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Why 'Marketing to Women' Initiatives Are a Bad Idea

Yesterday, I cringed as I read an article in Ad Age about how automotive marketing aimed at women has evolved from portraying them as 'soccer moms', to portraying them as 'professionals'.  

I thought...here we go again, talking about 'marketing to women'.  Back in 1992, when I worked for Nissan, there was a big push by some automakers to market to women because they 'under indexed' with their brands. Typically, these brands were known as 'performance' brands. Their solution usually involved 'softening' the message to focus on safety and convenience features.

In defending their lack of targeted women's initiatives, Nissan's then VP of marketing, Jules Clavadetscher said, 'I don't think we need to send out lipstick samples to get women into our showroom'. The quote was picked up by many publications, and portrayed as evidence that Nissan was out of touch with women.

But 22 years later, I think there was much wisdom in Jules' comment. For the fact of the matter is, any marketing that attempts to paint 51% of the population with a single brush will always come across as a patronizing stereotype. 

To illustrate the point, let's look at my next door neighbor Cathy and me.  She and I are exactly the same age.  We both have worked all our lives in professional jobs. Neither of us had children.  Both of us raised step children. So many similar experiences.

But that's where the similarities end.  She drives a gas guzzler, while I favor my electric car.  She loves traditional decor, and purchases elaborate fabrics and draperies for her home.  I'm a modern minimalist, who shuns window coverings.  When we go out to dinner together, she wears flowing pants outfits, while I favor tailored dresses. Her phone is a Samsung, mine, an iPhone. She drinks light Rosés, I prefer big Chardonnays. The fact is that it is quite unlikely that a single brand or associated message would appeal to both of us, just because we are women.

Instead, we choose brands that align with our personal values and tastes.  Some of these align with the values and tastes of other women, some with those of men. 

Realistically speaking, no brand or category is going to appeal to everyone.  There will always be higher and lower indexing groups of people. And because women represent the majority of the population, brands that index low with women still have a sizable number of women buyers.  So brands who try to equalize any inequities, be they demographic or psychographic, may end up doing themselves more harm than good, as they are likely to lose their point of view and core audience in the process.

A classic example is 'New Coke', Coca Cola's 1985 attempt to appeal to younger buyers who were eschewing Coke for Pepsi. But those customers were buying into the youthful appeal of Pepsi, and not necessarily the product attributes. Hardcore Coke loyalists protested vehemently. Thus, New Coke was failure from day one.  Luckily, Coca Cola reacted quickly enough to prevent long term brand damage, but the entire effort was none the less a marketing debacle.

'Pepsi Generation' Appeal?

When Disney opened its 'California Adventure' theme park, it was designed to appeal to teens and adults who were more likely to visit Universal Studios or Magic Mountain than Disneyland.  The park cost $600 million to build. It contained thrill rides, but lacked the 'magic', storytelling and place-making that its core family audience loved and that defined anything Disney.  And the teens and adults who had previously shunned Disney continued to stay away. As a result, California Adventure flopped, and negative word of mouth began to erode Disneyland brand value. Disney also realized the error of its ways, and revamped the park..spending $1.1 billion dollars to 'Disney-fy' it.

Disney or Magic Mountain?

So what's the lesson here? How should brand owners approach women?  The simple answer is, as people. People who may or may not have values and behaviors aligned to their brand values.  So instead of focusing on women as a target market, brand owners might want to  look inside to understand who they are, and behave consistently to demonstrate their truths. Their audience, be they male or female, blue eyed or brown eyed, will find them. And brands that do this well usually have fiercely loyal core customers who become evangelists who help spread the word to others who share some of those values. And this is how healthy brands grow...by expanding their audience from 'core to more'.  And, for most categories, close to half of those 'more' are likely to be women.