Womentum

He said WHAT?

I might be turning into a Danica Patrick fan (www.danicaracing.com). I’ve never seen her race in an Indy Racing League event, but after her run-in with Formula One head Bernie Ecclestone last week, I might have to tune in.

Ecclestone called her to congratulate her on her impressive drive at the Indy 500, but in the same conversation, he reportedly told her “Women should be all dressed in white like all other domestic appliances.”

Not surprisingly, Patrick said was she caught off-guard and upset by Ecclestone’s insanely insulting comments. “I can’t believe he would say it to me over the phone, not to my face, but directly to me,” Patrick said. “I was a bit confused…so I don’t really know what to think about it.”

It’s mindsets like Ecclestone’s that must be changed in the marketplace. Women are not only a legitimate target, but now THE primary target. We’re not appliances, but we buy plenty of them. We’re not all dressed in white like a nurse, instead we’re graduating from medical school in record numbers. We’re not only driving cars in the world of professional racing, we’re also influencing more than 60 percent of new car purchases.

Are you listening, Bernie?

The Fable of Monolithic Women

We’ve written a couple of posts lately about wine and women, and here’s a worthwhile commentary from Colorado’s Rocky Mountain News.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/lifestyles_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_4537_3855279,00.html

Yes, it’s a little tongue in cheek and I particularly liked this part:

Woman-as-target always strikes me as a bit, as it were, broad. “Women’s” skis don’t bash my bumps better, jeans cut for “a woman’s curves” don’t hug mine, and what’s up with genders for perfume and deodorant? Since when do women sweat sugar and spice?

Which leads me to an entirely different thought. I was just thinking about other products that are segmented by gender and I immediately thought of all the talk around the razor battle. Venus vs. Quattro. Do women really need a razor specifically for them? Feel free to weigh in on the debate by posting your opinion by clicking on the Comments link below.

Then I remembered that we just bought shaving cream this weekend. I buy the cheap stuff, Barbasol, and was interested in the new addition to their label. It featured an Olympic athlete – a real man, they called him – and also a sentence or two about how the company donates 10 percent of its profits to charities supporting children.

A nod to feminine values on a package “for real men?” Interesting. Very interesting.

Who's Making This Deal?

You know how you can’t help but overhear things sometimes, even when you’re trying not to? That’s what happened to me this weekend. I was with Lin Batten, a friend who’s a realtor at Smith Mountain Lake (www.lakeretreat.com), and he was showing this couple a house. Lin’s wife, Marie, came too.

So Marie and the female client were talking while Lin and her husband were standing several feet away talking about something else. So the wife says to Marie, “Wait, I have to hear what they’re talking about. See, I have to let him think he’s making this deal.”

According to the numbers, women influence more than 90 percent of all home purchases.

Guess this client was one of them.

Pink Smarts

Friday, we introduced you to Pink magazine (www.pinkmagazine.com), a brand new publication targeting America’s 21 million executive-level women.

As I continued to read more about Pink, I was impressed by the innovative marketing plan developed by founders Cynthia Good and Genevieve Bos. They’re launching their mag without the backing of a major publishing house, so their marketing budget isn’t exactly on par with Fortune’s. Yet they want to quickly establish a presence on a very crowded newsstand.

So they’re applying one of the tried-and-true principles of marketing to women: meeting them where they are. So where exactly does one meet professional women? In the country’s top 25 or so markets where there’s a higher concentration of companies. In the lobbies of office buildings. In the checkout aisles of upscale grocery stores.

And of course in airports. Pink and CNN’s Airport Network have formed a partnership to run magazine content 35 times a week, giving more than 112 million women fliers exposure to Pink. Delta’s executive clubs will feature Pink, too.

Financial services firms KPMG, AXA Advisors and Hyperion have all agreed to support Pink by giving employee discounts and offering up executives as sounding boards. The Sam’s Club newsletter, that reaches more than 5 million women who own small businesses, will feature condensed stories and offer special prices to club members.

Smart. Very pink smart.

Pink. The Color of Money.

Get Fired Like A Man.

