ways), she is more likely to remain loyal.

The implications for marketers, as author Valentyna points out, are:

1. Companies with a large share of female customers should focus marketing and CRM strategies on personal relationships with individual employees. (For brands such as Weight Watchers, keeping coaches happy will ensure that members keep coming back. Loose a coach, you'll most likely loose quite a few members too, for as Valentyna points out: "Female customers should be more likely than male customers to defect and follow an individual employee...")

2. For brands that target mostly men, the study advocates focusing on strategies stressing group themes.

So for those that have ever wondered why women are prepared to travel half a world to get to their favorite hairdresser, there's your answer!

"It's pretty ugly" - how gender drives our perception of design

Working in marketing and communication for over 10 years now, I can confirm that design is indeed one of the most subjective elements of marketing. And exactly because it's so subjective, its also the most difficult element to discuss with a client, let alone defend rationally if they've decided they don't like it.

How do you defend a design, unless you have facts to back it up?
The lack of research on the effects of gender on design made that one of the biggest stumbling blocks, and we had to rely on arguments such as "from experience" and "as a woman I can tell you that...".

But that's about to change with this book "Gender, Design and Marketing: how gender drives our perception of design and marketing" by Gloria Moss.

In the book, Gloria explores gender preferences in drawing, painting, graphics and web design.
It's a book I'll certainly be buying, and one I'll advise all my clients (from R&D teams to marketing) to buy too!

Here are a few very interesting findings:
- We are drawn to images of people of our own gender
- Women prefer designs with round shapes and detailed surfaces, men prefer linear shapes and plain surfaces.
- Women draw faces in a full frontal position, men draw faces in profile.
- Women prefer the use of more colour, especially bright colours.
- When it comes to website design, men intuitively preferred sites designed by men, and women sites designed by women. (And considering the fact that a whopping 78% of all female orientated beauty sites are designed by men, this may mean that these sites are probably performing below par)

But here's the really interesting bit that should make every brand about to actively engage with its female consumers sit up and take note:

Research points to the fact that women are less accepting of male design aesthetics than men are of female design aesthetics.
And that's not only the case in marketing, but also in product design.

"Although both men and women assign higher scores to own-sex designs compared to opposite-sex designs, men interestingly ascribed higher scores to female-designed products than the women do to male-designed products and this is further evidence of the fact that, given a choice, men have a greater tolerance of the female design aesthetic than women do of the equivalent male aesthetic."

I'm off to order it right now.

Much ado about what women want - online.

There's much ado about marketing to women online at the moment.
Articles on what women do (and don't do) online, what's lacking and who's being left out. It seems there is still quite a way to go before we agree we have it figured out.

The article "Men are from Facebook, women are from Twitter", published on CNNMoney.com talks about the different ways in which men and women use the internet. Reading it left me disappointed - some very stereotypical general top-level findings that boil down to "a little bit of this, a little bit of that and a lot of nothing".

Then there was this article about Women over 50 using the internet as primary news source (yup, my mom included!)

The article that raises the most interesting point is this one, by Wall Street Journal columnist Christina Binkley. In it Binkley asks:
"Are online marketers so youth-conscious -- because it feels right -- that they're ignoring lucrative markets just when they're most needed? The Internet is neither new nor young. The fastest-growing segment of Facebook users is women over 55, according to the Tracking Facebook blog. And the underlying assumption that young people are still the Web's most fertile market doesn't hold up to scrutiny."

Food for thought this week!

Sex sells chocolate, right?

This launch campaign for "Fling" the new chocolate bar from Mars is raising quite a storm in cyberspace right now.

Everything about this product and it's launch is about sex. And sex sells, right?
The products name: "Fling" (as in "I feel like having a fling with a chocolate bar")
The description of the product: "chocolate fingers"
A tagline that invites you to "Pleasure yourself"
...And then there's the fact that the product's website seems to lead to....a porn site according to this article

Says Lisa Johnson, co-author of Don't Think Pink: "The language of it has so much sexual innuendo, you could pack it into a trashy novel." Johnson says marketers are taking the connection that women often make between chocolate and sensuality too literally. "There are other things you can do that can hit this note without banging on it."



