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!

The end of wrap-rage as we know it.

This phrase almost made me snort* my coffee all over my keyboard this morning: "Frustration-Free™ Packaging"

When I mentioned the remote possibility of frustration-free packaging here in the office, everyone became very curious, because, lets face it: who hasn't cursed trying to open the hard-plastic packaging of a new toothbrush or waded through reams of wire-tie, styrofoam and bubble-wrap to get to that brand-new remote control toy car. Wrap rage...so prevalent, it's right up there with road rage!

I've always said and I'll say it again: great marketing (also to women) starts with a great product. And packaging is of course part of the product...Actually: it's a consumer's first experience with the product!

As consumer, I can no longer count the number of times I have cursed trying to open a a shrink-wrapped package (with my teeth), or the number of times I have felt totally guilty for buying a 50ml jar of facecream inside a box large enough to ship an elephant.

So: kudoz to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for starting the "Amazon Frustration-Free™ Packaging" initiative. With it, the company joins forces with a list of companies including Mattel, Fisher-Price and Microsoft to deliver products in smaller, easier-to-open packaging.

On behalf of at least a few million consumers, I would like to thank you for taking the first step, Jeff...this can only lead to less frustration and less guilt on the consumer's side! (Not to mention the money you guys will save by using smaller/lighter and less packaging!)



*Courtney's recommended word this morning. No animals or humans were injured during the unfortunate coffee incident. The keyboard survived too (it's a Mac...of course.)

Ah, Women!

There's a great article on Time Magazine's website called "Women in Luxury" that showcases interviews with some of the most powerful women behind some of the world's most powerful brands.

I read a few of the interviews, and what struck me is this: the women interviewed give such a wonderfully individual, quirky insight into the beautiful complexity of women as individuals...and perfectly illustrate why categorizing women by demographics alone just doesn't make sense any more!

Odile Roujol, President of Lancôme, is the perfect idiosyncratic example of this.
Roujol perfectly represents Lancôme understated sense of style with her white cotton blouse and trim black slacks...and then she pairs it with 5-in. Prada platform sandals. In purple. Her lifestyle is anything but "40-to-54" either. If she's not traveling for work on weekends, Roujol could be in-line skating with her sons by day or visiting the opera at night.

Or take Stella McCartney, "Since launching her label in 1995, McCartney has made a mission of designing collections that are environmentally awake. Her clothes and accessories, including shoes and handbags, don't contain a stitch of leather." Strong, outspoken and surrounded by stars, glitz and glam most of the time, the 37-year old lists her mom as her biggest inspiration...

Or take Lorna Kelly Kelly, luxury auctioneer at Sotheby's who, at 63, is also an avid student of Buddhism and often sports a dramatic pink streak in her hair.

What a wonderful illustration of individuality these women are!

(And I dare anyone to tell kelly or my mom (both in their early sixties) that they are now in the demographic 'senior citizens'!)

Money Matters

Most people don’t pay attention to how much money has been spent on a brand before purchasing something. One might notice the changing ad campaigns at bus stops or billboards or comment on which companies choose to spend millions in a Superbowl football ad. At least, until recently.

In today’s financial climate, we’re all more aware of how much a company spends – on anything from golden parachutes to advertising budgets. So when I read about Pepsi’s new brand campaign and its 1.2 billion dollar budget, I consciously thought - I want a Coke. I mean, how could any company knowingly choose to invest that much money in changing what is already a well-known brand? That sort of money seems wasteful in today’s economy. While they’re a world-wide brand and this is a three year budget, it still reeks of big corporate money and not real inventiveness or creativity – something the brand desperately needs.

And its not just a one-off, single example of being aware of a company’s budget decisions. People want to know about a company’s fiscal responsibility – in all areas.



This ad focuses on the striking disparity between really caring about one’s customers by focusing on solving problems or only caring about the customer’s dollar, as ‘PC’ seems to here. In today’s fiscal atmosphere, there is a need to focus on financials and how companies are choosing to spend their money. One has to be transparent in business and not just in the products and services but also, surprisingly, in promotional efforts.

Money matters, along with everything else.

Tales of passion

I recently discovered the TED conference: an annual event that brings together some of the world's greatest thinkers and doers, and challenges them to "give the talk of their lives" — in only 18 minutes.

