Women love luxury cars

Women like cars as much as men do - but in a different way.
A recent North American survey confirms the fact that I'm apparently not the only woman in the universe to like sexy, racy cars (that offer style, class, safety and comfort too, of course).

What did surprise me, however, is the brand and model which holds the top spot on this list:
the BMW Z4.
Apparently there are a lot of women out there who like sports cars A LOT more than I do...
Of course the Z4 would be a lovely car to drive - on a sunny mid-summer sunday. I never expected it to be in prime position on the list though.

However, let me not keep you in suspense any longer. The 10 finalists (in order of priority):
1. BMW Z4
2. Audi A3
3. Volvo S60
4. Volvo V70 and C70
5. Lincoln Zephyr
6. Volvo S40
7. Audi A6
8. Land Rover Range Rover Sport
9. Cadillac SRX
10. Lexus IS

Kudoz to Volvo for the 4 models it has on the list (which confirms how important safety is to women)!

Of course this is a North American survey, and some of the models would not end up in a European top-10 list. But still: the Audi A3, the Volvos, the Audi A6 and the Lexus would no doubt also score well here.

And the BMW Z4?
Well of course we like the fluid organic lines and the power, but it would take a lot of convincing before I believe this would top European women's luxury car list. Maybe we are just a little too realistic (about European weather, bumper-to-bumper traffic, our hair, the family, ...) to put this zippy little monster in the nr 1 spot.

But hey, the 'Thelma and Louise" in every girl will still wish she had one!

(For those of you who like things rational and quantified: "This list includes the top 10 luxury vehicles with the highest percentage of female primary drivers based on CNW Marketing Research survey data. The firm conducted more than 15,000 phone surveys during 2006 on a range of topics about car buying and ownership. The list does not account for yearly vehicle sales volumes. Rather, it measures which vehicles have the highest percentage of female drivers based on the number of respondents who said they were the primary driver of a particular model." - Forbes Autos.com)

New print ad for WE hits the spot

I saw an absolutely great piece of 'smart marketing to women' today!
It's the new print ad for the Belgian fashion label 'WE'. Now I know WE isn't the coolest brand around, but this ad really hits the spot. (grab a copy of this month's Feeling magazine to check it out).

The concept is based on a song called "I'm a bitch" by Alanis Morissette, so in itself not an original, attention-grabbing concept, but it's still so well executed that I didn't even judge the ad for a second for borrowing inspiration from Morissette.

I don't want to spoil the fun you will have discovering this one for yourself by blabbing on about it here, so all I can add is this: go buy Feeling magazine and tell me that's not a campaign very woman between the age of 14 and 84 can relate to!

Kudoz to the agency that came up with this concept and executed it so beautifully!

Mom, Dad and technology

Those of you who are, as I, generation-Xers (or generation-Y), will no doubt be able to relate to the following scenario:

It's 9:30pm on a cold monday night. You're snuggled up on the couch after a hard day at work, totally engrossed in the latest episode of Heroes, when suddenly, your mobile rings....

A little miffled to be disturbed just as the hero-guy is about to paint another future-predicting mindscape, you consider not picking up. But then you glance at the phone's display and see it's Mom calling...so you think that, Mom being almost 60, it must be urgent and decide to pick up.

Me: "Hey Mom" (one eye and ear focused on the TV)
Mom (with a stressed voice...bad sign nr 1): "Sabine, it's Mom"
Me: "Hi Mom......"
Mom: "Sabine, I have a problem." (no chit-chat to start...bad sign nr 2)
Me: "Hmmmm" (still watching the TV)
Mom: "I'm sitting infront of the computer..." (very bad sign...)
"and I can't send and receive mails. I've tried rebooting the pc, I've checked my connection to the internet....I've been to the hotmail website...I don't understand...I keep getting this message that says 'send and receive error'."
Me (very worried because I can sense this is going to mean the end of Heroes for me): "That's strange..."
Mom (in a very stressed voice now): "I urgently need to send an email (at 9:30pm????) and I don't know what to do. Can you please come over...I've tried everything and really can't solve this."

So much for Heroes tonight then.

I'm sure many of you will relate to this scenario. As our Boomer parents have discovered the wonderful, wonderful world of the world wide web, email and all things affiliated, we, their Gen-X and Y offspring, have become their personal IT departments. My mom and dad truely believe my brothers and I can answer all their internet/computer-related questions, fix all their problems (even at 10pm) and buy them the perfect computer. Without me knowing, my parents have promoted us to network specialists, hardware analysists/troubleshooters, not to mention software programmers or IT purchasers.

One thing's for sure: Boomers have discovered what technology can do for them in a big way and they are here to stay (and consume). According to Imago Creative's article Boomers 2.0 "Baby Boomers currently account for one-third of the 195.3 million Web users in the U.S., making them the Web's largest constituency". I bet Europe's boomers aren't far behind...

According to the article "...despite their size, purchasing power, and experience with all things digital, Boomers remain one of the most underserved technology audiences when it comes to customized destinations, products and services."(I smell opportunities for many companies in many, many different sectors here...)