As those of you who know me can attest to, I'm no prude, but all this talk of fingers and pleasuring in relation to a stupid chocolate bar does feel a bit weird. Not only does it shout "trying too hard", it also feels pushy and forced. There's certainly nothing about the product's name, packaging or positioning that makes me remotely want chocolate. And as a blogger commented "that packaging looks to me like a feminine hygiene product. Whoa, pink overload!"

Now that you mention it....

The future of marketing to women = great marketing to everyone?

How about that: an ad that uses humor and gets it right for both sexes!
Well done Heineken!

HOT OFF THE PRESS: launch of WOMEN-omics.com website

WOMEN-omics ( www.WOMEN-omics.com), provides exclusive global reporting on women's growing economic impact on companies and countries, and aggregates the best information, ideas, and insight in the field, updated daily. A one-stop portal, the site is designed for corporate leaders, top executives, policymakers, journalists, researchers, business schools, and women in the workplace. The site brings together news updates, case studies, rankings, exclusive CEO profiles, research reports, statistics, and other resources.

MUSE COMMUNICATION CONTRIBUTES!

As one of Europe's only communication agencies specialized in marketing-to-women, Muse Communication was also asked to contribute an article for the launch of the new portal. Titled "Marketing Needs a Woman's Touch", you can find it here.

Friday Fun: gender stereotyping

Here's a fun ad for a friday afternoon! It's called "Beware of the doghouse" and forms part of J.C. Penny's end of year print & viral campaign (agency: Saatchi & Saatchi).

We here at Muse really like the ad: it deals with gender stereotypes (and some very realistic situations we can all relate to) in a light-hearted, non-offensive way that still respects both sexes. And as we're 3 weeks away from the festive season, it also highlights the gift-buying anxiety many of us feel at this time of year.

...And if the number of presents pawned on ebay on January 1st is anything to go by, this ad reminds us: make sure you get it right, or you end up 'in the doghouse' (and your gift on ebay)!

Enjoy!

No Sex Please, We're Women.

I was recently asked by De Morgen's weekend supplement WAX, to write an opinion piece on the use of gender stereotypes and nudity in advertising. I called the article "No sex please, we're women".


No Sex please, we’re women.

I’m a woman and I don’t like sex. I want everything around me to be nice, perfect and clean and I want it to be completely politically correct. And above all: no sex, please.

That at least, is the way I understood women to want things after reading a press statement by the European Parliament’s women’s rights commission stating that all stereotypes in advertising should be outlawed and a few days later being confronted with a recent study by KU Leuven about the effects of nudity in advertising.

It’s interesting to see how our lawmakers and ad-makers alike still grabble with what it is that women want.

European lawmakers, under the watchful eye of Ms Svensson, on the one hand, call for a ban of all gender stereotypes in advertising. A woman cleaning the kitchen, a man polishing his car. Svensson wants us to realize that these images play up (or down) to stereotypes about the role of men and women - and in doing so undermine equality between the sexes. I agree with Svensson when she says that "gender stereotyping in advertising straitjackets women, men, girls and boys by restricting them to predetermined and artificial roles that are often degrading, humiliating and dumbed down for both sexes".

Boys should be allowed to play dress-up with their dolls without Dad having a heart attack. Girls should be allowed to come home with a blue eye after a scrap in the schoolyard without Mom becoming hysterical about the reputation of her little girl. Women should be able to admit to enjoying one-night stands, and men should be allowed to cry during Sex in the City.

While I agree with Svensson that stereotypes can help confine people to boxes they don’t fit into, I don’t support her solution to the issue. The recommendation that governments police the advertising industry by creating regulatory bodies to monitor ads and introduce a “zero-tolerance” policy against stereotyping and degrading imagery fills me with a faint sense of George Orwellian dread. I wonder how the concepts ‘stereotypes’ and ‘degrading’ will be defined for me, and by whom.

What if the government doesn’t like the ad for Opium perfume featuring a stunningly naked size 42 Sophie Dahl in a pose suggesting masturbation? Provocative? Yes. Degrading? No. And will they disapprove of the legendary Diet Coke commercial featuring a bare-chested male construction worker? This ad too plays perfectly to a gender stereotype – but it worked oh so tantalizingly well...




