To our moms we'll always be kids.

I just discovered this new ad by P&G that ties in with the winter Olympics taking place right now.
It's a great example of a very simple yet very effective ad that targets women - be they mothers or not.

As you'll see in the video below, the ad centers on the concept of Olympic athletes always remaining kids to their moms.

The ad works beautifully for a few reasons:

1. We can all relate to always being a kid in the eyes of our parents.

2. The Olympic athlete that is also just someone's kid: it's a disarmingly gentle concept that stands in stark contrast to the cut-throat competitive nature of the Olympics.

3. Many different types of women will be able to relate to it, for even if they are not moms, they are still someone's daughter.

4. It's human, it's honest, it's simple, it's real. And those are just about all the qualities most of us (women as well as men) are attracted to after years of global capitalism and consumerism-at-all-cost.

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.

Please meet the Real Mom.

Advertising Age just published a very interesting white paper called "The New Female Consumer: the rise of the Real Mom". It's a great spotlight on the way society - and the roles of women in it - has changed over the past three generations.

You can download the entire report here. Well worth a read!

To Facebook or Not To Facebook, that is the question.

57 percent of Facebook users are women. For brands that market their products to women, social media is the proverbial goose that lay the golden egg of modern communication. Everybody wants a piece of the action.
I am often encouraged by clients to "include social media, especially Facebook, in our communication strategy". Without much thought as to whether this is actually the right decision, whether it would be an efficient channel in their case (for each case should be judged on its own merit). The question that is most often left unasked is: What do you expect your presence on Facebook to achieve?

This post, titled "10 musts for marketing to women on Facebook" is also a must-read for all brands considering it as a communication channel.

On selling marketing to women - to men.

Often when I give presentations on marketing to women, I feel as if I'm preaching to the converted, so to speak.
Mostly, the people that attend our workshops already believe in the purchasing power of the female consumer. And mostly, the people that attend these workshops are - you guessed it: women.

Today I came across an article by Holly Buchanan titled "How to sell men on marketing to women". It's a great article by a lady who knows her stuff. And she tackles issues we still face so often today. It's well worth a read!

Another must-read this week is this report by Ad Age, called "The New Female Consumer: the rise of the real mom."
The report focuses on Generation-X and the Millennials, and although the research was conducted in the US, in my opinion still provides some great insights in to the collective psyche of these two generations.

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!"

Gone Camping...in Africa.

I am lucky enough to be able to realise one of my biggest dreams in the coming 3 weeks: to take part in a rally that goes from Belgium all the way to Gambia. Called the "Antwerp-Banjul Challenge", it's a rally of which the concept holds that you get your vehicle to Gambia in as good a state as possible and then auction it for a good cause of your choice. My team partner and I will be donating the proceeds of our vehicle (a 15-year old Land Rover Discovery) to a small hospital in southern Gambia that is in dire need of a gynaecological ward (1 in 32 Gambian women still die due to birth related complications). So that's our goal!

We leave today. 7000 kilometers in 18 days.

I won't be posting here in the coming weeks, but I will be updating the Sunshine Shooters blog with Twitter updates daily and with blogposts whenever possible.

See you when I get back!