WOMEN ARE MORE FAITHFUL TO A BRAND
Only a few months ago, the prestigious British magazine The Economist highlighted the change in direction some companies have taken in the current context of economic recession. In the USA, where women are responsible for 80% of the purchases, a good number of companies have started feminizing their products and their messages in an attempt to revitalise business.
International Frito-Lay, owned by Pepsico group, has launched a multimedia campaign called “Only In A Woman’s World” in order to convince female consumers about the idea that chips and snacks are not exclusively for men, beer drinkers and televised sports lovers. OfficeMax, the second largest stationary company, has redesigned its notebooks and folders in order to encourage women to make their offices into more lively and colourful places (in fact, the female labour force equals male labour force in USA). And for the first time in history, McDonald’s sponsored New York's Fashion Week to promote a new line of hot drinks and set the trend among women. In the interim, SheSpeaks consultancy, specialists in feminine consumerism, have tripled their number of clients and many women's magazines have increased their advertising figures thanks to those companies that had never before shown any interest in their pages.
Many marketing experts are surprised by the fact that it is only because of the crisis that many companies have realized that they need to focus on women and think differently about how to approach this demographic which controls 70% of the world consumerism and is already a majority in the area of online purchasing. For Marti Barletta, international authority on marketing "to women", and author of the most recognised books in the sector, there are three basic reasons why a company will always succeed if it has female clients: women are more faithful and tend to keep buying a brand they like; women spread more information about their favourite products by word of mouth and on internet social networks; and nowadays women are a target market with greater economic power. We must not forget that the building sector and the manufacturing industries, areas which are essentially male-dominated, have been less fortunate during the recession than the health, education or civil work sectors, areas with a more feminine profile which have grown. No one doubts anymore that women have a decisive role in home finance and have great purchasing power that cannot be ignored these days.
María Leach
Rethink-HER Press