Having grown up in South Africa during the apartheid infested eighties, it may be my fear of an overbearing authority speaking, but the question of who will decide what is acceptable or not, and whether these definitions will change with the government of the day, keep me awake. Government-sponsored media control not only affects freedom of speech, it also strips us of our personal responsibility as individuals to help effect change. That is much worse for society than stereotyping a woman fawning ecstatically over her whiter-than-white washing.

The problem with the acceptability of stereotypes lies in this: many stereotypes are in part based on reality. Is a stay-at-home mom a stereotype or a reality? Is a young, muscular construction worker a reality or a perpetuated reality? Distinguishing between reality and what is perpetuated as reality is a very grey area I would rather not have policed by the government du jour.

Which brings me to that other famous grey area in advertising: nudity. A recent study researched the impact of nudity on economic behavior and found that – surprise, surprise: nudity works. Well, at least it does for men. When it came to the way it affects women’s behavior, answers became a lot more vague. From “…een belangrijke groep vrouwen is ook gevoelig voor beelden van schaars geklede mannen” to “…[vrouwen] zijn even goed opwindbaar, en zullen wellicht ook veranderingen in hun economisch gedrag vertonen, maar dat zal eerder gebeuren in situaties waar de seksuele prikkel via de tastzin wordt geleverd in plaasts van via het oog.”

I’m still trying to understand these findings. Which women exactly fit into this “belangrijke groep vrouwen”? And if, as the study says, women are sensitive to images of scantily clad men, then what about me liking the Opium ad featuring a squirming Ms Dahl?

…And God forbid we consider the implications of women being more affected by a sexual impulse delivered through touch. I’m just not ready for a sensual fondle by the sales assistant at the local Zara!

But seriously: does nudity in advertising affect women? Yes, it does. I know the stereotype says that women don’t like sex or that women are not affected by nudity, but the reality is: we do and we are! We like our Diet Coke Man as much as we like our naked Sophie Dahl. But for us, nudity for nudity’s sake doesn’t work. It must add value to the message. If it sells us an empowering emotion, if it makes us giggle, if it holds up an inspiring, sensual mirror, if it conveys unabandoned freedom or playful eroticism, then yes, we are affected.

So instead of heading down the slippery slope of government-sponsored media censorship or silently allowing misperceptions about women to persist, here’s my recommendation: let’s support Ms Svensson’s suggestion that the advertising industry instead give prizes to companies who do the most to break down what it sees as gender 'straitjackets'. But let’s also take up our own responsibility as individuals and speak up about what we will and won’t accept, what we like or don’t like.

Do I like degrading images of women? No, I don’t. But I like the fact that some government could be deciding for me what is acceptable and what not much less.
Shouldn’t we as women and consumers be wielding our own conscience and using our wallets to show the advertising industry and big business what we do and don’t like, what we will and will not tolerate? For although it is a government’s task to draw global boundaries, it remains our individual responsibility to stand up and count in shaping positive and constructive images that accurately reflect our society.

Happy Birthday to the Queen of Pop

Today's post comes to you compliments of guest blogger and fellow modern feminist, Jesse, over at FashionLimbo.

I confess: I have been a Madonna fan since the age of five. I have all the albums, singles, calendars, posters and books. I troubled my parents and made my conservative aunts blush covering my walls with her Erotica pictures when I was only 10. I learnt about love, sex and life from her, and she remains my role model.

Madonna began with nothing. She is an icon of the 80s, the 90s, and she is still an idol today. She has sold millions of records, topped the charts more times than Elvis, received dozens of awards. She created her own record and production company, and has written books and a directed a film. Her latest album is a global hit, and her upcoming world tour is selling out as I write.
She is the ultimate businesswoman, has defended femininity and girl power worldwide, telling women to take control of their lives, live their dreams and ignore male-imposed principles. Yet, all the headlines are saying right now is that she is 50, young no more, and really: isn’t it time she stopped? And who does she think she is walking around in skimpy underwear for her latest video? And what about all the surgery she has had done?

