Although intended to be humorous, the video below from BuzzFeed that shows how foolish it would look if co-workers were to carry out assumed childhood gender roles in the workplace, is pretty spot on. It also reveals just a few of the stereotypical gender traits that are portrayed in advertising messages daily. All women must like pink, for everything Men should never like, wear or even consider the color pink, for anything Women cannot be mechanically-minded All men are mechanically-minded Only women like cooking, dolls, keeping house, fairytales, unicorns and rainbows Only guys like sports, fast cars, adventure and excitement,

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Filed under: Advertising during recession, Buying Power of Women, Marketing to Women, Marketing to Women Myths, Targeting Women | 6 Comments »

As noted by FinancesOnline.com, social media is now the top Internet activity, according to Business Insider. Americans spend an average of thirty-seven minutes daily on social media, and more than half of them are women. So, if women are the driving force behind these billion-dollar social networking websites, it is safe to say that brands must figure out how to find and connect with the female market. They must learn to socialize, not simply market and sell. Six reasons why women are considered the real power behind the social media phenomenon: More women use the top social media including Facebook,

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Filed under: Marketing 2.0, Marketing to Boomer Women, Marketing to Single Women, Marketing to Women, Social Media, Targeting Women, Women and social media, Women and the Internet | 1 Comment »

LITERALLY. Male marketers, a word of advice. If you are charged with effectively connecting with the female market, consider putting female marketers in charge – not short dresses. While this might be appealing to men, the majority of women will assume your car cannot stand on it’s own. That you need gimmicks to attain their attention. Quit trying to market to women through male lenses. According to Marketing Magazine, Nissan’s global marketing chief Andy Palmer said: “The rise of the ’empowered female’ is the biggest consumer trend affecting its worldwide marketing plans.” Palmer went on to say that Nissan is reshaping

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Filed under: Buying Power of Women, Connecting with Women, Effects of recession, Examples of Bad/Good Advertising, Marketing to Single Women, Marketing to Women, Marketing to Women Myths, Targeting Women | 1 Comment »

Aside from the obvious fact that this video is simply incredible and may likely be the best ad of the year – if not the decade, it is also an excellent example of how to effectively market to women. I don’t exactly need a semi-truck, but Jean-Claude Van Damme makes me want to buy one – from Volvo. Actually, there are some pretty strong arguments for the trucking industry to target female drivers. For instance: There is a shortage of truck drivers. The number of female truck drivers has increased 50% since 2005 and continues to rise. Of the more than

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Filed under: Buying Power of Women, Connecting with Women, Examples of Bad/Good Advertising, Marketing to Women, Targeting Women, Women and the Internet | 1 Comment »

I had never been to Poland, but I fell in love with the coastal city of Gdańsk when I had the honor to speak at the 2013 Mediarun Festival. Touted as the leading marketing event in Central Europe, other speakers included Peter Vesterbacka, founder of Angry Birds, Caroyn Everson, the VP of Global Marketing for Facebook and Faris Abouhamad, the IAA Chairman and World President. I had the pleasure of meeting and conversing with marketing colleagues from all over the world who spoke on topics from leading through innovation to brand valuation, corporate disruption in the digital era, creative leadership,

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Filed under: Advertising to Women During Recession, Buying Power of Women, Connecting with Women, Marketing to Boomer Women, Marketing to Women, Sheconomy Speaks, Targeting Women, Women and the Internet | 1 Comment »

The Infographic below from TopWebDesignSchools.org highlights just a few of the findings in Social Examiner’s 2013 Social Media Marketing Industry Report showing how marketers both use and feel about social media. For the third year in a row, at 69%, marketers plan to increase their use of YouTube (male dominated platform) more than any other platform. But, even as new as it is more than half of marketers plan to increase their usage of Pinterest. Interestingly, the report also noted that female marketers (54%) are also more likely to increase their use of Pinterest than male marketers (47%).

Filed under: Buying Power of Women, Connecting with Women, Marketing to Women, Social Media, Women and social media, Women and the Internet | 2 Comments »

I am honored, humbled and excited to be speaking at the Mediarun Festival in Gdansk, Poland next week on “Why and How to Market to Women.” Touted as the leading business and marketing event in Central Europe, the keynote speaker will be Carolyn Everson, Vice-President of Global Marketing Solutions at Facebook. Everson, defined as a “Women to Watch” by Bloomberg TV, and honored by AWNY (Advertising Women in New York City) as “Changing the Game,” is a marketer who understands women. She was recently referred to as the second “First Lady “of Facebook in a Huffington Post article. Much like Sheryl Sandberg, the

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Filed under: Buying Power of Women, Connecting with Women, Marketing to Women, Social Media, Women and social media | 3 Comments »

That’s a question that Nanda Sibol, Director of Brand Strategy in the San Francisco office of Anthem Worldwide poses in the article below titled, Pink or Blue Branding: Changing Gender Norms. The three-to-six years toy guide from ToyInfo.org, supports this thought process, noting: “After the age of three, children begin to play actively with each other. Preschoolers and kindergartners are masters of make-believe. They like to act out grown-up roles and enjoy costumes and props to help them bring their imaginations to life.” When I asked Ms. Sibol why this topic was of such strong interest to her, she responded:

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Filed under: Buying Power of Women, Connecting with Women, Examples of Bad/Good Advertising, Marketing to Women, Marketing-to-Moms, Targeting Women | 4 Comments »

I talk a great deal about how few women there are in certain professional roles and how this affects marketing. For instance only 3% of creative directors at US ad agencies are women, resulting in advertising that does not communicate effectively with the female audience. And with only 25% of IT jobs being held by women we can only assume that the digital world is heading down the same path. But Tara Mohr, author of “10 Rules for Brilliant Women,” suggests that women could be partly responsible for the low numbers, simply due to the way we talk. Mohr recently

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Filed under: Buying Power of Women, Connecting with Women, Marketing to Women, Targeting Women, Women and the Internet | 15 Comments »

As the world rapidly becomes more and more digital, the technology will continue to define products and services as well has how they are marketed. The low number of females being involved as leaders or during the conceptual and developmental processes will surely result in delivering less marketable products and services for women. And similar to the disproportionate number of female creative directors within the advertising industry, this will impair connecting effectively with the very powerful and viable female audience. Although 3 of the 10 best-paying jobs for women are in the tech sector, 56% of women who enter the

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Filed under: Buying Power of Women, Connecting with Women, Female Business Owners, Marketing to Boomer Women, Marketing to Single Women, Marketing to Women, Targeting Women, Women and Customer Service, Women and social media, Women and the Internet | 8 Comments »