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 field of technology, leave for other careers.

This could be the result of women still making 5% to 18% less than their male counterparts as computer programmers and computer and information system managers, respectively. It could also be contributed to the difficulty of breaking into the longtime boy’s club. according to Ruchi Sanghvi, Facebook’s First Female Engineer.

And Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg further suggests why she thinks we have too few women leaders in this TED talk video.

Ironically, it’s also today’s technology that has now given the female consumer a voice to petition and demand more relevant products as well as publicly reject those that fall short. Companies that begin to connect the dots would be wise to make a concerted effort to both solicit and retain women in the tech arena.

It’s much easier to market a product your audience wants. And hearing the female voice early rather than later could mean a significant difference in your bottom line.

Check out the Infographic below that shows the presence – or lack thereof – of women in technology, from dismal numbers to inspiring success stories for tech-minded women.

 
Like this infographic? Get more business technology news from IT Manager Daily.
 

I love this rock climbing Citibank commercial! But every time I watched it, I kept wondering:

1. Is it REAL?, and
2. WHO in the world is singing that song?

So, I finally looked it up.

1. Yes, it is real. It’s filmed on a rock called “Ancient Art.” Located just outside of Moab, Utah, the single rock formation is shaped from hundreds of years of wind blowing sand across and around the spire in the desert. The commercial features two real-life professional climbers: Katie Brown and Alex Honnold. They are not “actors” nor “stunt” people. They’re both accomplished in the sport of climbing and arguably some of the best at what they do.
2. And the song is titled “Into the Wild” by LP. What an amazing voice.

I love everything about this commercial! A song I am absolutely obsessed with. The authenticity of climbing the rocks as well as using “real” climbers. Even the use of double entendres with the belt, nylons, shoes and rock purchased, challenges typical stereotypes of women. Oh, and in case you didn’t catch it, the girl not only conquers the rock, she buys and pays for everything – including the trip.

Be sure to check out this Business Insider article by Jason Edwards where the agency told exactly how they created the ad, from casting the rock climbers to getting a helicopter to circle around the rock for two days, waiting for that perfect moment

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Stephanie Holland is President and Executive Creative Director for Holland + Holland Advertising,Birmingham, AL. Working in an industry that is dominated by men, she is one of only 3% of the female creative directors in the country. Stephanie works mostly with male advertisers, helping them successfully market to women. Subscribe to She-conomy by Email
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Female car buyers are making up a larger customer base for some of the top domestic auto brands, but none approach the gains that Porsche has made with women this past year.

Of all automakers Porsche® has made the largest relative market share gains among women nationwide over the past year, according to an analysis from Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive information. From January through August 2011 23 percent of Porsche buyers were female, compared to 19 percent during the same period last year. The growth accounts for a 21.1 percent proportional change, year over year.

Knowing that the female is your market is only half the battle and Porsche® Cars of America understands that.

Responding with effective product and marketing changes is what places them at the top. They get that all women are not alike.

Porsche® has not only added the Cayenne SUV and Panamera 4-door sedan models, they know that some women love their sports cars, too.

I was very fortunate for the opportunity to participate in creating one of the sales training modules titled, “Demystifying the Female Market,”  for the launch of the 2012 911 Carrera S. With more than 200 dealers across the nation on board to better understand the female consumer, Porsche® is most likely going to continue to speed past the competition when connecting with women.

And, since “Cars” ranked 2nd highest of product categories in which women are most dissatisfied, (according to to a 2009 study published in the book Women Want More by Michael J. Silverstein and Kate Sayre,) the automotive industry has vast opportunity to drive revenues up by marketing to women.

 But beware. It is not simply knowing that the female is your market that counts. You must listen to her before you can meet her needs.

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Stephanie Holland is President and Executive Creative Director for Holland + Holland Advertising,Birmingham, Alabama. Working in an industry that is dominated by men, she is one of only 3% of the female creative directors in the country. Stephanie works mostly with male advertisers, helping them successfully market to women. Subscribe to She-conomy by Email

Below is an excerpt from an article in Newsweek & The Daily Beast titled, “Disney’s Quarter-Billion-Dollar Movie Fiasco.” In it, Chris Lee, examines marketing missteps for the not yet released movie, JOHN CARTER – originally titled, John Carter of Mars™.