Suggestion from a gen-X daughter: 24-hour telephonic support hotlines.

Women don't ask - how to succeed at negotiating

It seems that we women have a problem negotiating...Apparently we're not as vocal or as demanding as men when it comes to asking...for a promotion, a raise, or even a 'golden handshake' (also read 'Get Fired like a Man').

According to a new book called 'Women don't ask - negotiating and the gender divide', women fall into one of three categories:

- "I don't knows" - women who unaware of opportunities and their rights
- "I don't asks" - women who think asking will jeopardize getting the job or promotion
- "I don't boasts" - women who feel it is impolite to spotlight their accomplishments

Most of us will recognize ourselves in one of these profiles. But that's not the point really. The question is: what are we going to do about it?

There are lessons to be learnt here:
- Know your market value before you negotiate a new job
- Ask while you still can. It is a well-known fact that you are in the strongest position to negotiate your pay-check, perks, etc BEFORE you sign on the dotted line. Once you're in, negotiation becomes even harder...
- Keep on knowing your market value...even after 2 or 3 or more years in a job. Experience and proven performance are worth money to companies. Know your evolved market value as well as your internal value!
- Sh*t happens. If you are retrenched, don't take it lying down. Don't take the first offer you are presented. Negotiate your severance package until you are happy with it too.

A well-known female executive puts it so well:
"We often take what we can get. We compromise instead of negotiating."

Compromise vs negotiating...that's a thought to ponder...

Surviving (and having fun) in the corporate jungle

Today I discovered an interesting blog that I can recommend to all professional women out there. It's called The Ladies Room and contains lots of funny and interesting information on the challenges we face as professional women today.

Also well worth a visit: 'Barrieremeter voor Vrouwen' - a simple 10 minute test that analyzes wether your work/life balance is still in the green...(yeah, right...sure!)

Children and advertising

I found some interesting statistics on advertising aimed at children and the influence it has, both on the child and on the economy.

As vehement McDonals opponent it is especially children's recognition of the company's logo that scares me...

Did you know?

• The average American child may view as many as 40,000 television commercials every year (Strasburger, 2001).


• Children as young as age three recognize brand logos (Fischer, 1991), with brand loyalty influence starting at age two (McNeal, 1992).


• Young children are not able to distinguish between commercials and TV programs. They do not recognize that commercials are trying to sell something (Comstock, 1991).


• In 2001, teenagers, ages twelve to nineteen spent $172 billion (an average of $104 per teen each week), up 11 percent from $155 billion in 2000 (Teen Research Unlimited, 2002).


• In 2002, children ages four to twelve are expected to spend an estimated $40 billion (McNeal, 2002).


• In 2000, children 12 years and under, directly and indirectly, influenced the household spending of over $600 billion (McNeal, 2001).


• In 1997, $1.3 billion was spent on television advertisements directed at children. Counting all media, advertising and marketing budgets aimed at children approached $12 billion (McNeal, 1999).


• Children who watch a lot of television, want more toys seen in advertisements and eat more advertised food than children who do not watch as much television (Strasburger, 2002).


• The market sales of licensed products for infants increased 32% to a record 2.5 billion dollars in 1996 (Business Week, 6/30/97).

Marketeers don't understand women

Europe may be starting to catch on to the 'smart marketing to women' trend at last.

An interesting article on the topic appeared on express.be, one of belgium's leading online sources of business information, recently.

Although the article doesn't reveal anything staggeringly new on the topic of marketing to women, it does dare to address one of the most crucial elements of addressing women in communication: political correctness.

A touchy subject, you may think...Not true, and that's just what the article, or more correctly Phillippa Roberts, the author of 'Inside her pretty little head' wants us to understand. (Also see my post 'unashamedly woman', January 2007)

What Ms Roberts wants marketeers to understand is that political correctness toward women doesn't work when you want to communicate with women. Don't get confused...bear with me for a moment...
Political correctness, expressed in statements such as 'women are the same as men' are very, very, very passe. Women don't want to be 'the same as men'. Women want to be women. They enjoy being women. They want to be addressed as true women - in all their fullness, their complexity and their own right.

So how does one translate this to marketing, or communication?

Simple.

What do we want?
Let us enjoy being women. We like the fact that we have 32 pairs of shoes. We can laugh at sexy jokes just as much as guys can. We admit to crying over silly love-scenes in films. We know we really shouldn't have that third glass of wine, but oh what the hell! Oh, and we giggle with our girlfriends about men and sex too.

What don't we want?
We don't want to take ourselves too seriously all the time and we don't want to be portrayed as 'women trying to be men'. We don't want to be boxed into neat little categories like 'mother' or 'career woman' or 'housewife' or 'partner of'. We are all those things and more.

I couldn't agree more with Ms Roberts! Let's hope marketeers take us seriously. I'm certainly ready for a dose of realistic, good-humoured communication I can relate to!

...I feel a 'Women in the 21st century for dummies' list coming on...Watch this space...coming soon!

Word-of-mouth: David versus Goliath

Yesterday, I experienced the arrogance some big companies display toward their customers first-hand. As a young start-up agency, I had to deal with a big, established agency - a self-professed 'market leader' - for one of my prospective clients. The experience again drives home the impact one single bad experience can have on the way female consumers will view a brand in the future.

