THE role women play in the world’s economy has become increasingly important in the past decade with more women enjoying better education and joining the work force. According to the Wall Street Journal, even some MBA’s in USA are targeted specifically to women. In Malaysia
THE role women play in the world’s economy has become increasingly important in the past decade with more women enjoying better education and joining the work force. According to the Wall Street Journal, even some MBA’s in USA are targeted specifically to women. In Malaysia, according to the Economic Planning Unit, more than 63 percent of women are going to college and becoming professionals; and almost 50 percent of working-age women are working outside of the home with just about half of them taking higher paying jobs as lawyers, doctors or in the customer service sector (refer to Table A).
Furthermore, one of Malaysia’s government priorities in their future planning is to increase both women’s enrollment in college education as well as providing better work and entrepreneurial opportunities.
Women represent almost half of the world’s population. In Malaysia alone, there are more than 13 million women, that is 13 million potential consumers that may need, crave and use your Brand at some point in their lives. If to that we add the fact that women’s life expectancy is longer than men (76.4 years for women versus 70.6 for men in Malaysia) we can see that the Ringgit’s potential behind the female market can be even more important or bigger than the male market.
Women are in fact a very big and important market. You may ask yourself: Should I target them if I am not involved in the marketing of usually-associated-to-women products such as food, beauty care and household cleaners? Why should I be interested in women if what I am selling are cars, computers, insurance or houses?
When conducting research for this article, I came across a magazine advertising for a local compact car Brand in a female magazine featuring a female driver, I contacted the Brand to get their perspective on the female market for compact cars and the response I got was appalling yet not surprising, they declined to comment and appear on this article while letting me know that when they do some efforts in female media, they would not feel comfortable associating their Brand with females. What is with that!? News flash for marketers: Using female-targeted advertising with the RIGHT message and the RIGHT media will not alienate your male consumers. It might just get you incremental sales and revenue.
WOMEN AND SHOPPING
Women and shopping are associated like peanut butter and jelly or coffee and creamer. Let’s face it, it might be cliché but most women like to shop, and even when they might not like it that much, they might have to shop anyway. Think about it, in your household, unless you are a single male living alone, most surely than not, the woman in the house is in charge of buying pretty much everything, from groceries, hygiene products, household cleaning products, kids clothes and school supplies to furniture for the house. And they are doing so not only using their own money but also using that of the main family supporter, whoever it may be. Talk about some serious money to spend.
Nowadays women are not only involved in regular everyday shopping, they are also an influencing hand when it comes to family’s large and important purchase decisions such as buying a new car, a new home, medical insurance, computers and traveling, just to name a few. According to the book “Just ask a Woman” by Mary Lou Quinlan, in US women influence 85 percent of the purchases of all product and services; they make over 80 percent of health care decisions and buy 65 percent of new cars. Quite impressive numbers don’t you think? And although these numbers might seem high for Malaysia, they give us a clear idea of where the female market is going and how important it is for all companies to really understand the potential behind their female consumers.
MEN ARE FROM MARS WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS
As a woman I have cringed many times when hearing male friends complaining about how complicated we women are and how different we are from “the guys”. Although I may not like it, the statement is really very true. How many times when watching a sports related TV piece of advertising have you heard your wife grumble about how silly and nonsensical the commercial is while you are laughing your eyes out? Men and women are different, not only from the evident physiology and psychology parts but also in their purchase decisions and post purchase behavior.
Gender-neutral advertising when targeting women does not work. When thinking about making a purchase, even if it is the same product, men and women look at it differently and need singular needs fulfilled. From something as basic as shampoo, men might just want something to clean their hair while women would need a product that looks nice on the shelve, takes care of a particular type of hair, has a nice smell, a practical bottle, that has a conditioner included and maybe also a Brand that takes care of the environment. Although they are both looking to buy the same product, there is no way that you would be able to sell it with the same communication strategy. Men and women perceive things differently and have different attitudes and communication styles.
These differences also make women’s approach to the regular purchase cycle a very particular one; women are no regular shoppers and their decision making process when making a purchase is anything but ordinary and by no way linear as that of men. Women know exactly what they are looking for (as detailed as it may be), they search, they investigate, they ask around, they compare and then they might buy. But when they do, they will make sure that they spread the word about their likes and dislikes of their purchase; and if you are lucky enough and they liked your Brand and the service they got before and after the purchase, you will have one of the most loyal consumers you might ever get.