“Although the character has been known as “John Carter of Mars” and was envisioned as a movie trilogy under that name, Disney marketers dropped the “of Mars” part because of industry-think holding that female movie fans are more likely to be turned off by such overtly sci-fi elements.” 

Right…… and I’m sure I won’t even notice the crater-like topography or the elusive Martians running around by the thousands, either.

According to an article by Nikki Finke in yesterday’s issue of DEADLINE:

Hollywood is in a tizzy over the early tracking which just came online this morning for Walt Disney Studios’ John Carter opening March 9th. “Not good. 2 unaided, 53 aware, 27 definitely interested, 3 first choice,” per an email from a senior exec at a rival studio.

This of course has led to plenty of finger pointing, talk of heads rolling and reportedly jobs already lost. But, the negativity has not been aimed at the movie itself.
 

The movie is actually getting rave reviews.

As a matter of fact, an early viewing for the press held in Arizona this past weekend has revealed accolades for the movie on Twitter. Disney had initially placed an embargo on tweets (SERIOUSLY?!) by the press attending the screening, but they lifted it yesterday–most likely in hopes of offsetting the lack of enthusiasm generated by poor advertising. (we can chat about the Twitter faux pas another day)
 

So, why the low tracking numbers?

Disney has revamped the marketing of the film from the name of the movie to the promotional trailer in a quest to appeal to the female audience – and failed. You might ask why they are chasing women with this sci-fi, comic book, super-hero, action-packed motion picture film in the first place. Because they need to sell lots of tickets.

And they know that women purchased 55% of movie tickets in 2009 and 49% in 2010. The also know that the number of tickets that “moms” control or influnce, increases that percentage substantially.

What they obviously do not know is how to connect with “her.”

According to Finke, another source revealed,

“It just came out. Women of all ages have flat out rejected the film.”

Of course what they mean is that women have rejected the advertising and trailer for the film. But if the trailer doesn’t sell, it means the same thing.

This is a text book case of marketers looking at women through stereotypical lenses. Which, as we have discussed, can be even more dangerous than not targeting them at all. In a botched attempt to engage women, Disney marketers have abandoned the fundamental significance of the creative concept of the movie, further alienating even the most loyal of fans.

They claim that women do not like “overtly sci-fi elements.” So, they solve this by taking the words “of Mars” out of the title? Okay, to begin with: It’s. A. Martian. Movie. Not to mention, it’s considered one of the landmarks of science fiction. Yet, they have decided to “hide” this to dumb-it-down for women? Taking “of Mars” out of the title degrades the creative genius of Edgar Rice Burroughs and the rich history of the John Carter of Mars™ series. Facts that would actually make it even more interesting to women by the way. A former Disney executive summed it up well when speaking with Lee:

“You take out ‘of Mars,’ you don’t tell where he came from? That’s what makes it unique!” a former Disney executive said. “They choose to ignore that, and the whole campaign ends up meaning nothing. It’s boiled down to something no one wants to see.”

And, what’s the deal with the trailer(s?)

Well, there are actually three trailers now, all listed and explained below. I would love for you to take a peek at them all and vote below on which one would entice YOU to go see the movie, John Carter (of Mars.)

1) The original Disney trailer released in July of 2011 

I understood it. It was engaging. The opening scene in the streets of Virginia, obviously in the early 1900′s, made the characters feel real. You discover John Carter has died. Or has he? No, he’s been transported into another time, an unknown place. Or is it? No, it’s Mars. You know, one of those little planets you learned about in grade school (even the girls.) He takes you on a journey, sometimes whimsical, often times dangerous but obviously heart-felt. A tired story of good vs. evil brought to life with imaginative characters, packed with action and adventure, love and fighting, winning and losing – all illuminated with spectacular special effects.

2) The new Disney trailer released in December, 2011

 This is the stripped down version of the original trailer that shows a lot and says very little. One can only assume so women wouldn’t know they were going to a sci-fi movie.

