Marketing to Women Online

Hot Moms

Ok - this was just too good to pass up.   As you've probably heard, Cadillac has a new agency - Modernista, Boston.  In their new work, Modernista says they want to "put a little lust back into the brand." 

In a recent Ad Age article, they talk about Cadillac's dilemma of keeping their older customers (average age 59) but also reaching out to new younger demographics.  I'm not sure how "putting a little lust" into the brand is going to sit with the 59 plus folks, but you you never know.

But here's the best part of the article -

[put a little lust back into the brand] So said Liz Vanzura, marketing director of the luxury marquee, in unveiling new print work from the agency that replaced Leo Burnett, Detroit and Chicago, as the brand drops the former shop's "Break Through" ads after a four-year run. Ms. Vanzura said the new push aims to boost consideration of the Cadillac brand among three main targets younger than its current owners. She calls them alphas, hot moms and move-ups.

"hot moms"?   This I gotta check out.   You all know by now how I feel about soccer moms.   But I'm hugely curious about hot moms.  So I googled it.  You can imagine some of the less than politically correct sites that came up, but I did find a brilliant article about "hot moms" by Ana Veciana-Suarez of the Miami Herald.   

Please read the full article - it is incredible interesting and insightful.  It's worth it just to see the names of some of the new books on the subject coming out like "I'm Too Sexy for my Volvo" and "Womb with a View".   But don't think this is fluff.  There is a serious discussion of what it means to be a mother and a woman today.   

Life Takes Visa

How do you take a brand pretty much everyone in the civilized world knows and re-brand it after no one's touched the brand for 20 years?

Visa has recently taken on that challenge.   They replaced "Everywhere you want to be" with "Life takes Visa".   

What I found most interesting was - they have made the web and digital media the focus of the new brand roll out.  In Waiting for Your Cat to Bark, Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg talk about how, for many companies, your website will be the centerpiece of your marketing strategy.  Visa appears to have recognized that as well.

A recent OMMA article discussed Visa's new marketing efforts:

The heart of Visa's new online effort is its microsite, LifeTakesVisa.com. The site hosts about 60 video vignettes (each 60 seconds or less) that feel like well-made home movies. The spots, scattered to look like a collection of Polaroids, illustrate that life takes courage, dads, poets, remedies, spontaneity, trust, and more. Viewers can e-mail the clips to friends. It's a simple concept--post a bunch of videos and invite people to send them to one another--but it's attracted a lot of attention.

So how does this online marketing/branding effort impact women?

Marketing to Women - Everything Counts

It was such a strange sight it made me literally stop in my tracks.   Was it an elephant in a downtown subway?  A three-year old flying an airplane?  Paris Hilton doing something useful besides just sucking up oxygen? 

No - it was something even more shocking.   It was a changing table....in an upscale coffee cafe bathroom.

What was so incongruent about this visual that it made me take notice.  (I am not a detail person.  You could like, change your hair color to blue and I wouldn't notice)  I have seen changing stations before, but really only in highway rest-stops and airports.  I'm sure they are other places, but I just haven't noticed them.

But when it comes to bathrooms in restaurants and bars - hey - I am an expert.  And I'm telling you - I have not seen any changing stations.   And yet, how many parents eat out and have babies or young children in tow who need to be changed?   Especially women. 

Which brings up, I'm sure, your next question.  So did the men's room have a changing station as well?   Or was this particular upscale coffee house sexist?  Neither - the bathroom was unisex.   

In your efforts to market to women, everything counts.   Some people think they have done everything they possibly can to anticipate and meet her needs.   This particular cafe had parking right next door that was well lit at night.   They had friendly people behind the counter.  They had singers at night with large numbers of women fans.   They had wireless Internet access so she could enjoy a cup of java and lunch and still be able to get work done (women are natural multi-taskers) 

Like so many other cafes - they were doing everything right to attract female customers.  But they went one step further - they put a changing table in the restroom.  When you look at a woman's whole life, not just slices of it, you will identify opportunities to not only satisfy her, but to delight her.

Are you creating personas?  Are you looking at her whole life?  Are you understanding all of her unique needs?  Does your brand deliver on every single touch point?

What is your equivalent of the changing table in the restroom? 

Women and Mobile Gaming

Donchaluvit?   Another "women don't use technology" stereotype smashed.   A recent report by Telephia, a mobile industry performance measurement reporting company, found that in the mobile gaming space, four of the top five revenue generating titles were in the Puzzle/Strategy category.   These mobile games do very well with women.

Sixty-five percent of mobile game revenue is driven by female wireless subscribers, comprising 72 percent of the total share of revenue, while men made up 28 percent. Women dominate revenue generation for all mobile game categories, with the exception of Action/Adventure mobile games, in which men drive 60 percent of the revenue for that category.

Ad placement in mobile games is a rapidly growing industry.  Don't make the mistake of thinking young men are the only target market.   Check out the following stats:

Category Share of Revenue and Gender Revenue Share (U.S.)
Category	Share of Revenue	Male Share	Female Share
Puzzle/Strategy	33.8%	28%	72%
Card/Casino	18.3%	34%	66%
Sports/Racing	12.9%	39%	61%
Action/Adventure	12.8%	60%	40%
Trivia/Word	11.4%	26%	74%
Classic/Arcade	10.8%	38%	62%
Source: Telephia Mobile Game Report, Q1 2006

See the full report here.

Di Modolo and Tea Leoni

I was going for an overdue pedicure, and, in my rush, did not bring anything to read.  This meant I was stuck with the dreaded pile of women's magazines.   I'm not a fan of these magazines, but bravely picked up a one inch think edition and started leafing through hundreds of ads for fashionable clothing, jewelry, and beauty products.   

I have a problem with some of these ads.  It's the models.   I'm sorry but, really, tell me, do you find this look attractive?

Call me crazy, but I don't see a beautiful fashion model, I see a raccoon with a heroin addiction.    But I guess that's just me.

Anyway, one ad totally caught me by surprise.  It was an ad for Di Modolo featuring Tea Leoni.   the ad was basically a salute to Tea's work with UNICEF.   

Wow - a normal looking Tea Leoni, smiling, and copy that says:

We admire and salute Tea Leoni's dedication to UNICEF, a charity close to her and her family's heart.  As a mother, actress and humanitarian, Tea continues to inspire and motivate us all.

Di Modolo officially made it onto my radar screen.   And I guarantee I'm not the only one who's added Di Modolo to my "brands to look for" list.

Andrea Learned writes about the 20% rise in cause marketing this year.