Learned on Women

ESPN: Transparent Healthcare Marketing to Men

One of my favorite transparent marketing examples from Don't Think Pink, which I use pretty often in my presentations (especially when my audience is fairly male-dominated) is that of ESPN: The Magazine.  That brand (in all its forms) does a great job of nailing its roughly 18 - 34 year old male demographic - NOT through assumptions about men, like using primary blue as its key color or including columns like "his turn", but by really understanding the copy style and humor, the photo style, the types of content and the interests/passions of its hardcore sports fan readership.  Many, many of ESPN :The Magazine's readers are men, but - because they approach their market transparently, it doesn't come off as so "manly" that female sports fans don't join in that conversation too.  I've written about this before.

Today Stuart Elliott's New York Times "Campaign Spotlight" column (as written by Jane L. Levere this week) profiles the new ESPN/Weiden & Kennedy public service spots - all around spreading the wise news of how important it is for men to get regular health screenings.  The campaign is  part of a continuing effort by the Ad Council and the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality to raise awareness and inspire more adults to take better care of themselves (hear, hear).  What I love about it is that W&K uses the tried and true, and best, way to reach this market - humor and the loud ranting of much-beloved sportscasters. 

There is no finger pointing or "woe is you, you likely have colon cancer."  Not here.  Rather, the ads use a sort of aspirational/common ground combo approach, as in: "you think Alonzo Mourning is a superstar, right... well, even he had kidney disease."  Here's a clip from Levere's piece:

Print and digital ads both feature an anatomical diagram of a man’s body, with arrows pointing to parts like the kidney, marked “Alonzo Mourning kidney disease,” and the thyroid, marked “Mario Lemieux Hodgkin’s disease.”

The print ad also says: “All sports fans follow their favorite player’s health. However, not all fans pay enough attention to their own.”

And it, like all other ads in the campaign, directs men to the Web site,  www.AHRQ.gov/realmen, “for a complete list of the tests you need, and when you need them.”

***

The pace and loudness of the spots definitely make you look (what - is there a breaking sports story?) and then, I bet, a lot of people who stop and watch the ads will think a) that's some savvy ad work, and b) hmmm.. when WAS the last time I saw a doctor (or, as many of us realize - the female significant other may do the final nudge to get her guy to make an appointment).

This is an example of cause marketing that is sorely needed (for whatever reason men don't more regularly go to the doctor, it's got to change) - especially as we face rising, rising, rising overall healthcare costs.  The earlier disease or issues are discovered, the better for everyone contributing to that insurance pool.

Now, I may be more passionate about this sort of effort than the next guy because I grew up with a physician in the house, which meant that going to the doctor was as natural as brushing my teeth.  Still, I think most of us have known friends or family who ended up suffering because they didn't take preventive healthcare seriously. 

It is hard to deny that getting more people, men and women, to visit the doctor earlier on and more often would be a great, great play.  I hope this campaign hits it out of the park.

Andrea NewsBytes: Alltop, 800CEOBook Review, and Me on TalkZone

1) Guy Kawasaki's Alltop single-page aggregation site has just launched a women's category in addition to its science, green, Macintosh, fashion and other topics - and Learned On Women is there.  Alltop is like a digital magazine rack - you can scan blogs for your interests by seeing the last few post titles of each included blog.  Many thanks to Linda Sherman for nominating Learned On Women.

2) I recently read What Men Don't Tell Women About Business, and it gave me lots of insight into male-female relationships and interactions in the business world.  You can read my review of this recently published book by Christopher Flett on the 800ceoread blog.  Here's a clip:

Another apparent self-sabotage mechanism for women is the way they tend to compare failures more than they compare successes (as men are so much more likely to do). Flett writes: "When one talks about how bad her life is, the rest of her support group jumps in to talk about how their experience is worse." Perhaps, just as positioning and status games can seem like obstacles to getting anything done, a woman's tendency to seek common ground in all situations may also get in the way.

3) I was interviewed by Dave Baum on TalkZone radio yesterday as the "dolls" half of their Guys and Dolls themed show (they didn't ask me what to call it...).  The first half was Rose Cameron of Leo Burnett speaking about her expertise in male consumers (I recommend you check out her work via this interview and a google search).  I talk about a woman's buying path in comparison to a man's and how women have driven the green movement. Give it a listen...