3) The trailer created by a fan posted February 2012

This trailer is fan-made in hopes of helping Disney sell the movie. It was tweeted by Andrew Stanton, John Carter’s Director and is now my personal favorite.

 
Take Our Poll

My advice to marketers? Take heed.

Transparency and authenticity are a must when marketing to women. To to dumb-it-down or to attempt  to trick her will most likely backfire in more ways than one.

My advice to Disney? Change the trailer. Today.

To get to Mars just might require taking a step back to go by way of Venus.

Stephanie Holland is President and Executive Creative Director for Holland + Holland Advertising,Birmingham, Alabama. Working in an industry that is dominated by men, she is one of only 3% of the female creative directors in the country. Stephanie works mostly with male advertisers, helping them successfully market to women. Subscribe to She-conomy by Email

So who is the average social gamer? According to this recent Infographic created by Flowtown it is 43-year old females.

A few other facts:

• 54% of social gamers are women
• 43% are college graduates
• 43% make $50,000+ income

The study by Interpret, also revealed:

• 42% of game players say they are more motivated by social games that offer coupons, or gift cards, or other real-world rewards
• 24% of players claim they have clicked on an in-game ad to make a purchase.

With the top two reasons for playing social games being friendly competition and interaction, it should be no real surprise that women dominate. But it is the growing trend, the amount of time spent and willingness to click ads that make social games especially appealing to brands. SHE is not playing around.

Flowtown – Social Media Marketing Application

I will be presenting on the power of the female consumer in a session titled: Why and How to Effectively Market to Women in Today’s Economic Climate. Are there any topics or questions you feel should be addressed? Also, I would love to know who’s planning to be there!

Stephanie Holland is President and Executive Creative Director for Holland + Holland Advertising, Birmingham, Alabama. Working in an industry that is dominated by men, she is one of only 3% of the female creative directors in the country. Stephanie works mostly with male advertisers, helping them successfully market to women. Subscribe to She-conomy by Email

Apple on the other hand offered equal functionality yet with simplicity and clean sleek design. I admit I am biased as I have always been an Apple person, but as I have played around with Google Plus, I am feeling the same differentiating factors. Google+ is simple  and smoother in design. Good friend, Ayesha Mathews-Wadhwa, recently shared a comment referring to the Aspen Ideas Festival:

Design is changing the way we talk to each other.

So true! And I believe Facebook is about to find that out. Facebook is functional and meets a need. But by incorporating thoughtful and logical design, Google+ takes the social experience to a different level.

So who wins? The consumer. I doubt Facebook is going away, but much like Microsoft, they are no longer the only ones playing and will have to step it up. Good competition means choices and ultimately better products for consumers. Google has been trying to get into the social space for quite awhile with little success. But with Google+, I think they have finally created not only something to compete with Facebook (and yes, Twitter,) but something that might even cause a switch.

For example, take a look at Chris Brogan’s (social media extraordinaire) new profile picture on Facebook. I was a bit amused, but I’m guessing Mark Zuckerberg did not feel the same.

What does all of this have to do with marketing to women? Everything. Women want to share, connect and build relationships. And Facebook has met that need. But they also want simple, clean and sleek. And it appears that Google+ has been listening.

As marketers, you need to know social is not a fad or a trend. It is now a way of life and will simply continue to be improved upon – attracting even more women!

Are you prepared to connect with the female market?

Stephanie Holland is President and Executive Creative Director for Holland + Holland Advertising, Birmingham, Alabama. Working in an industry that is dominated by men, she is one of only 3% of the female creative directors in the country. Stephanie works mostly with male advertisers, helping them successfully market to women. Subscribe to She-conomy by Email

I asked Melanie to write a guest post providing more insight into this unrecognized and misunderstood market. Boy, did she deliver!

Read on for updated stats, how Sears and others have responded with new ad messages as well as info on the April 26th (that’s tomorrow!) release of her NEW book titled none other than Savvy Auntie.

Bottomline? As marketers, you would be wise NOT to mistake these women for moms. 