That’s the first story mentioned on the cover of Pink magazine’s (www.pinkmagazine.com) inaugural issue. The new magazine, aimed at career women, hit the newsstands last week. Founding editor Cynthia Good hopes her new venture will attract the fastest-growing workplace demographic – women executives, managers, entrepreneurs and thought leaders. Today, an estimated 21 million women now hold executive level positions.

Okay, so I applaud the premise. But I had to question the name. Isn’t this exactly the kind of “pink thinking” that enlightened companies are trying to avoid?

Absolutely not, according to the first letter from the editor:
Throughout your life, pink has been symbolic. Since the day you were born and a pink cap was placed upon your head, the color partly defined who you were and who you felt you could be or could not become. At times, pink was confining, girlish, degrading, liberating or all of these.

But today, a growing number of women who are at, or heading to the top, are comfortable with their own pinkness – the color, the attitude, and the opportunity it represents. They are embracing their femininity along with their strengths, their compassion and resilience, power and passion.

Welcome to the reclamation of Pink.

Pink will be competing against magazines including Money, Fortune, Family Money, Money for Women, Kiplinger’s, Budget Living and a new entry called Bee that is scheduled to launch in October. It’s also taking some inspiration from other titles, namely the now-defunct Working Woman and Gloria Steinem’s Ms. Magazine.

The premiere issue carried 33 pages of ads and contracts have been inked with major players like Coca-Cola, Home Depot, Georgia-Pacific, FedEx, Song Airlines, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and Wachovia among others.

But media critics remain skeptical. Why would women pay $3.95 for advice on how to structure a compensation package when general information like that is everywhere on the Net? Will women even value financial advice from a woman’s point of view?

Good says yes. Pink will offer financial and career advice in the context of stories about other successful women. And we know that women prefer to talk about people over things, so this stands a pretty good chance of succeeding rather than the traditional focus on stock performance.

Take a look and let me know what you think.

This Ain't Powder Puff Football

All the talk yesterday about sports marketing and women’s teams was still in my head when I ran across this little nugget: There’s a National Women’s Football Association (www.womensfootballcentral.com/).

Should I have known this or is it news to you, too?

Okay, so there are 31 pro teams around the country (31!) from the Pensacola Power to the Maine Freeze, from the Austin Outlaws to the Cincinnati Sizzle, and the Gulf Coast Herricanes (yes, I spelled that right). There’s even one here in my home state of North Carolina – the Asheville Assault.

Just in case there’s any confusion, this is TACKLE football. No foofy little waving flags for these athletes. Remember, they’re called the Assault, not the Nudge.

The NWFA web site says that women’s football is “the fastest growing sports organization in the country.” Three new teams will join the league for the 2006 season, bringing the total to 34 teams.

So, just out of curiosity, I did a highly unscientific poll to see what types of companies are sponsoring these teams. I mean, here’s a sport that’s growing, where a relatively small investment could propel a company into the sport’s spotlight.

Here’s a sampling of sponsors: a chiropractor, an orthopedist, local caterer, local insurance agency, heating and air company, and Chic Sports Radio (http://www.awsmonline.org/ChicSportsRadio.htm). And that was from multiple teams. The one sponsor that seemed like it could also sponsor an NFL team was Samuel Adams. I guess wherever there’s football, there must be beer.

With such powerful marketing dollars behind them (please read with a hint of sarcasm), teams are forced to come up with other ways to cover expenses. Take the Massachusetts Mutiny (http://www.massmutiny.com), for example. The athletes are full-time salespeople, teachers, attorneys, grad students, analysts, and financial professionals. Yet, there they are – on a calendar. In various stages of equipment undress. Or sporting a cowboy hat while carrying another player piggyback.

Heavy sigh of frustration.

Why a calendar? Because, according to the team’s owner, the biggest challenge is proving that these women, who can throw a football with a tight spiral, run, block and tackle like their male counterparts, aren’t too threatening. “After people see the photos, a lot of them say – hey, these aren’t big, awful, icky, gross women,” said Sheri Russell. “People need to know that these are really beautiful, professional, articulate, sexy, athletic women.”

If that’s the price for entry to play professional football, I can think of more than a few NFL players that don’t measure up. But apparently that’s the price that sponsors demand. Women must prove their femininity and show athletic prowess while the guys only have to be good athletes.

