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:

“As a mom of two young girls, from the time they were babies to now as first graders, I have been surprised and disappointed in the limited options available from baby gear to apparel to toys. There are exceptions, but it is still overwhelmingly “dolls for girls” and “trucks for boys.” As a mom, I don’t want to limit what my kids get exposed to, I’m looking for more choices—to let them experience, play and learn.” ~ Nanda Sibol

So, the question is, how will the toy industry respond? Will they listen to moms seeking greater opportunities and more choices for their children, or will they continue business as usual? According to The Wall Street Journal:

• NPD Group estimates 2012 toy retail sales slid an estimated 0.6% to $16.5 billion
• Growth strongest for building sets, arts and crafts, dolls

Further, the NPD Group suggests that toy companies must either sell more to each household or sell more households to move toy sales toward an upward trend.

Thank you Nanda, for submitting the thought provoking article below. Perhaps the toy industry could benefit from listening to more moms like you!

__________________________________________________________________ 

PINK OR BLUE BRANDING Changing Gender Norms

By Nanda Sibol

In today’s society we are seeing a shifting or blurring of adult gender roles, and recently we’re starting to see this play out in the land of children’s toys. While women take on more traditional male roles, such as becoming Fortune 500 CEO’s, and men take on more expected female roles, as seen in the growing population of stay-at-home dads, toy brands are challenging gender stereotypes for kids, catching up to what’s happening in the grown-up setting. Ironically for toys, which represent the world of play and imagination, there is generally a rigid and stark divide across gender lines—from types of toys, to colors and design, to merchandising and advertising.

Let’s look at three examples where toy marketers are confronting norms and going beyond simple pink or blue branding.

TOP TOY

Making worldwide headlines this past holiday season, Top-Toy, a Swedish toy retailer, featured in its catalog girls playing with toy guns and boys playing with dolls. The move was in response to previous complaints that the company was not more gender neutral (in line with the country’s strong focus on equality). In addition to the advertising, in-store signage and store brand packaging will also move to reflect a gender-neutral stance. Admittedly, the images of kids playing in reversed roles seem somewhat staged and a token step, so it will be worth watching to see if the merchandising and packaging executions will be more authentic and demonstrate real change.

HASBRO

Also garnering much press attention was Hasbro and its Easy-Bake oven. Given how many men love cooking and the number of male celebrity chefs as role models, it’s somewhat surprising that the company currently only offers the oven in a “girly” purple version. Thanks to the efforts of McKenna Pope, a teenager who petitioned Hasbro to offer a toy design that would appeal to boys—namely her younger brother—the company will release a new black and silver model later this year. Intentionally or not, with the purple version, Hasbro was bolstering stereotypes that ovens are for girls and not for boys. From this insight, it will be interesting to see if the company reviews its entire product portfolio to see if it can break from convention and broaden its consumer base, offering more choices that ultimately may increase its market share.

GOLDIE BLOX

In addition to building a business, Debbie Sterling creator of GoldieBlox is on a mission to affect society at large. She holds a degree in engineering and is looking to change the lopsided statistic that 90 percent of engineers are men. She, too, recognizes that gender norms are defined at an early age. “If we want more female engineers, we need to open their minds to engineering at a young age.” With that in mind, she purposely focused on developing a toy for girls. While on the surface GoldieBlox seems to fit gender norms with pastel colors, curved shapes, and soft materials, at its core it is teaching girls about basic engineering principles. The toy is part of an engaging story where problems are solved by constructing different devices. To some the toy may seem to embrace and reinforce many stereotypes, but similar to the earlier example that most young boys would not want to play with a “girly” oven, so too, most (not all) young girls would not want to play with a “boyish” construction set. The importance of this toy is not the outer trappings that may seem “girly,” but that it exposes little girls to other options and expands their perspective.

