Why She Buys Read Online Free Page B
Author: Bridget Brennan
driven by the thought, If we have to work on canned food, then at least we’re going to make it cool .
The only problem is that Trey and Steve don’t know anything about what drives the purchasing decisions of mothers, and quite frankly, they’re not that interested. On the surface they are, but they have no real desire to go deep, because they already have their own ideas about what’s cool, and being a mom isn’t one of them. Trey and Steve’s creative“war room” is full of ripped-out magazine pictures depicting their target consumer, and without exception, the mothers in the photos look like the kind of women Trey and Steve would like to date.
Like many young creatives, Trey and Steve are living the classic bachelor’s lifestyle. Their refrigerators are empty except for the requisite “dude food”: beer, cheese, and ketchup. They order takeout for dinner. The daily life of a mother with young children is as alien to them as that of a Tibetan monk. Trey and Steve have read research reports on the target audience given to them by their all-male client team, but when it comes to developing the strategy and the creative, they’re relying on their gut instincts—and so are the clients who hired them.
Naturally, their gut instincts are male . Since their clients are also male, they think Trey and Steve’s ideas are right on. They’re currently embarking on a concept that’s so edgy it’s in danger of alienating the very women they’re trying to attract. But they can’t see that, because for Trey and Steve and their male clients, masculine concepts don’t seem “masculine”—they seem normal.
I’ll fast-forward to the end of Trey and Steve’s story. After the campaign proves ineffective and doesn’t “move the needle,” the client will fire Trey and Steve’s agency and go on the hunt for another hot shop to deliver the elusive big idea. It will never occur to any of them—to Trey, to Steve, or their clients—that the reason for the campaign’s failure might have been a lack of understanding of the opposite sex.
You know the old expression that goes, “I know 50 percent of my marketing budget is wasted. I just don’t know which 50 percent”? Here’s the answer—it’s the 50 percent that doesn’t appeal to women.
Trey and Steve and their clients are a composite of several teams I’ve worked with over my agency career who were part of the inspiration for this book. I’ve also worked with incredibly insightful men who taught me a thing or two about tapping into people’s emotions. But as of today, there are still too many executives like Trey and Steve out there, of all ages, who are out of touch with the very target audience with whom they need to connect. It’s hard to blame them; the lessons they must learn are teachable, but no one is teaching them. In most businesses that rely on a predominantly female consumer base, there’s no formal structure for learning about gender psychology. It doesn’t appear anywhere on the organization chart, but it should. Surprisingly, women also find this gender education valuable as well, because they have been taught the rules of conventional wisdom, which are often rooted in masculine values.
Still Relevant After All These Years
S OME people think talking about gender differences is passé—just a hangover from the twentieth century. We’re all equal now, right? Gender is so 1970s! Women fought the good fight in the liberation movement, they’re beginning to outnumber men in the U.S. workforce, they graduate from colleges in higher numbers than men, there are (a few) Fortune 500 women CEOs, and there’s Rachel Maddow on MSNBC and Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. And many men will tell you, “I’m surrounded by women at work.” Right?
Well, not exactly.
The matter of the glass ceiling is not what we’re here to discuss(and yes, it still exists). This book has a different goal—to help you see your business through the eyes of
The only problem is that Trey and Steve don’t know anything about what drives the purchasing decisions of mothers, and quite frankly, they’re not that interested. On the surface they are, but they have no real desire to go deep, because they already have their own ideas about what’s cool, and being a mom isn’t one of them. Trey and Steve’s creative“war room” is full of ripped-out magazine pictures depicting their target consumer, and without exception, the mothers in the photos look like the kind of women Trey and Steve would like to date.
Like many young creatives, Trey and Steve are living the classic bachelor’s lifestyle. Their refrigerators are empty except for the requisite “dude food”: beer, cheese, and ketchup. They order takeout for dinner. The daily life of a mother with young children is as alien to them as that of a Tibetan monk. Trey and Steve have read research reports on the target audience given to them by their all-male client team, but when it comes to developing the strategy and the creative, they’re relying on their gut instincts—and so are the clients who hired them.
Naturally, their gut instincts are male . Since their clients are also male, they think Trey and Steve’s ideas are right on. They’re currently embarking on a concept that’s so edgy it’s in danger of alienating the very women they’re trying to attract. But they can’t see that, because for Trey and Steve and their male clients, masculine concepts don’t seem “masculine”—they seem normal.
I’ll fast-forward to the end of Trey and Steve’s story. After the campaign proves ineffective and doesn’t “move the needle,” the client will fire Trey and Steve’s agency and go on the hunt for another hot shop to deliver the elusive big idea. It will never occur to any of them—to Trey, to Steve, or their clients—that the reason for the campaign’s failure might have been a lack of understanding of the opposite sex.
You know the old expression that goes, “I know 50 percent of my marketing budget is wasted. I just don’t know which 50 percent”? Here’s the answer—it’s the 50 percent that doesn’t appeal to women.
Trey and Steve and their clients are a composite of several teams I’ve worked with over my agency career who were part of the inspiration for this book. I’ve also worked with incredibly insightful men who taught me a thing or two about tapping into people’s emotions. But as of today, there are still too many executives like Trey and Steve out there, of all ages, who are out of touch with the very target audience with whom they need to connect. It’s hard to blame them; the lessons they must learn are teachable, but no one is teaching them. In most businesses that rely on a predominantly female consumer base, there’s no formal structure for learning about gender psychology. It doesn’t appear anywhere on the organization chart, but it should. Surprisingly, women also find this gender education valuable as well, because they have been taught the rules of conventional wisdom, which are often rooted in masculine values.
Still Relevant After All These Years
S OME people think talking about gender differences is passé—just a hangover from the twentieth century. We’re all equal now, right? Gender is so 1970s! Women fought the good fight in the liberation movement, they’re beginning to outnumber men in the U.S. workforce, they graduate from colleges in higher numbers than men, there are (a few) Fortune 500 women CEOs, and there’s Rachel Maddow on MSNBC and Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. And many men will tell you, “I’m surrounded by women at work.” Right?
Well, not exactly.
The matter of the glass ceiling is not what we’re here to discuss(and yes, it still exists). This book has a different goal—to help you see your business through the eyes of
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