Danica v. Annika

It’s a sports day, sports fans. As you may have heard, there’s this little media storm around Danica Patrick (www.danicaracing.com), a rookie driver in the Indy Racing League. Sure, she finished fourth in the renowned Indy 500, and actually led the race for a couple of laps – a first for a woman, by the way – but let’s face the facts. She’s never won a race. She’s not even the first woman driver in the IRL.

But she’s photogenic and, well, looks downright sexy when she’s draped across the hood of a racecar, as she was in a recent magazine spread.

Then there’s Annika Sorenstam (http://www.pgatour.com/u/ce/feature/0,1977,837190,00.html), the LPGA powerhouse who’s halfway to winning the Grand Slam and has 62 trophies to her credit. In fact, she’s won six of the last eight events she’s played.

Here’s what Philadelphia Inquirer (http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/) sportswriter Bob Ford had to say about the Danica v. Annika situation:

All of this says something about the nature of women’s sports in this country, about the insatiable shallowness of the marketing monsters. It also says that, unfortunately, when it comes to judging women, society is often less concerned with the proper application of logic than with the proper application of mascara.

Then there’s always Anna Kournikova, the tennis player who played more to the cameras than to her opponents.

And we all know that sports is driven by marketing dollars. Who will bring in more viewers? Danica pumped up ratings 40 percent. But my question is this: why can’t we bring in more viewers willing to watch skill over sex appeal?

Inquiring Women Want To Know

Friday at lunch – Mexican with the usual work gang – I witnessed a great example in the differences of male and female communication styles.

As we’ve discussed, men tend to gather the top two or three most important facts and use those as the basis for their purchase decision. Women, on the other hand, want to dive into the details. We want to see a situation from all the angles before we make a decision.

So here was the scenario. Neil, an enlightened male, joined me, Andie, and Sherry for lunch. I’d proofread an article Neil’s wife, Kristi, had written and asked Neil about it.

“So, Neil, Kristi’s freelancing now,” I said.

“Yeah, it’s just a little assignment from the newspaper, but it’s a start,” he replied.

“How many articles will she get to write a month?” asked Sherry.

“I don’t know.”

“How much is she getting paid?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is this first article a test or is she on their go-to list for writers now?”

“I don’t know. But I do know it’s about a local furniture store!”

In advertising, we have a “rule” about having one central idea per ad. If you’re selling a product, it’s too confusing to tell the customer absolutely everything about that product in one ad. I call it kitchen sinking. But since women want all the details, there must be a place – may I suggest your web site – where women can go as deep and wide and they want.

Today I Practice

Sorry folks, no fresh post today. I'm writing for one of our major clients and working at home so I can crank it out without the interruptions of the phone and people wandering in and out of my office. Instead, my dogs, Chase and Tucker, wander in and out of my home office.

Here's to furry officemates!

The Push and Pull of Retail

Retail sales: up 1.4 percent in April.

That’s nearly double the expected 0.8 percent.

That’s good news for both retailers and consumers. Consumers are pushing retailers from several different angles, and the smart ones are responding in ways that are making the cash register ring.

Here’s what’s going on. The Boomers, that huge bubble of forever youthful adults, continues to buy young. And, more and more, they’re reaching for products that are environmentally sustainable. For example, the other morning on NPR during a story about hybrid SUVs, I heard a dad say that he wants the space of an SUV but wants the fuel efficiency of a hybrid. Not only does he want it, he said, but he gets a lot of comments from his teenage daughter about how he’s not helping to save the planet. So some Boomers are catching it from both their own consciences and from their socially conscious kids.

On the other hand, tweens and teens are buying older and savvier. With wads of disposable income, this group gobbles up cell phones, MP3 players and clothing with a voracious appetite. And their influence is becoming visible in categories you might not usually associate with teenagers. Like hybrid SUVs.

In response, smart retailers are answering with new retail experiences. Malls are morphing into lifestyle centers and national big box stores are combating consumer malaise with homogeneity by acting local.

So who’s not being a smart retailer? According to a late May study, long distance providers and mobile phones are failing to deliver against consumer expectations, while appreciative snaps go to JetBlue, New Balance, Poland Spring, BP, Blackberry, Sony and Apple.

Are you meeting the expectations of today’s changing consumers?