This is the time of year when I feel invisible.

Mother’s Day is approaching and my inbox is already dripping with Mother’s Day messaging. And in a few weeks, on that Sunday marked with brunches and beautiful bobbles for mom, I’ll be wished a Happy Mother’s Day too.

Only I’m not a mother. (I do wish I were.)

At 42, I’m part of the new generation of women who could choose to wait for love (like in my case), could choose to love someone of the same gender, could choose not to have children (for whatever valid reason) or could be suffering from a biological issue which challenges fertility (not uncommon as women have their first child later than ever before.)

And it’s a pretty powerful generation. The US Census reports that 46 percent of American women are not mothers. And that’s just through age 44. For all we know, there are more non-moms than moms in America today.

Yet the assumption is that we’re all moms.  Often the labels “woman” and “mom” are interchanged so as to attribute data for women to moms. For instance, if 85 percent of household purchases are made by women, marketers target moms. Well in my household, 100 percent of purchasing decisions are made by me.

Which is why this time of year can make millions of women feel invisible. For marketers to disenfranchise nearly 50 percent of US women is unfortunate. Especially since just about every woman has a child in her life who she loves and adores. Whether we are Aunties by Relation, Aunties by Choice, Godmothers… or just a woman who sprinkles magic to all the children she knows, and/or children around the world (think Oprah!) we’re aunts. And we have the discretionary income and time relative to moms to spend on the children in our lives, and on ourselves.

I’ve dubbed this new segment of modern American women: PANKs® (Professional Aunts No Kids), and it’s growing year after year.  In 1976 only 35 percent of American women didn’t have children.

Just last month, The White House Report:Women in America stated the following:

• More women than in the past have never had a child.
• In 2008, about 18 percent of women age 40–44 have never had a child, almost double that in 1976 (10 percent).
• There has been a steep rise in the share of women age 25–29 who have not had a child, rising from 31 percent in 1976 to about 46 percent in 2008.
• And we’re childless, longer:
  - The likelihood of a woman having her first child at age 30 or older increased roughly six-fold from about 4 percent of all first-time mothers
  in the 1970s to 24 percent in 2007.
  - 14 percent of first-time moms are age 35 or older.

But still, marketers selling fragrance and flowers on Mother’s Day will throw a wide net trying to catch all those who may be buying gifts for their mother, flooding our inboxes, mail, media and in-store messaging  with “Happy Mother’s Day!” as if all women are moms.

What’s so bad about wishing me a Happy Mother’s Day? Or sending me “Dear Mom” emails?

Marketers are turning off women who are not mothers, cannot be mothers, and have chosen not to be mothers. Not only is it an ineffective use of marketing dollars, it’s pushing away valuable consumer dollars.

Last year, Sears did a fantastic job including all women in their Mother’s Day campaign. Its  :30 second national spot was called “Other Mother’s Day” and it featured all the women in a child’s life, like the child’s aunt and mom’s best friend.

It was a genius commercial that was inclusive, stood out, and made me reconsider Sears as a place to spend my consumer dollars- on Mother’s Day and every day. And I’m not the only one. Here’s some feedback Sears received for their spot:

“I just wanted to say how touched I was by your “Other Moms” Mother’s Day commercial. As a cool aunt to my sister’s kids and the one who lets her best friend’s kids do anything, it was nice to be remembered. I’m proud to be a loyal Sears customer. I’ll be by to pick up a new dishwasher in a few weeks Thanks!”

Robert Raible, Sears Vice President of Integrated Marketing, realized he was onto something big when he told me this: “We acknowledge the women like the segment term you’ve taught us, ‘PANKs’ who are not mothers. We’re going to want to continue to be meaningful to this segment too and they will absolutely continue to be important whether we choose to talk to them directly like in this Mother’s Day spot or in other ways. Now that we’ve tapped into it with success, we’re looking for more opportunities.”

Good for Sears and good for brands like PepsiCo, Hallmark and Disney who’ve already invested in this segment through Savvy Auntie.  Whether marketers need better targeting or to be more inclusive of the nearly 50 percent of American women who are not mothers, there’s a real opportunity here to win loyal consumers.