While the examples above focus on toys, the learnings can be applied more broadly. For any product or service, the consumer target is one of the first marketing questions to be answered. Perhaps that question should be reframed—should a product be designed and marketed to a specific gender, should it be gender-neutral, or should two versions be launched, one for each gender? Once that decision is made, marketers should consider stereotypes and norms and how they may or may not play into our shifting modern society. In answering that question, there is a real opportunity for marketers to help shape and evolve society—to showcase possibilities and give consumers, from an early age to adulthood, more choice in how they live their lives. 

Nanda Sibol is Director, Brand Strategy in the San Francisco office of Anthem Worldwide, part of the brand development division of Schawk, Inc. http://www.anthemww.com

______________________________________________________________

What are your thoughts? Could toys help blur the line of gender roles?

Stephanie Holland is President and Executive Creative Director for Holland + Holland Advertising. 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

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 appeared on two episodes of “Daily Dose with Jillian Michaels” a new show on the YouTube channel, Everyday Health.

I found her assessments and tips fascinating and helpful as I am guilty of so many of these myself! So, what are the little things that have such a huge impact on women getting hired?

• We discount what we are about to say by adding words such as, “I’m just thinking off the top of my head, but…” or “I’m not an expert at this, but…” or following up a word of advice with…. “does that make sense?”
• We instill doubt or question about a point we are making by using the inflection of ”uptalk” at the end of a stateMENT.
• We tend to ramble to accomodate awkward moments of silence.

These are just a few of the many nuggets I garnered from the interview. I would highly recommend checking out both episodes below as Jillian Michaels, aka America’s Toughest Trainer, reveals that she too commits these impairing speech crimes.

FIRST EPISODE

SECOND EPISODE

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

_______________________________________________________________________________________________
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
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Marketing to the True Motivations of 3 Genrations of Women

Below is one of the thought provoking papers she has drafted from the findings, titled “Who’s ‘Manning’ the House: Bridging the Gender Divide,” that she was willing to share exclusivly with us. In it Kathy explores the possibility that to solve the problem of marketing to women, just might require “reframing” the problem.  That is, marketers must understand what actually motivates the female purchaser. The study revealed:

• 86% of women believe that women should be able to pursue their own personal motivations and be able to make their own choices and not be judged by them.
• 60% of women believe that marketers don’t accurately represent women of today.

In speaking with Kathy, she suggested, “To market to women could mean including men. Instead of dumbing products and messages down for women – man up for men. Make housework a man’s job”

I love her direction here.  Read on for more insight. You just might be surprised to find what does motivate women.

Who’s ‘Manning’ the House: Bridging the Gender Divide

by Kathy Oneto, Vice President, Brand Strategy at Anthem Worldwide

It’s often debated who does more in the household, the woman or the man, but it’s not often reported why that is the case. Plus, most marketers simply focus on women because they control the majority of household spending. That says something in and of itself, but I wanted to know more – what might be causing the gender divide at home and what does it mean for marketers?

Despite news over the years that men have taken a more significant role in the household, women still do the majority of the work.

In 2008, Lisa Belkin reported in The New York Times that couples rarely shared housework work, regardless if they both worked or not. She interviewed Sampson Lee Blair an associate professor of sociology at the University at Buffalo who studies the division of labor in families who found that the workload remained at two-to-one, women to men, regardless of income.

Finally, The Shriver Report in 2009 found that 55% of women and 28% of men strongly agreed that women take on more responsibilities for the home and family when both work.

And why is that? A key factor is socialization.

A February 2011 study by Oxford University studied women and men’s household roles across multiple countries, including the United States, and showed that men are unlikely to fully share the work until 2050, nearly 40 years from now. Why this view? Because household chores are still broken into “women and men’s work.” Cultural attitudes, social policies, and social teaching still emphasize women’s role in the household.

But, come on ladies, we have to admit that those aren’t the only reasons for this continued inequality. There are some of us who actually enjoy cleaning, cooking, and taking care of the kids and value our role in the household. We actually want to exhibit some traditional ideals of the mom we grew up with. Plus, how many of us sigh and simply do the job ourselves because others just can’t meet our high standards and do it the way we want?

