With tough economic times, marketers are turning to planet Venus for help. Why and how are they luring the eve populace? 4Ps B&M explores...

IIPM 4Ps Quiz
To beat the ongoing recession in the US economy, marketers are turning towards planet Venus for help. Uh... it’s not exactly a ride along the Milky Way, instead they are looking toward the Eves on earth to bring them salvation. Women folk are getting more and more attention from marketers as fresh campaigns and new products are being launched almost everyday to entice the fairer sex. What is making marketers woo the power of Venus? More importantly, can the strategy actually work to save brands in these bad times?

Sample this: In US, female consumers make more than 80% of discretionary purchases. They make 92% of all decisions regarding home and family. They buy 90% of food, 55% of consumer electronics and end up doing 85% of all brand purchases (source: Industry reports). Thus a major chunk of overall consumer spending comes from the pink purses of these residents of Venus. This gives the female consumers a natural purchasing clout over their male counterparts. Moreover, the recent wave of lay-offs in US (that has majorly hit the consumer spending) have been mostly in male dominated sectors, so lesser women have been affected by these job cuts. Thus they have more income at their disposal than men, in these gloomy days. So the marketers have a very strong reason to lure the female populace. And if these were not reason enough, the increasing feeling of being neglected (among women consumers )by marketers has rung the alarm bell for them. Gulp this: 91% of women feel advertisers don’t understand them. As per a research by HPI (a UK based research firm) 28% of Women (compared to only 15% of men) accept that they feel squeezed by the economic climate and more than half (51%) of females say they are buying cheaper brands and products than they used to. So, it becomes all the more important for marketers to focus on women because women are the biggest shoppers overall, the end impact on companies is greater.

Apart from being a huge consumer base, there are some other reasons why the marketers need to focus increasingly on the female populace. Firstly, loyalty is more a characteristic of a woman as compared to her male counterpart. Thus, if a brand can please women consumers with its products, communication and after sales service; chances of repeat purchase of the brand increases.

Secondly, women believe a lot in word-of-mouth publicity. So if they like a product they are more likely to spread the word about it to other fellow women. But here is a word of caution for the marketers: these Venus creatures spread any negative thing about a brand with an equal enthusiasm. So make sure that as a marketer you never offend the female folks.

Now comes the question of how to target the women folks? Well, it’s surely not just about pink packaging and being fluffy. A more strategic and thoughtful move in the direction is the demand of the time. Actions that show that marketers are more serious about women are the need of the hour. For instance: Frito Lays has launched a new product range chips with just 100 calories per packet, keeping women consumers in mind. Also dried vegetables and spices are launched as crispy chips to suit the taste buds of women without the guilt of extra calories as these chips are fat free. Frito Lays has also devised a brand new campaign ‘Only in a Woman’s World’ to market this new offering. Becky Frankiewicz, VP- Portfolio Marketing, Frito Lays says “When it comes to snacking, we want women to know that they don’t have to compromise – they can have their snacks and eat them, too.” The ‘Only in a Woman’s World’ campaign features four friends – Nikki, Anna, Cheryl and Maya – who humorously experience the various moments in a women’s life. It’s a 360 degree campaign including comic strips, short webisodes, interactive online games and sharable e-cards, as well as traditional print and television ads. “Our efforts to connect with women are holistic – from the products we develop, to the packaging, to where women find them in-store, and to the way we talk about the products,” explains Gannon Jones, Vice President-Marketing, Frito-Lay North America. The idea behind the campaign is to develop a dialogue with women about relevant issues. Not just on food guilt, but topics like beauty, exercise and self esteem to show women they are not alone in these feelings and we can be okay with them.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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