I also discovered Isabel Allende, novelist and memoirist and author of the enormously successful "The House of Spirits". Allende gives a wonderfully funny, moving and very inspiring talk that all women should hear.

Enjoy!

Marketing during the recession.

I think we can call it official: the economy is a stumbling, faltering mess.

The growing rumbling of the recessional snowball can be heard loud and clear on both sides of the Atlantic now, and there are no signs that it’s going to miraculously disappear any time soon. In fact, this may be one of the most fundamental marco-economical shifts in many decades, and I can’t help but think that the magnitude of the possible changes makes us all freeze like rabbits in a car’s headlights. We’re not quite sure where it’s going and we have no idea how it will end.

“Recession” is a word that also causes marketeers sleepless nights. Suddenly, nothing across any of the four “Ps” is the way it was yesterday. Consumers have a different mindset about spending. Price elasticity curves change. Managing the company balance sheet takes priority above all else (especially marketing), and as marketeers we’re expected to do much more with much, much less.

Of course a recession affects different market sectors in different ways and to different levels, so a one-approach-fits-all for recessional marketing doesn’t exist. However, here are some key truths that hold true for all brands during a recession:

THE CONSUMER:
Economical uncertainty leads to uncertainty on a personal level. Consumers worry about their jobs, their household budgets, their savings. They tend to cut back on discretionary spending, postpone larger purchases, trade down or buy less. As a recent Harvard Business School article said: “Yesterday’s must-have features become today’s can-live-withouts”.

Seth Godin said: “When times are good, buying things is a sport. It's a reward. The story we tell ourselves is that we deserve it, that we want it and why not? When the mass psychology changes and times are seen as not so good, the story we tell ourselves changes as well.”
The answer? Address the consumer’s changing priorities and needs in your communication. Try to strengthen the relationship with your customer by offering great price/quality, stellar customer service and keep your brand top-of-mind with the right messages and communication efforts.

PRODUCT:
Gimmicks are out. Quality is in. Focus on your product’s reliability and performance. Reassure your consumers that you will continue to focus on quality. Products that address the new realities of the consumer – both on a product level and a communication level can do well in these uncertain times.

PRICE:
It goes without saying that most consumers become more price conscious during a recession. I’m not saying change your pricing strategy completely, but in the current economic climate, price elasticity will decrease in most sectors and consumers are more likely to shop around for the best deals. Offer consumers temporary price promotions, bulk buying discounts or bundled product packages to appeal to a value & budget conscious mind-set.

PLACE:
Don’t forget that your channels suffer too during hard times. It may prove impossible to retain your channel breadth & depth, but it would be wise to evaluate partnerships and support your strongest partners. Training them on your products and providing them with the support to promote your products will lead to a stronger relationship and will see you take market-share at a time when everyone else is cutting back!

PROMOTION:
“Successful companies do not abandon their marketing strategies in a recession; they adapt them” says Harvard Business School.

One of the most forgotten advantages of a recession is the fact that marketers have more bargaining power with media outlets. With marketing spend drastically cut, spots open up for the taking at reduced prices – paradise for astute negotiators!

Although marketing is about creating a long-term sustainable advantage, promotion during economically difficult times can focus on increasing short-term sales too. Instead of campaigns focusing on corporate image, now’s the time to invest in cross selling and up selling tactics, point-of-sale actions, direct marketing activities or channel promotions to increase revenue.

As I wrap up this article, the news has just come in that Tokyo’s NIKKEI index fell to its lowest point in 21 years. These uncertain times are the stuff nightmares are made of, for consumers and marketers alike.

The best advice I’ve had to date? Don’t panic. Stay focused. Spend frugally. Be ready to adapt swiftly.

My Financial Planner Should Be Famous

A number of years ago, I turned to a financial planner when I was a waitress. With so much cash on hand, I knew I should do something with my money but was unsure what. With a degree in English and a passion for words, not numbers, I knew that I would never be able to understand or research a topic as thoroughly as my money deserved. I turned to someone who would be able to answer my questions and speak to me openly and honestly – a financial planner with Edward Jones.

My actions are in line with The National Center for Women and Retirement Research (NCWRR) statement that women spend more time researching their investment choices than men do. This prevents women from chasing "hot" tips and trading on whims—behavior that tends to weaken men's portfolios.