And all it takes is to not wish everyone a Happy Mother’s Day.

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Savvy Auntie, the book: “You’ll be blown away by Melanie Notkin’s expertise on America’s cool aunts, who are over-loved yet overlooked by marketers. If you want to gain the hearts and dollars of these kid-loving, high-spending women, SAVVY AUNTIE is a must read.” Mary Lou Quinlan, CEO, Just Ask a Woman, author, What She’s Not Telling You

Thank you, Melanie!!

Melanie Notkin is the founder of SavvyAuntie.com and author, SAVVY AUNTIE: The Ultimate Guide for Cool Aunts, Great-Aunts, Godmothers and All Women Who Love Kids (Morrow/HarperCollins).  Melanie invites you to join the Savvy Auntourage at Facebook.com/SavvyAuntie or find her on Twitter @SavvyAuntie

Stephanie Holland is President and Executive Creative Director for Holland + Holland Advertising, Birmingham, Alabama. Working in an industry that is dominated by men, she is one of only 3% of the female creative directors in the country. Stephanie works mostly with male advertisers, helping them successfully market to women. Subscribe to She-conomy by Email

Guys, simply knowing that women are your market is not enough. You must understand WHO she is to connect with her effectively. You must think in terms of lifestages, not ages. You must listen to her. Engaging the single woman is completely different than engaging moms or even married women without children.

The transcript from the show is below or you are welcome to listen here. Thanks, Ashley, Tracy and Melanie. Great story!

No Advertising Love For Single Women

Marketplace®, American Public Radio™

Kai Ryssdal: The Census Bureau says women control something like 80 percent of all the household spending in this country. Retailers and marketers being fairly quick on the uptake, they have geared a healthy proportion of the ads we all see to women. Ads that are pretty heavy on images of motherhood, family and happy couples. Unless, of course, they are cat food commercials, which seem to be almost entirely the province of the single woman. Thing is, more women are single now — getting married later, if at all, or becoming single again later in life. Ashley Milne-Tyte would sure like to know why more marketers haven’t caught on to that.

LOWE’S AD: Somehow, updating the bathroom, it just hasn’t gotten crossed off. I’m a grown woman, and I was scared of my own bathroom. Until I went…

OK, I won’t admit to being scared of my bathroom. But I will admit to enjoying the ad. I felt a little glow of pleasure at the thought of that woman happily laying tiles and spreading grout. So how did a cynic like me get gooey over a home improvement commercial?

Melanie Notkin says I finally felt included. She’s CEO of SavvyAuntie.com, a Web site for women who don’t have children.

MELANIE NOTKIN: America seems to talk to all grown-ups as we’re part of an intimate family of a mom, a dad and kids. Single people tend not to be spoken to or tend not to be part of the conversation.

Notkin says most advertisers actually have no idea how to talk to single women.

NOTKIN: When they want the visceral feeling to be happiness, they’re going to show what we qualify as a happy lifestyle, which is family. And people often assume that women who are not married are terribly unhappy.

That’s what was nice about the Lowe’s commercial. The woman was excited about her home, happy and independent. Given how many single women there are, I wondered why so few ads are aimed at us — 44 percent of women over 18 are single, 2 percent more than 10 years ago.

Tracy Chapman directs strategic planning at consultancy firm Just Ask A Woman. She says advertisers want to pitch their products to a broad audience without offending anyone.

TRACY CHAPMAN: They need to justify why they would go after this specific target. I think they want to reach as many women as possible with the amount of money that they have.

But ad industry veteran Stephanie Holland says that’s misguided. She’s executive creative director at Holland and Holland Advertising. She says instead of going for one-size-fits-all, advertisers need to target different types of women or they’re wasting their money. So why don’t they? Because, Holland says, so many decision makers at brands and ad agencies are men.

STEPHANIE HOLLAND: Men have a difficult time distinguishing even among moms, much less coming in and understanding the single female.

She says marketers are missing a big opportunity to target people like me. She says they just need to work on making that connection.