According to Barletta’s book “Marketing to Women”, even though women’s purchase cycle might have the same stages as men, it is not linear but rather spiral cycle that can be traveled back and forthy at any of the stage which are also approached differently:
- Women ask around, when they have a need for a product or service, women ask their friends, family, sales people or even go on the net to get information. Men? Their approach is the same as asking for directions, they just don’t.
- They want what they want, they don’t want an almost-there meet for their needs, they want the perfect solution for their needs.
- If they are not one hundred percent satisfied, they will continue to search between Brands until they get exactly what they are looking for.
- Their purchase cycle is not over once they buy your Brand. They will continue to demand perfect service and results after the purchase, and you know what? Women talk! They will let everyone know whether they liked or disliked your product.
THE “HIDDEN”PROFITABILITY OF THE FEMALE MARKET
There are two factors that many companies do not take into consideration when assessing the potential behind the female market:
1. Women are very loyal consumers; and 2. Women are walking advertising for your Brand.
One of the most important things for any Brand is to get loyal consumers; that gets them not only a one-time purchase but also repeat purchases on the following cycles. With women you can get that coveted loyalty easier than with men.
Women value their time greatly, and given that they spend so much time asking and conducting their own research on products and services, when they find what they are looking for, they are more likely to remain loyal to that Brand in the future purchases as long as they are fully satisfied with it.
Word of mouth is a very powerful tool; It can make your Brand be the “you-have-to-have-this-or-else” Brand or the “run-away-from’ Brand. Women are connected social beings and they like to talk. They recommend products they like to friends and family and they can be the best spokesperson for any Brand.
These two factors together can result in great share, sales and finally profitability increase for your Brand and Company.
LEAD BY EXAMPLE
Having a clear understanding of the female consumer and their purchase cycle will have a great impact on the success of your Brand’s communication and campaign. Just take the example of Unilever’s Dove, they made a world-wide success with their “Campaign for real beauty”; Unilever was smart enough to realise that women feel alienated by commercials with gorgeous, perfect models that are by no means similar to them. They knew women want to feel beautiful and thus Dove related themselves to beautiful more down-to-earth, non-perfect, real women in their advertising. They made all women feel beautiful, thus women felt they coukd rekate to Dove and in the end craved Dove. Just by standing in front of any supermarket or pharmacy, you can witness the results with your own eyes. Today Dove owns the Beauty care shelves.
Another example is Olay. When they wanted to penetrate the premium skin care sector, what they did was to first get on their side the real opinion formers in the industry and professional influencers such as beauty editors and media. They knew this was important because women like expert opinions. Olay sent un-branded samples to let them try the product and when the women influencers were really satisfied with it and were wondering where to get more of it, Olay made know the Brand name and product. They then developed a campaign showcasing the women influencers in their advertisements talking about how the product had benefitted their skin. This proved their consumer understanding. They knew women like expert opinion, they knew women like to try the product for themselves as part of their research, and they know that women can relate better to real women, not models.
Just like Dove, and Olay which are automatically related to women, there are other companies focusing on women and seeing the potential behind the female market, even when the product-women connection might not be as clear as beauty care. This was seen when Toyota’s Altis conducted, in conjunction with The Women’s Weekly, spa/beauty days for their female loyal consumers treating them with nail coloring, massages, make up services and lunch.
It is time to start asking yourself if you are leaving one of the most important, powerful and profitable consumers out of your Plans. Targeting women works, what is your Brand waiting for?
PRUDENTIAL PRUlady
Insurance is one of the products that have not been associated with the female market, that is until smart companies as Prudential realised that women are not only a white space market but that they also have different concerns when it comes to their health such as ovarian and breast cancers. Prudential has included female only products in their portfolios (please refer to side story).
We interviewed Thomas Wu, Chief Marketing Officer for Prudential to get the company’s perspective on the women’s market behind their PRUlady product, launched in 2005.
There are so many insurance products in the Market. What made Prudential launch a product targeted to Women?