That’s what we discovered in a survey we conducted. We found:

• 74% of women (and 80% of Generation X women) are actually motivated to make sure the household runs smoothly
• 40% of these women also said that they found it hard to give up their standards for housework
• 57% of women with children said they found it hard to accept how others care for their children when it differs from how they’d do it.

Belkin, along with other experts in the field such as Gail Collins who wrote, “When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present,” have reported similar findings.

That is, that women find it hard to compromise their standards.

In Advertising Age’s report, “The Realities of the Working Woman,” they also reported that women want acknowledgement of traditional values and being a mother and homemaker. Paco Underhill in his famous, “Why We Buy,” describes a wonderfully hilarious scenario in which after multiple attempts of having her husband pick out a selection of meat, the wife simply gave up and made her own choice.

To be fair, men have taken on a more prominent role in households and today have deeper relationships with their children than past generations. At the same time, the facts show that women’s role in the household has not shifted quite as much, even though more of them have taken on roles outside the home over the last four decades. Women could potentially resolve this by lowering their standards or delegating more, but that’s easier said than done. While it’s possible, it’s more likely that women will continue the juggling act of balancing demands on her time, while meeting her own standards and fulfilling her own motivations.

So, what does this mean for women and marketers?

First, instead of continuing to debate the matter on who’s doing more at home, consider how to help women meet their standards and deliver on their motivations to help the household run smoothly.

At the same time, with women busier than ever, convenience is paramount; efficacy delivered conveniently is the winning formula. Even better, perhaps marketers could actually resolve this for both men and women, bridging the gender divide.

Marketers could find that efficacious, convenient solutions work with men, as well, helping them easily do the work and deliver the results his partner desires.

Swiffer®

Take Swiffer®. They seem to have the right winning combination – efficacious solutions that are fast, fun, and easy to use. Plus, they offer technology and “tool-like” components that can appeal to men’s “Tim the tool-man”-side and look nothing like what his mom might have used. Solutions that bring all that together just might make men more apt to help out around the house.

Oxo

Another example, this time in the kitchen, is Oxo kitchen “tools you hold on to.” They also bring this winning trifecta – products that work really well, are easy to use, and have a tool-like industrial design that is gender-neutral and fits into any kitchen.

Dyson

Finally, consider Dyson, the “never loses suction” vacuum cleaner, that brings innovative design and efficacy to a household job that can cause unnecessary conflict in the home.

Household solutions that give her what she wants and also helps him do his part might actually bring some harmony to the home.

Could be a lot for a brand to deliver, but if brands can claim to offer happiness, why not a bit of couple’s therapy through the help of household solutions that help them balance all the demands while also meeting her goal of having the household run smoothly?

For marketers, the answer may just reside in resolving this conflict for both parties.

Again, to hear more findings from this astute study, Oneto will be speaking at the M2W Conference in Chicago, April 24-25.

Kathy Oneto is Vice President of Brand Strategy at Anthem Worldwide where she leads client and brand engagements across a range of industries from consumer packaged goods to retail to technology. Kathy frequently writes on the topic of women, having recently published a white paper, “Today’s Women: Newfound Power, Persistent Expectations.” Kathy graduated from the University of Virginia with a BS in Commerce and has an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

So, who’s using it? You guessed it. WOMEN. Eighty percent of Pinterest users are female and they are spending more time on there than Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ combined.

The rapid growth can certainly be attributed somewhat to a higher acceptance of social networks now. But keep in mind, there are thousands of new startups in the social arena. What makes Pinterest different? As noted in an article on Mashable, CEO and co-founder of Pinterest, Ben Silbermann said, “the growth has been organic: People would join, become proud of their collections and show it to their friends.” (what women want)

And according to CNN Tech, Silberman said the site will soon roll out new profile pages that have been redesigned to look “more beautiful” and to display users’ influencers more prominently.

Women are flocking to Pinterest and the infographic below reveals just how powerful it is, but more importantly, the opportunities it offers brands. 

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

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.

______________________________________________________________________

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

But they do, and I hear from them daily.