Relationships and motherhood proved to be two more battle grounds of principles for our Queen of Pop. Madonna has not only been portrayed as a sperm shopper, but also recently as baby snatcher for falling in love with a Malawian boy at an orphanage. She is portrayed as an unfaithful wife because she keeps working, travelling abroad, networking and leaving her husband to do his own thing. Her latest offence? Turning 50 and releasing a raunchy album, daring to dance alongside young Justin Timberlake. The media is covering the milestone over and over again: just Google “Madonna turns 50” and you will see what I mean. It is everywhere.

My question is this: when Brad Pitt turns 50 (he is 45), will we all make the fuss we do today? Will we be debating whether he should start toning it down and covering up, will we question his ability to do his job?

Why is it that women have an expiry date to their career, their femininity or motherhood? Why is it that beauty products still use teenagers to sell anti-wrinkle products, and apart from Dove (and Jane Fonda), older female models have yet to enter the media and marketing landscape. We still live in a world that teaches us every day: “if you are a woman and wrinkled, cover up, because nobody wants to see it”.

The purpose of this post? To congratulate my idol on her beautifully successful existence. To tell women out there that we owe her a lot, that we still need her to remind this world of the need for change, and to publicly proclaim that she is the sexiest woman on this planet at 50, 55 or 65. This post is for all those women who are turning 50, or who are 60 and older and still feel sexy and refuse to slow down.

And last but not least: this one is for Madonna…For contributing to who I am, for opening the worlds’ eyes to erotica, female sexuality without guilt, music and artistic integrity, in the 80s, 90s, noughties and beyond.

Happy birthday Madonna.

Wanted: second-hand woman for sheer driving pleasure

Every time I look at this ad for BMW's selection of "Premium Used Cars", I just can't believe my eyes. (hat tip to Copyranter, where I found the ad)

HELLO? Is there anyone home at BMW Marketing...?

The questions that keep popping up (please do excuse the pun in this case) in my mind are:

WHO THE HELL SIGNED OFF ON THIS AT BMW?
a) Is this guy really in marketing?
b) How many of his brain cells were actively participating in helping him make the decision on this one?

WHO IS THE CREATIVE GOFER THAT DELIVERED THIS LITTLE PIECE OF MENTAL MASTURBATION?
Do they really pay him at BBDO Greece? And was there no-one more strategic to review this concept?

In my opinion this ad is the perfect example of "how stupid ads are made". The answer? One long chain of unbelievably short-sighted decisions made by people who really shouldn't be paid to be in marketing or advertising.

The last person to leave the BMW marketing team, please: switch off the lights.

On motherhood (again)

Although I'm not a Mom, I really appreciate this site "True Mom Confessions"

It's a fantastic community building site for moms to visit, especially in frustrating moments, of which, no doubt there are many.

Moms (and Moms-to-be) can anonymously share their worries, stresses and silly moments with like-minded women.

From a marketing-to-women perspective, I really like it because:
- I love the homepage visual (shown above). It shows a woman as more than just a mom
- I love the unspoken message of the site "You don't have to be a perfect Mom"
- The site puts moms in touch with each other by allowing them to share their stories. Support during difficult times, who wouldn't grab it?
- And they have a competition in which they offer the kind of gift any young mother would jump at: a relaxing spa treatment!

A great effort overall! Which makes me wonder: why has no major brand targeting moms spotted this site as a great initiative with loads of potential to link their customers to their brand...?

My Monday Memo (on a tuesday)

There's so much happening in the M2W arena at the moment, a quick between work update on some must-reads:

The second edition of the Muse Newsletter is due out this thursday. Subscribe now if you want to receive it!

Lady Geek - Discovered this a few weeks ago...a wonderful blog about women and technology! Short, quick, funny reads...Bookmark it!

Less is More
Talking of women and technology, check out this interesting report by Jitterbug.

Some topline findings:

Feature Overload is “Out”
o 73% of respondents prefer to pay only for what they believe they will actually use,
compared to only 27% who want all the bells and whistles
o 32% of cell phone users say their current cell phone service has more features than
they know what to do with
Personalized Services are “In”
o 71% said they would be interested in 24-hour access to a personal telephone
assistant who could give them tailored service
o 34% would prefer to have someone else set up their phone features and services for
them

Soon to be released book worth checking out: "Satisfied customers tell three friends, angry customers tell 3,000". More here
(Double or triple those figures - on both positive & negative sides - for women!)