NewsByte: Harley-Davidson Garage Parties Don't Include Nail Polish

Harley-Davidson is celebrating International Female Ride Day (May 2) by throwing Garage Parties - women only events where bike mechanics, ergonomics and riding tips will be covered.  There is nary a mention of goody bags that include nail polish or hair care products (imagine that).  Harley continues to do things just right... in reaching and serving their women's market.  Here's the blurb from MediaPost.

On Enabling Sexist Thought Patterns

I came across this post, Word Revocation: "Men" and "Women" on Squashed - and thought it might be a great inspiration/exercise for men and women on marketing teams.  Here's a clip:

The gendered terms don’t fit perfectly or even very well. The words aren’t the cause of sexist thought patterns—but they’re certainly enablers.

Stop using the words “men” and “women,” at least temporarily. Try it for a few weeks. See what it does to established thought patterns. Your brain will need some categories to work properly—and maybe you can come up with more appropriate—or at least more interesting—categories. Do we say “men” or “women” when we mean “creepy sociopaths” or “people I find sexually attractive” or “people who think differently than I do” or “people who intimidate me” or “people with money and power” or “irrational people”? Eliminating the use of two words should reveal gender stereotypes we weren’t aware we had.

For marketers, try a week of targeting: "people who are passionate about _____ (your product here)" or "people who are focused on their kids" and so on.  Any examples you'd like to add?

Green Messaging: Consumers Are Really Going Online To Check Up On Your Brand

You can't just say "it is so" and have consumers believe it.  Today's shoppers are looking under the hood and behind the scenes to see if your brand's environmental claims, for one, are true.
It's an awful lot like the process of committing to marketing to women - you can do lots of PR and add a "for women" tagline to your ad campaigns all you want, but the consumers you really want to impress will need to see some serious back-up for all that you proclaim. 

Web sites are a great place to demonstrate that you are doing both: investing in the women's market, and working on your environmental responsibility.  Particularly for the green business practice/green messaging realm, having that sort of information posted online makes it a lot harder for your brand NOT to live up to its marketing pitch.

Recent research from a Burst Media survey found that green-aware consumers notice the environmental claims that brands are making in full force these days, but they remain skeptical.  And - this should be no surprise - they do go online to investigate those claims.  Yet, consumers are finding that many sites lack in this regard. 

Talk about a missed and easy-to-remedy opportunity!

Here's an excerpt from a MediaPost ResearchBrief about the findings:

The survey found that four out of five (79.6%) respondents use the Internet to conduct personal research on green initiatives and products, and many respondents find the availability of corporate information on green and environmentally safe products and services lacking. Burst's survey showed that:

• 41.6%    would rate corporate information as only average
• 20.8%    rate the information as fair
• 17.2%    rate it as poor

If you are waiting until you can say that everything your brand is doing is perfectly "green" before putting information on your site - don't.  You will likely never reach perfection.  But, women will give you points, and more chances to become their brand of choice, if/when they see steps and plans in the right direction. (Of course, if, two years from now consumers see no further developments from those initial steps, they'll see right through those claims too.)

"Transparency" is already the buzzword for a brand's social, environmental and corporate responsibility issues.  Many people are heading online and to your site to explore your brand - to see how transparent you are willing to be.   So, if your site isn't mentioning or addressing those concerns at all, it could be more than a little suspicious to green-savvy shoppers.

Instead, try this: Commit only to what you can do, but keep it coming.  Publicly share your brand's environmentally sustainable developments as they increase and improve.

Start With What's Right: Making Change Through Appreciative Eyes

At a time when nothing seems to be heading in a positive direction (the economy and the political campaigns for two), interest in, and passion behind, making change has to start with some nugget of hope.  In my latest Huffington Post piece, I consider a way to inspire new thinking that can be applied to marketing to women or any business/life challenge.  Here's a clip:

I recently met someone on a consulting project who got to know my inquiring mind well enough to suggest that I might "appreciate" something called Appreciative Inquiry. The (very) general idea is that groups of people often settle into assumptions as shorthand cues for working together and then forget why they have been thinking one way for so long. Group members will then have trouble digging out from under those assumptions, unless they re-frame the issue(s). The AI theory posits: "Watching a long-held assumption be questioned and replaced tends to inspire people to question other long-held assumptions." And, a creative vein is opened.