In truth, if you go by numbers alone, women are better investors. In a University of California Davis 1997 study, they found that women's portfolios gained 1.4 percent more than men's portfolios. And men trade 45 percent more often than women do because men tend to be overconfident. By trading more often (and without enough research), men reduce their net returns. By trading less often, women get better returns and also save on transaction costs and capital gains tax.

The financial market is no different than any other sector in that women still like lots of information. Women seek out financial data and information online, and are more apt to seek financial advice from an advisor. With today’s current state of affairs and the headlines reporting dire financial news, it should come as no surprise that I again turn to my financial advisor. My accounts are a few zeros short of being important to anyone other than myself, but I can’t help but wonder what to do? Is there action for me to take?

My financial advisor’s reaction to my uncertainty and fear is so good, I have to quote him, “I can appreciate your concerns. While we are in a downturn in the economy and there are many issues with the credit markets, the future is much brighter than the media leads us to believe. I will be happy to discuss with you at your convenience. The best thing to do right now is sit tight, remain diversified, be patient and invest monthly when possible. I sincerely appreciate your business and continued trust in me.”

And when I didn’t respond in two days, he followed up with, “I never heard back from you so I wanted to follow up. Do you want to chat this week? I will do my best to accommodate your free time.” This is a perfect example of 'how to respond to an email' or 'how to have excellent customer service.' Or simply, how to do a job so well, you have customers raving about you like I am doing now.

With this level of customer service, attention, and honesty, combined with the recognition of my fears and current situation, as well as a suggestion for what to do, it is quite understandable why women turn to financial advisors. This is a recipe for continued success no matter how the markets change. I can only hope your financial advisor is as attentive and kind as mine (not to mention, good with money!). You can find Jonathan Stearns here.

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.

Fantastic Lingerie Marketing

Have you seen the new Playtex campaign? What a wonderful example of marketing lingerie to women in an appropriate, fun way! Every woman can relate to this!

Humor in Advertising to Women isn't Funny

Humor in advertising to women isn't funny because it doesn't seem to exist. Where are all the funny ads that appeal to women? Using humor to appeal to women is great idea but often falls flat upon execution. Here is a car ad that is trying to be funny, trying to appeal to women by spoofing on the overt sexual nature of these men washing the car.



The ad plays on the idea that there are a lot of cliché ads with sexy women soaping up cars. It turns that idea on its head by having large, overweight, half naked sumo wrestlers. I appreciate that this ad plays to both my good humor and assumed intelligence to appreciate the satire. However, it doesn’t sell the car. There are no details, no information, no real truth in this ad, ONLY humor. I am left with a smirk and no recollection of the product itself. Funny, yes. Strong ad, no.



Using humor is difficult but this next ad pulls the idea off perfectly. A sign of its success is that I saw this ad not on TV, but because my father sent me this, laughing so hard, he had to share it. I don’t think he considered what made the commercial so funny is that this humor was based on a truth, a reality we all know. Most men love their gadgets and technology. They love one-upping each other, and this ad does a brilliant job of combining those two elements into one ad. Just as the car ad commented on the truth of females in ads are often portrayed as sexy and half-naked, this phone ad speaks to the competitive nature in men and their propensity towards gizmos and gadgets.

This phone ad is a much stronger success story because not only is it funny, what is funny is related to the actual product. The humor is in the technology, the benefits of having so many great perks to one’s phone. The humor reinforces the product and the branding message.

However, this funny ad is definitely directed towards men. It appeals to everyone in the joke, but likely to be effective in purchasing with the just men. This ad cannot be applied to women. So where is a funny ad for women?

That is the challenge! I can’t find that many! There is one that we referenced before about a man buying his girlfriend tampons. But there must be more! In writing this post, I have watched no less than 30 commercials tagged as hilarious or funny. And by what I have seen, you would think that either women don’t have a sense of humor due to the complete lack of funny ads that appeal to women OR that the only thing that can be funny is about sex. I’m not being closed-minded – this is a call out. I know there must be some funny ads that will result in a woman being more likely to purchase a product or service. Where are they? Please share your fave funny commercials here! I'd like to see examples of what works, what appeals and what is funny to you.

Yet another reason why marketing to women exists – women can enjoy a good joke as much as the next guy but have been left out of the comedy club. We're ready to laugh.