Let's take a real-life example of what women do when they have a negative brand experience.
One of my clients - a female marketing manager at a multi-national - had a negative experience with a research agency whom she retained recently for a very high-profile project and who's performance was below-par to say the least. I was not involved in the project, and as such was not on a 'need to know' basis regarding the ins and outs nor the results of the project. My client however, fuming about the lack of service, attention to detail and quality of the supplier's work, did not miss a single opportunity to share her story with others. I heard it at least 3 times in meetings with different parties. Not only did she mention the brand by name, regailing the flaws of the agency in detail, she also explicity said "Let me give you some good advice: don't ever work with them!". Most of those present were women in managment positions. Women who have the decision-making power to choose suppliers and who went back to their respective companies with a very clear impression of the company in question in mind. No doubt this company was never going to be included in the short-list of possible suppliers for any of these women. What's more: when their companies in turn need to retain a research agency, these women are very likely to proactively warn their colleagues about the supplier.

Here are some important lessons brands can learn about women as customers:

1. Women bond with each other by exchanging stories and personal information. If your customer has had a bad experience with your brand, you can bet your bottom dollar on the fact that she will tell her family, friends and colleagues about it. Repeatedly.

2. Women remember the advice they are given or the stories they are told by others. (I've never considered buying an Alfa Romeo because two of my friends - both Alfa Romeos drivers - told me that they tend to have mechanical problems and advised me never to buy one).

3. Word-of-mouth between consumers has a credibility factor no advertising campaign can match. It is the most powerful influencer of your brand's image. As marketeers, we can tell our customers whatever we want about our brand. Ultimately, it is what consumers tell each other that carries the most weight. Word-of-mouth will determine whether a prospective consumer believes our communication or is willing to try our product.

Word-of-mouth: it's the 21st century battle of David versus Goliath.

Career tips - not for the faint-hearted

There are thousands of people and sites and blogs that will give you advice on how to survive in the corporate jungle. I've just discovered a posting on the re:invention blog that takes the 'blah-blah' (or yaddela-yaddela as Jerry Seinfeld would say) out of all those nice politically correct tips and hints.

"Nancy" an anonymous Marketing Exec cuts to the chase and dares to put down the tips we all know are true but most of us don't dare to admit to ourselves, let alone voice in public.

Without further ado - men and women alike - be prepared to hear the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth!

Warning: "Nancy's" 10 Tips are not for the faint of heart...

1. Getting a good education is totally not necessary, especially if "The Head Boss Man" is the guy you sit next to at the Moose Lodge/Rotary/Kiwanis, etc.

2. Work hard to win is a fallacy. A minimum level of work will suffice. Simply giving the impression of being busy will do.

3. Working extra hard (i.e. weekends and evenings) makes you look desperate.

4. Forget the old adage: "See what needs to be done and do it." If it's not getting done, there's a reason. No one cares! And neither should you.

5. Complain if you want results and you want someone to take action. Apply the squeaky wheel rule here. Or, put another way: You don't ask, you don't get.

6. For most of women, the mantra "ask for forgiveness, not for permission" is laughable and a sure sign of career death. Charging ahead will only yield a long diatribe from your boss about how you really don't have the authority to do whatever it is you were trying to do.

7. Don't worry about being on time. Again, no one cares.

8. The ROI on attending awards dinners, banquets, etc. is extremely low. Don't bother.

9. Innovation and change is bad. The status quo and standard operating procedures (SOPs) must be maintained.

10. Watch your back, because no one else is. Forget about being a team player.

The power of networks

Every day, I take my alloted 30 minutes to surf the web to see what's happening in the world of marketing, communication and of course, marketing to women. Every day, I am (pleasantly) surprised to see the number of women who are really going for what they believe in and the initiatives they take to help other women realize their dreams. Blogs, websites, forums and advice...it's all there, if you just look for it! But I often get a little frustrated too...Why are all these initiatives being made by women in America? It's a clear sign that there is much work to be done on this front in Europe.

Today I discovered "StartUpPrincess" - What a wonderful name for a blog that focuses on supporting women entrepreneurs!
And what a wonderful support network StartUpPrincess provides to female entrepreneurs! The blog also features something called(and here's another wonderful term..) 'fairy godmothers'. In the words of Kelly Anderson, founder of StartUpPrincess: "Fairy Godmothers are Women in Business and/or Start Up Princesses that have been successful and have reached a level of expertise in their field and want to share tips and insights to bless the lives of other women entrepreneurs."

Kelly's blog really drives home the fact that in Belgium, we should be making a greater effort to unite professional women - those with experience and those just starting out - to support each other. We should develop a community that helps us promote our businesses to each other and to the community at large. I know that I always try to bring my clients in touch with each other if I think they are complimentary in reaching their goals. Isn't this what creating a win-win situation is all about?

Kudoz to Kelly for her wonderful initiative! Here's hoping that next year this time we in Belgium will have similar networks and initiatives that will benefit women across the country!