HOLLAND: An understanding of where you are in life as well as tons of other people as single women, and making you feel good about it. And that’s what’s gonna make you feel good about the product.

Take this upbeat approach from Chevrolet. A young woman, fresh from a first date, is picked up by a friend who whisks her away in a bright red Chevy Malibu. They hit the open road.

CHEVROLET AD: He said he was a professional student. No! Of life. Oh, I’m so sorry. Single lane ahead. I’ll be in that lane.

In other words, girlfriends rule. At least for now. I’m Ashley Milne-Tyte for Marketplace. Ashley Milne-Tyte

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Stephanie Holland is President and Executive Creative Director for Holland + Holland Advertising, Birmingham, Alabama. Working in an industry that is dominated by men, she is one of only 3% of the female creative directors in the country. Stephanie works mostly with male advertisers, helping them successfully market to women. Subscribe to She-conomy by Email

“Today many retailers find that their most immediate issue is working their way back out of discount-driven brand-price erosion.”

This really shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Learning that consumers were seeking lower prices, many marketers hastily responded with what they “assumed” that meant to women. Companies simply offered discounts, coupons and slashed pricing with little regard to their brand, but more importantly with little understanding of women. As a result, companies have devalued their brands and will now have to spend a great deal of money to restore it.

They weren’t hearing what women were truly seeking – a friend or a partner who would empathize with them through the stressful and challenging recession. I am not suggesting that reduced pricing is not part of the solution, but brand value must be communicated consistently and how the savings are delivered creates the fine line between compromising your brand and winning the short-term purchase as well as the long-term trust and loyalty of women. A January 2009 Marketing Week study conducted by HPI about the effects of the Recession on women, revealed:

• Brands need to communicate they are on women’s side
• Brands need to balance messages with both optimism and empathy
• If you’re a premium brand you can’t suddenly claim to be cheap, but you can make sure they understand the value you offer in terms of the quality of the brand

Highlights of Chris’ article including his suggested steps to slowly return to profitability are noted below. I would add: ALWAYS keep the female in mind. It could help you prevent discounting mistakes other companies have made, or even speed the brand rebuilding process.

Most companies did a fair amount of discounting damage in 2008 and 2009 to merely survive. While this strategy addressed an immediate, sometimes dire, business situation, brands also taught the consumer to wait for a discount. Many brands have set new low-bar expectations for the consumer on what a good price, good deal and good offer is. And while 2010 will certainly not be the year we “get back to normal,” it is the year that many brands have to rethink their discount and pricing strategy to slowly return to higher profitability.

Step 1 – Assess the damage.
For instance, your best consumers have changed their buying patterns in frequency and/or average ticket, eroding short-term and likely long-term lifetime value. You have probably lost some of your best consumers to lower-value competitors, and you’ve grown your base of deal seekers.

Step 2 – Determine where the opportunity is to retrain, reactivate or acquire.
There are five typical segments of consumers ripe for testing your way out of discounting.

1. Loyal consumers
2. New consumers
3. Mid-level consumers
4. Lapsed “best” consumers
5. Prospects who look like best consumers

Step 3 – Develop a comprehensive testing plan to determine how best to increase profit margin and long-term value by segment.
Begin to test retraining these consumers by evolving the offer strategy to determine where the optimal point of response versus margin comes into play. Changing customer behavior takes some time and patience to achieve; be patient.

Step 4 – Learn, evaluate and optimize.
Make  sure you measure everything as you are testing different strategies.

Brands will need to rethink their offer strategy from one purely of discount to one of a price/value balance, with the emphasis on relevant value that will, in turn, justify a premium. It’s not a new challenge, but overcoming it after significant erosion will be a key lever to increased profitability. The good news is, it’s a strategy that can be tested, targeted and optimized — starting today.

For the complete AdAge article, click here.

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Stephanie Holland is President and Executive Creative Director for Holland + Holland Advertising, Birmingham, Alabama. Working in an industry that is dominated by men, she is one of only 3% of the female creative directors in the country. Stephanie works mostly with male advertisers, helping them successfully market to women. Subscribe to She-conomy by Email