After many discussions, I have noticed several common mistakes marketers continue to make when attempting to reach the female audience which keeps them from realizing success with social media.

12 Mistakes Male Marketers Continue to Make When Marketing to Women With Social Media

• They are still trying to tell women what they want
• They are not listening to what women are saying
• If they do listen, they are still interpreting from the male perspective
• They are trying to sell before connecting
• They expect immediate results
• They have not defined valid expectations
• They try to find ways around the time required to build relationships
• They assume social media means “Facebook”
• They don’t know how to engage the female
• They open channels with little or no strategy
• They are working from a linear mindset as opposed to a multi-layered process
• Finally, and my favorite – they are looking forward to the recession ending so things can return to normal.

Bottom line, you are not going to stop the control that social media has provided people and you are not going to quieten the female voice. Quite the contrary. They are simply getting louder.

Not “getting it” is no longer an option. If social media is not working for you, try breaking through some of the barriers to reach your market on the other side.

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 just watched the recently released documentary titled, Design the New Business. A big thanks, by the way, to BI watercooler for this great find!

Seven months in the making, Design the New Business,  is a collection of interviews with business and design strategists from around the world. In it, they deliberate the role that DESIGN will, or should play, as companies address today’s ever-changing and complex issues.

Want To Market To Women? This Video Is A Must See. 

Interestingly, what you won’t find in it, is the specific mention of women. But, what you will find are creative discussions and propositions that are dead on for effectively marketing to women through “creative design thinking.”

I often tout Apple™ as an example of a brand that has always done an excellent job marketing to women. Steve Jobs did not change the way we “do” things, he changed the way we “feel” about things. Through great design Apple™ appeals to our emotions.  And, I don’t believe it’s by accident that Apple™ is one of the top brands in the world, now worth more than Google and Microsoft combined, with products purchased by both women and men.

Jobs bought into the theory that uncompromised design yields value to business – long ago. For that matter, he may well have conceived it. At the very least, he has most prominently carried it out through every aspect of Apple’s business model from product development to advertising to the retail stores.

The New iPad

Throughout the entire recession, Apple™ has never succumbed to discounts, but instead continued to introduce beautifully designed products at premium prices.

So, while I don’t view design being considered in all areas of business as a “new” concept, I am more than encouraged to see international corporations discussing the implementation of “creative design thinking” into their business models.

This level of research, interpretation and emotion will get them that much closer to listening to and responding to the female audience, ultimately leading to increased revenues.

So, How Did We Get Here?

That is, why do we have to completely rethink linear business models that have been effectual in the past? I would suggest three primary causes for the multifaceted challenges that businesses face today.

1. Web 2.0 – advancements in the Internet that have allowed for two-way conversation, giving individuals an incredibly loud voice through social networking sites that continue to explode.
2. Female consumer – controlling or influencing 85% of all consumer brands, companies simply don’t know what to do with her and her new found voice.
3. Economy – a recession of historical proportions that has lasted longer than anyone could have estimated leaving many industries unstable at best.

And, How Can Design Help? 

I purposely listed the economy last as a contributing factor because although the recession has certainly been devastating for business, it is expected that the market will eventually rebound.

But the new technologies within the digital world, such as social media, that have transformed and even eliminated types of businesses, are here to stay. And the female who has attained power  as a purchaser and wealth manager simply continues to strengthen.

So, even as the economy recovers, companies are still faced with the power that social media has bestowed upon people and more specifically, women. These are complex challenges, requiring non-traditional solutions.

These are the kinds of problems you cannot mange your way out of, you can only design your way out of them ~ Marty Neumeier, Director of Transformation, Liquid Agnecy

The design process is congruent with thinking like women. Such as, exploring all possibilities until discovering the perfect answer. Great design ignites an emotional state necessary to move shoppers to consumers. And if executed correctly, as we have seen with Apple,™ the men will bite too.

The Top 6 Reasons That Businesses Must Embrace The Design Process To Effectively Market To Women.

I encourage you to take 40 minutes to view the film in its entirety, but have extracted a few of the conversations as noted below.