And last but not least, an article on Essensis, the new "wonder" yoghurt by Danone (in Flemish). The product's claim: "feeds your skin from the inside" came across as unbelievable to me when I first heard it. Apparently I'm not the only one.
Time waits for no (wo)man. Gravity is taking hold. No way one yoghurt is gonna solve that. You can read the full article here.

You are beautiful - just the way you are.

I was gonna blog about women and technology today. BUT: Sex In The City goes into premiere in Belgium this week (oh God, I can't wait!!!), so the topic today will be the much asked question in the media lately (sigh...): "Can a woman be a Sex In the City fan AND a feminist?"

Speaking to women around me and judging by the sighs it induces, this question must rate as one of the silliest questions asked of many modern women - regardless of their age - today.

Why? Because it implies the following:

1. You can't be a feminist and love fashion or shoes.
2. You can't be a feminist and be attractive or dress sexy.
3. You can't be a feminist and have a Brazilian wax.
4. You can't be a feminist and be a single, flirty, vivacious woman.
5. You can't be a feminist and be a career girl.
5. And you certainly can't be a feminist and be a highly-sexed, bi-sexual woman like Samantha!

The problem with this question is that by its sheer composition, it is based on the definition of feminism as we know it from the sixties: grow all bodily hair, burn your bra, debase men and write lots of angry poetry.

But the feminism of today is no longer the feminism of the sixties.

Today's feminist can be a stay-at-home mother of 28, or the career girl of 47 without partner or kids. But she can just as well be an aid-worker in Burkina Faso or the editor of Vogue.

Today's feminist can even be a bi-sexual student, or a grand-mother of 88. And today's feminist can also be the career woman with a husband and 3 kids who wants it all.

Feminism today is all about standing tall, proudly looking the world in the eye and stating:

"I am who I am, and I won't make excuses for it."

Being a feminist today is about the freedom to choose.

It's about living, and letting live.

It's about the beauty of human diversity.

It's about being a woman, and being beautiful...Whoever you are, and just the way you are.

BE your audience.

Yesterday, a journalist who will be interviewing me next week on the topic of marketing to women sent me some questions, one of which really got me thinking.

This was it: "Do you think there need to be more female marketers?"

My answer to this question (Yes!) is the easy part. The difficult part may be the "why?"... but let me explain:

As women think, behave and consume differently than men do, so do female marketers approach marketing a little differently than their male counterparts.

Men, both in life and in business, tend to think in linear, hierarchical terms: "give me the facts / what are the numbers / show me the stats". Same goes for male marketeers.

Overlay this very linear approach to marketing with the female consumers' complex, non-linear, web-based thinking (and consuming) patterns, and things don't quite match up, do they?

Now, I am in no way saying that products for women can only be marketed to by women. I am saying that a product for women marketed ONLY by men is inherently lacking. Exclusion of either gender is never a good idea. To market a product well to either gender, women need to be included in the process (it seems like very common sense, not?). Men and women have many similarities but also differences. To honor the variety in gender, a marketing campaign that includes every perspective will strengthen the outcome.

Female marketers, by the sheer fact that they are, well...female, will approach marketing a little differently - the way they approach life: as a holistically, interconnected, "we notice the itsy-bitsy stuff you're not even mentioning too" kind of way. And to dispell the "warm-fuzzy feeling" this sentence may have wrongly instilled in some readers, remember that women also LOVE details and information. Yes, as female marketers we like the statistics and facts and numbers as much as the guys do, but for us these are not all defining in our marketing approach. We will often follow a gut-feeling or react on something we sense but which is not confirmed in the statistics, because we just know - the way women do - that it holds an important element of truth.

So yes, yes, absolutely: we need more women marketers. Women think differently than men do, so they must be marketed to differently than men. Who better to understand the audience, to relate to the market than someone who is part of it? While I am sure that most of the men who came up the sometimes brilliant, mostly creative campaigns for a variety of tampons (see my earlier post on the topic), I think women were able to more accurately relay which ones worked and which ones were cringe inducing. Sometimes its only a gut reaction, an undefined feeling, a hint, a nuance... but sometimes that is all it takes at the point of purchase for a women to decide to buy or to keep on walking.

Cardinal rule- know your audience. And when you can, when its possible, BE your audience.