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I thought it might be interesting and fun to see how marketing has evolved over the past 50 years, or at least take a look at old & new through the TrendSight Eyes to measure progress. I picked three examples to share with you on some of my hot button issues, and without further ado...

Diamond Marketing

In the 1950s the marketing campaign centered on the man purchasing and giving the ring. Thirty years later the ads were more people powered, but still focused on the giver. After a decade of flat sales, DeBeers recognized that while women have plenty of money to spend, and in fact buy 90% of all fine jewelry, they were not spending it on diamond rings. The understanding was that diamond rings were engagement rings, traditionally given by men to their fiancees. The opportunity, as DeBeers saw it, was to expand the symbolism of the diamond ring, without compromising the romance of the traditional ring. In a flash of brilliance (so to speak), they tapped into the "buy my own jewelry" trend by creating the right hand ring in 2003. Differentiated by position (right hand), styling (many small stones rather than a central large stone) and symbolism (self-empowerment rather than romantic validation), this strategy doubled the target market for diamond rings. Is it working? The Diamond Information Center reports that first quarter 2004 sales jumped 21%.

Home Improvement

Lowe's reports that women make 85% of home improvement decisions. Well, that's no surprise. Judging by the Kem-Tone paint ad below, they knew that in the '50's! What's changed is that in Kem-Tone's day, once she made the decision, he did the work. (Hmm. And today is better because.....?)

Nowadays, women want to do it themselves because it gives them a sense of accomplishment, pride and expression. The Home Depot tapped into this trend by launching their Do-It-Herself workshops in May 2003 . It was a risky move -- initially they were worried that women might resent being invited to "mostly for women" workshops. And at first glance, I would have said they were right to be worried, as I always caution clients against developing special products and services labeled "for women." Don't paint the brand pink, because as a rule, women will run from anything overtly "girly" as fast as men will, based on their experience that "for women" means either dumbed down in content, or marked up in price.

However, one major exception to this generalization is in marketing seminars, workshops and other interactive learning opportunities. Dr. Deborah Tannen has noted that in mixed groups, communication styles default toward male patterns of conversations: an inclination to demonstrate abilities superior to others in the room; a tendency to challenge and compete with the instructor to test relative knowledge, experience and status; a need to control, rather than observe, etc. Women like women-only learning environments where they can learn collaboratively instead of competitively, without feeling intimidated by their lack of knowledge.

How did it go over? By July, a scant two months after The Home Depot launched the workshops, 40,000 women had attended!!

And while I'm on Home Improvement - you absolutely must go visit one of my all-time favorite new companies: Be-Jane. This company helps women Do-It-Yourselfers build their success with home improvement (yes, that was another pun - much to my husband's dismay, I love puns!). And it helps home improvement companies get more savvy about how to reach and teach women. Not to mention a wonderful corporate halo tie-in with Women Build, an arm of Habitat for Humanity. I had dinner with Heidi Baker and Eden Clark a few months ago, and I cannot begin to tell you how impressive these women are. They have set out to change the world for women DIYers - and believe you me - they will get it done!

Gone Are The Good Old Days

Judging by the three ads below, advertisers in the '50s knew all about what women wanted: happy men, apparently! And these technologically advanced "convenience" products were out to help them get what they wanted. You can see that times were simpler then - cleaner, tastier, warmer times that many marketers look back on longingly.

Still, let's not get carried away.... like that Fieldcrest Cannon executive who said about his new ad campaign: "The ads recall a better era, when Mom had time to do the laundry and hang it on the line, days when we had time to enjoy ourselves." Ah yes, the good old days before we had labor-saving appliances...

Things change. As our message of the women's market spreads, imagine how things will change in the next decade, let alone next fifty years. It's tremendously exciting to be a part of those changes, and I hope you will all join me in creating this evolution.

Our eyes are on the women's market.
Are yours?

Lots of press for me lately, all good well beyond just spelling my name right... plenty of substance, all on message, all appearing in front line outlets, and we're happy to point them out to you if you missed them first time around...

BusinessWeek Online, in an article entitled “I am Woman, Hear Me Shop”, recognized the “rising female consumer power”, and cited me as a source for a number of points and comments. The quote: “Some 30% of working women outearn their husbands... and 75% of women with the title of vice-president or higher at Fortune 500 companies outearn their husbands, bringing home on average 68% of household income.” Regular readers of this newsletter already know this, as does everyone who's read my book, but now a lot more do as a result of this article, and now they know me, too. These are all good things. If you missed the article, click here.

No less than The Wall Street Journal recognized our voice and message in a recent article entitled “The New Portfolio Manager – Mom.” The article is well put together and well-researched, citing a number of authorities on message. My contribute to the discussion:

“Even financial advertising has started to look different. Lots of numbers and pictures of esteemed male founders in business suits are far less common, notes Martha Barletta, president of TrendSight Group, a consulting firm that advises companies on marketing to women. Instead, financial-services firms have rolled out campaigns in recent years like Citigroup's "Live Richly" promotion that included billboards with such unmasculine messages as "Hugs are on a 52-week high" and ads for Phoenix Wealth Management that center around a portrait of a group of women with a tiny story line under each one.”

Most any media coverage of our message is good, and I am always pleased to see our name displayed prominently on TrendSight point. It is an especial honor, though, to be both considered for contribution and actually quoted in the discussion of such crucial topics by these important venues.

• Women are much more likely than men to strongly agree that marriage is, in fact, hard work (72% versus 56%).

The National Marriage Project at Rutgers University.
Cited in American Demographics; Sep2001, Vol. 23 Issue 9, p17, 2p

• When asked whether they would rather marry a man who looks like Robert Redford but does no chores, or a man who looks like Danny DeVito but does half the chores, about equal numbers pick each option (46% and 43%, respectively)

Whittle Communications

• When asked to choose between an evening of lovemaking and a perfectly clean house, nearly as many women would opt for the clean house as for the evening of lovemaking (42% and 46%, respectively, vs 26% and 64% of men).

Whittle Communications