1) PUSH MARKETING IS OVER

Brands can no longer just tell women what they want. Businesses must think creatively to gain the female’s trust through relationships and engagement.

I see a changing attitude towards companies in general. I have to say I look at where progressive movements are happening and there is, I’d almost say, there’s a bit of distrust when it comes to companies as organizations. It’s about credibility. It’s about being authentic. So, companies have a challenge to stay relevant in that mindset. You have to be very much aware of that type of mindset and come up with suggestions and solutions to provide value in that context. In traditional marketing speak, I think the day of push marketing is definitely over.

If you want to stay relevant, you have to be in the places where good conversations, where interactions between people is actually happening, where changes in interaction can be observed. It requires far more openness because the whole design trajectory is not as linear as it used to be. You can’t predict upfront what the end result is going to be. That is the new challenge.
Willem Boijens, Head of Research and Development, Océ

2) COMPANIES MUST LISTEN AND ADAPT

The female consumer is telling you what she wants. Businesses must think creatively to listen and interpret correctly to give it to her.

We have very close relationships with our clients and as a result we have grown to be quite adaptive. For example, we used to sell printers. Well, that’s not what they were asking for, so we started to sell prints, but that is not what they were asking for as well. So we started to give them the people who take care of their prints.

You can now go to the University of Amsterdam and see that we have a complete site of OcA, which takes care of the making and distribution of the readers that students are using. We got there by being adaptive.
Guido Stompff, Senior Product Designer, Océ

3) CONSUMERS HAVE SPECIFIC NEEDS AND LIFESTYLES

All women are not the same. Businesses must think creatively to no longer focus on her age, but instead her lifestage.

The car [Volkswagen] kind of became the symbol of a generation. But nowadays you see that more people are about having much more specific needs or lifestyles. You basically have many more different kinds of streams than you had previously. You have more and more people that are not alike anymore.”
Benjamin Schulz, Service Innovation, Volkswagen Group

We define design as something that has impact on business. We don’t look at market segments, but really try to find more patterns among several quite diverse people.”
Lukas Golyszny, Service Innovation, Volkswagen Group

4) WHAT GOT YOU THERE, WON’T GET YOU THERE

Traditional forms of reaching and connecting with women are not coming back. Business must think creatively to find and connect with her.

Big companies grow up usually with a business model that made them big. Now what is happening in a lot of industries is that those business models are expiring. The big mistake we’re making in large companies is we’re trying to use the same mindset that we applied to create our business, to create new business.”
Alexander Osterwalder, Co-Author, Business Model Generation

5) PEOPLE ARE IN CONTROL

Translation: Women are in control. Businesses must think creatively to develop relations and brand loyalty with her.

There’s been a big shift between the power to the brands to the power to the people. People today develop their own stories and publish them. The people are in control at the moment and that’s a big difference after the past few decades.

We are not in looking at a Return on Investment in a traditional way of value of money, but a Return of Investment in brand loyalty and in real connections with the audience.
Arno Wolterman, Managing Partner, Design Director, IN10

6) “SERVICE” DESIGN IS RAPIDLY BECOMING THE NEW “PRODUCT” DESIGN

Women have high expectations. Businesses must think creatively to better understand her needs and motivations to produce more user-friendly, competitive and relevant products.

The world is changing. Products and things have become all interconnected and people expect things to be interconnected. It’s not a standalone product anymore. Service design is an emerging competence that we all need to learn quicker and faster.

If you come to Philips Design five years from now, half of what we now call the product design effort is going to be reflected in at least half as much service design.
Ton Borshoom, Senior Director for New Business Development, Philips Design

The Design The New Business project was initiated and produced by Erik Roscam Abbing of the design thinking consultancy Zilver innovation and 6 students from all over the world, studying strategic design at the Delft University of Technology.

___________________________________________________________________________

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

And since women rule the Internet, marketers would be wise to take heed. Are you connecting with women online?

Infographic by the social media marketing team @ROI_Media

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