A Woman's Nation - The Shriver Report

If you are involved in selling to, marketing to, working with, hiring or having a relationship with women - you need to be following the coverage of A Woman's Nation - The Shriver Report.

The Shriver Report presents an accurate and detailed portrait of American women and families at this transformational moment in our history.

Here's an interview with Maria Shriver discussing the report.

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I think one of the most important takeaways is that women do not see themselves reflected back in the media.  As one African American woman said when Maria asked what she wanted the government to know about her, she replied "that I exist."

That I exist.

There are all sorts of profound implications in this report, but from a marketing to women perspective, there are two key takeaways for me.

1. Women don't see their lives reflected back to them.  For some women, like the young African American woman, they feel like government/media barely knows they exist.
2. Women's ideas of success and how they define themselves can be different from men.  Whether it's a TV show, a movie or an ad campaign, the images of success are often focused on winning, gaining more power, living a life that is "better than" other people.  These are often male definitions of success.  Yes, there are many women that are driven to be CEO, but many women would trade power and extra responsibility for flexibility, for the chance to be with their kids, have a healthier lifestyle, have more control over their own schedule.

Women respond to companies who they feel know them, understand their lives.  They want ads with scenarios they can relate to - that make them feel, 'Yes, that's my life.  You get me."

Kudos to NBC for their fabulous coverage of the release of The Shriver Report.   The conversations this report has sparked are fascinating and critical.   If you're marketing to or selling to women, I highly encourage you to follow these conversations to gain critical insight into what life is like, and what matters to today's women.

Comments

[watch movies]

You are so right! Woman could bring so much change but they are just on the scene. I really do think that the media could do so much more the motivate woman all over the world to take the future into their hands! The world really could be a different place.

[e-commerce solutions]

Thanks for this interesting post.Always get to know a lot of interesting facts with relation to marketing to women.