Survey: Help Us Better Meet Your Business Travel Needs

Ad!dict Creative Lab is a global think-tank that brings together over 4,000 creatives from around the world on innovation and design challenges that need a broader perspective.

They're currently doing a survey on business travel. More specifically: the likes and dislikes thereof with seasoned business travelers. Over the past few decades, women have also become frequent business travelers, and as such, it is important that we share our likes and dislikes - from a woman's perspective!

The team at Ad!dict would really appreciate it if you could take the short 3-minute survey here.

As soon as the project wraps and the findings & recommendations are made public, we'll share a selection of them here! So, stay tuned in the coming months...!

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.

A video you will never forget.

It's Friday, and as some of my posts here sometimes do, this one has nothing to do with marketing-to-women and everything to do with life.

It's a video I just found on the blog of author Tim Ferriss.

It's a video about self-doubt, something we're all guilty of at some point.
So this video is for all of us, no-one can say "this doesn't apply to me"... To put things back into perspective when we need it most.

The Undeniable importance of Denial

(original english text of a column I wrote for De Morgen's weekend supplement "Wax" this week)

The undeniable importance of denial.

Oscar Wilde once said: “Illusion is the first of all pleasures”. Now it’s not that I want to bump chests with the larger-than-life Mr. Wilde, but I think he got it wrong on this one. Denial is the first of all pleasures. And having just turned 36 (ok, ok, damnit: 37), I know a thing or two about the pleasures, and necessities, of denial.

Let me give an example of unequivocal denial that all those over thirty will relate to. (Those under thirty can skip this paragraph; you won’t know what I’m talking about – yet. If you keep reading, don’t smirk too conceitedly, your time will come.). Those over thirty will know the guilty pleasure of bumping into an old high-school friend you haven’t seen since platform shoes were in fashion (the first time round), and with a pang of glee noticing the first fanning wrinkles around their eyes, the extra few good-living kilos that pad out their face a little too ruddily. And while your eyes stealthily scan their face the way a thousand-watt searchlight scans a midnight sea for survivors, you quietly think to yourself: “Boy, I’m glad I didn’t age the way they did. At least I still look pretty much the way I did at 25”.
Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is denial in its purest form.

But not all forms of denial are born equal, and not all afford us the same measure of pleasure.

First there’s pragmatic, necessary denial. The accountant of denials, this dependable, rational form of denial protects us against the harsh, inescapable realities of life: the cruel ending of love, sky-high taxes and sagging breasts.

Then there’s the second kind of denial: impractical, non-essential denial. Now don’t get me wrong: it is not because this denial is non-essential that it is therefore less valuable. Au contraire: non-essential denial can be very essential indeed. This irrepressible dancing harlot of denials, non-essential denial is every girl’s best friend.

It’s the kind of denial that assures us our jeans don’t fit any tighter than they did last month, that we just left them in the dryer too long.
It’s the kind of denial that convinces us to break the cardinal fashion rule “no miniskirts after 30” because well… it is Rock Werchter and we do don’t look a day over 28.
It’s the kind of denial that whispers soothingly that just one more little cookie won’t make the difference, or with a reassuring shoulder pat reminds us that a glass of red wine a day is good for the heart. It’s the kind of denial that cheers us on to climb a bar counter at 2am to do the Two-Tequila Boogie with a boy barely out of college, knowing we have an 8am meeting the next morning.

It’s also the kind of denial that keeps our best friends looking as youthful to us at 36 as they did at 22; the denial that keeps our hips slim and our husbands from growing beer bellies. It’s the kind of denial that keeps our parents from becoming senior citizens and the one that keeps us animatedly crooning “Like A Virgin” in the presence of our preteen son.

But most importantly it’s the kind of denial that gives us the courage to backpack across India at forty, climb Mount Kilimanjaro at fifty or sell the house to motor along Route 66 in an open-top Alfa Romeo Spider at sixty-five.

It’s the kind of denial that is the racy red lingerie, the little black whip and the fluffy pink handcuffs in our pragmatic underwear drawer of life. It’s the denial that allows us to dream crazy dreams and take courageous decisions, regardless of the realities of our age or circumstances.

Its the priceless kind of denial that keeps us kicking up our skirts to dance on the bar counter of life – at 36, 56, and yes, also at 76.

www.demorgen.be

Nothing will be the way it used to be.

The way in which we do business has been changing steadily for a while now. The impact of the changing world in which we live keeps becoming clearer every day. It's a scary and uncertain time in which to do business, for the changes we are experiencing are fundamental and far-reaching. This clip, sent to me by my friend Caroline over at RollingTalks, is spot-on in its analysis of the forces that are increasingly affecting business today.

For those brave enough to run with the bulls in these uncertain times, the clip also contains a few great inspirational pointers that can help you get (or stay) ahead of the pack!

December Newsletter Out Today!

We've put together our best newsletter yet - a compilation of the best and the worst (and the funniest) in the world of marketing to women. Chock full of videos, insight and inspiration, we hope you enjoy this review of 2008.

As always, we would love to hear your feedback. Agree? Disagree? Have a different campaign to suggest?

Don't forget - to sign up, email us at newsletter@musecommunication.com! Enjoy.

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'!)