While the medical and health needs of women are far different from those of men, this fact had not translated into anything noteworthy either by way of product or advertising in the Malaysian insurance market. As a result, women either did not buy insurance, or bought very little of the generic policies available. According to the Nielsen Media Index Q2/2004, only 19 percent of Malaysian women have some form of insurance coverage. In other words, 81 percent of Malaysian women do not own a life or health insurance policy, resulting in a large unexploited market.
Our own claims experience revealed that 64 percent of the total cancer claims that we paid out under our Crisis Cover policies were made by female customers. And out of these claims made by them, 37 percent were for breast cancer, followed by 11 percent for cervical cancer. These statistics clearly tell us that there is a need for a product which can protect our customers against female-related illnesses.
Most companies struggle when making a decision to specifically target women, was this a hard decision to make?
We continuously look at unmet needs within specific consumer segments, design innovative and relevant product solutions, create the required level of consumer awareness and train our strong distribution force of wealth planners to identify and introduce the product to the target segments. In the case of PRUlady, the market needs are sizable.
So many companies underestimate women and they develop advertising without really understanding them. What did Prudential do to obtain relevant consumer insights?
The PRUlady plans that were launched in 2005 were developed as a result of an extensive consumer research conducted with various groups of female respondents. The insights gained had helped:
a. Drive the product positioning for PRUlady – product propositions that meet the needs of the target consumer segment, such as giving women what they want
b. Shape the communication and media strategy for the entire campaign – a non-generic communication strategy that connects with women.
If you did research amongst women, what kind of research was it and what was the most eye-opening insight for you?
The results zeroed in on one major finding: that breast cancer was the most significant health concern for today’s women. Two reasons seem to have driven this consciousness: breast cancer is the leading female cancer; and for women there is greater emotional impact of losing a breast to cancer. Matched against our claims records, we found a striking correlation: breast cancer was by far the highest cancer claim by our female policyholders (37 percent).
Which are the key differences of marketing insurance to Women versus men?
In my opinion, it is all about making the connection with your target market and having a clear proposition that will enable you to distinguish the product that you are marketing from other products in its category. More importantly, the product has to be able to address the specific needs of your target audience; in other words, giving your customers what they want.
You developed an Insurance product and a campaign based on the learning obtained from researching and understanding women. Could you share with us the results you’ve had in terms of market share and consumer response?
In the 45 days of the campaign (Nov16-Dec31, 2005), PRUlady Annual Premium Income (API), or sales, doubled compared to the 45 days duration prior to the campaign launch (Oct1-Nov15, 2005).
What is your vision for the female market in insurance?
As more women enter the work force and with increased affluence, the female market segment will likely grow faster. There will be ample opportunities to serve this market better. However, success will be dependent on keen insight of the consumer needs, behaviours and our ability to innovate compelling products to match the unmet needs.
adidas “ME, MYSELF” CAMPAIGN
adidas has just launched their new campaign focusing on women in Singapore and Malaysia. According to an adidas press release, the concept of the campaign is brought to life in a series of intimate portraits of women from around the world depicting key moments in their fitness routines and daily lives. The campaign features real women alongside adidas sports stars such as tennis player Ana Ivanovic, basketball star Candace Parker, taekwondo athlete Iridia Salazar and volleyball player Miwa Asao.
The ‘Me, Myself’ creative is a series of honest and intimate portraits capturing an up-close and personal glimpse of women in an unguarded moment right before, during or after performing sports. The spirit and heartbeat of ‘Me, Myself’ is about shifting the emphasis and importance very clearly and decisively onto the woman herself.
Going one step further, adidas is using the internet, widely used by women for online shopping by including the launch of the new adidas women’s website which contains an innovative styling tool allowing users to create and personalize their own colour palette so they can mix and match outfits whilst browsing through the key styles and products featured in the adidas women’s collection.
The print campaign showcases the iconic portrait imagery and includes narratives that are personal snapshot of their lifestyle and motivations. The copy uses the women’s real name and will also state, what appears to be at first glance, the women’s age. The number is in fact a reference to a narrative about herself and the products she is wearing, providing an intimate insight into her dedication and commitment.
By Elisa Camacho