In the marketing to women realm, where I focus much of my attention, a lot of re-framing is begging to be done. The difference in how men and women buy is not an extreme Mars/Venus question, in my mind, but it does involve a raising up and examining a few behavioral patterns -- all within a positive frame. So, for example, the issue in training male minds on the topic is not to focus on the fact that "men are so dense that they could never understand a woman's buying mind" - because that isn't the case. Instead, try asking whether or not the men, themselves, have noticed that the women they know think and communicate differently. Yes- they probably have. There's the opening to point out the nuances and make the exploration of this enormous market opportunity a more collaborative and productive pursuit.

If this resonates with you or you have a different perspective - please add a comment to the piece on HuffPo.

NewsBytes: Women's Studies for Men, Curating an Experience

1) Since 2002, of the 8,724 students taking women's studies courses at the University of Michigan (go blue), 1,124 were male.  What's going on?  Here's a quote from a male women's studies student in an  LSA Magazine article (click on the "What's Different" article to download a PDF): "It's almost as if someone gave me a new pair of eyeglasses and the world came into focus for the first time."  The university is seeing a trend in students, male and female, pursuing joint majors pairing women's studies with psychology, medicine, history or German literature.  How about women's studies and business - hmmmmm? 

2) An article in the May 2008 issue of Fast Company covers the curatorial approach of reinventing the hotel experience.  In the piece by Danielle Sacks, Eva Ziegler, senior VP of Le Meridien (a Starwood property), says: "My role is to create unique experiences for the guest that stimulate all five senses."  Her mission has been to "court LM100's cast of artists - painters, designers, and architects - to transform more than 50 aspects of the hotel. " Branding consultant Steven Addis makes a crucial closing point: "...these guys are going to be perpetually curating on behalf of - not marketing at - its audience."  What are you doing on behalf of your customers?

Size Innuendo and Women: Not Always a Perfect Fit

A friend of mine in the photo retailing business forwarded this new Ritz Camera ad, and it seemed like something worth mentioning here.  Why?  Because the brand is obviously trying, but even with all those good intentions, really misses the mark.

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What it looks like to me:

• They made the attempt to reach women more creatively - always a plus.
• They tried to use humor to do it - another plus (usually).
• They failed because the result is more cringe-worthy than connecting.

What happened?  The innuendo-full "size matters" phrase would perhaps be more relevant to the "body spray" set, than what I'm guessing is a more female-focused, family-oriented market.  While I'm certain that being able to offer prints in all different sizes is a big selling point for Ritz, there may be a better way to leverage humor and promote the wide-ranging possibilities.

In this case, size doesn't matter as much as it distracts... from the core message. 

Baby Steps: Women Appreciate Even Gradual Green-ing

Thinking about and protecting the environment is increasingly important to consumers (as per this recent MediaPost research brief on Nielsen Online findings).  To those of us studying female consumers, in particular, this should be no big surprise.

My latest post for eBrandMarketing presents a good example of one brand investing themselves in "green" (rather than painting themselves in it).  Here's an excerpt:

Eco-responsibility is the most current and exciting realm where women are noticing what brands are doing, and how they are going about it.  For instance, I recently received notice of Banana Republic's "Greener Cities 1% At A Time" campaign along with my monthly statement, and then a day later read more about the woman behind that brand's more eco-aware approach in the May issue of Elle.  In that piece, Alessandra Brunialti, vice president of women's design, says something from which pretty much any brand could learn:

"One step at a time.  We are carefully choosing the ways we can make a difference.  We don't want to be one of those companies that claim they're 'green' without doing the work. It's going to be a gradual progression."

M2W Conference: Why You Should Go

1) I will be there on May 9th, as part of a Glam Media workshop on marketing to women online (I am a contributing editor to their eBrandMarketing blog)  - and will join a panel of advertisers, including Kraft and Coca-Cola, in a discussion about the power of distributed media, and what works/doesn't work on the increasingly fragmented internet.  This may be my chance to meet a few more of you - so I look forward to it!

2) More importantly, the M2W Conference has a great agenda and line up of speakers, including Fara Warner (author of The Power of the Purse), Diane MacEachern (author of Big Green Purse) and Aliza Freud (founder of SheSpeaks), and is held in the lovely Chicago Cultural Center.  How is this different from the usual conference scene?  M2W was intentionally developed to be an intimate gathering where connecting, asking questions and learning effortlessly occur.  Sounds pretty good, right?