andHow To Reach Women

The Motrin Moms Debacle: A Better Response

The marketing world has been awash in the wave of the Motrin Moms debacle since Sunday, which I was first alerted to by Holly Buchanan's blog post on the topic.  Certainly a milestone in the influence of social media, Twitter allowed these pissed off mothers to send their messages farther, faster than anyone had previously imagined possible, even including a 9 min video montage of the tweets on YouTube - where did they find the time? -spurring an apology from Kathy Widmer the marketer who oversaw the campaign and an immediate withdrawal of the ad on motrin.com, though sadly for the company, as Widmer admitted, they can't do quite so fast a pull on the print ads.  Red letter day for social media, not so good news for print.  

But, onto the topic of that response...Seth Godin already pointed out the corporate feel of it, which isn't in sync with the medium, to say the least.  The tone is serious and grave, more apt to a product recall notice.  Look, it was definitely off target but no one's life was threatened. And I doubt the company set out to intentionally offend or alienate moms.  This is a giant, public case of foot-in-mouth.  So, why not apologize with some self-effacing humor?  Like a spoof video that begins by showing the executives and creatives involved needing to pass around a giant bottle of Motrin as they view moms' feedback to the campaign on their computer screens.  Then follow them going from their offices to their cars where everywhere they look a woman is happily toting a baby in a carrier while they duck their heads in shame. The background conversation could include the women admiring each others' carriers and raving over which ones alleviate back pain the best.  At the end each of the marketers involved adds their signature to a hand written message, which they hold up for the camera - "Sorry moms, we screwed up.  Next time, we'll talk to you first." 

Research has proven time and time again that when a company messes up and takes responsibility loyalty actually increases.  Motrin has a huge opportunity here, but corporate-sounding statements won't cut it.  The response has to be as sincere and personal as the reaction - the medium simply demands it. 

Perhaps there's still time...

 

The Obama Effect On Marketing Messages

There are many brand marketing lessons to be learned from the historic election of Barack Obama, which have been covered by multiple marketing reporters and bloggers both pre-and-post election.  For the purposes of this post, I’d like to expand the topic from the paradigm shift in the techniques of marketing to the evolution I believe is coming in the content of marketing. 

This was not, on the whole, a black vs. white race.  Thankfully it was never framed that way, though “the Bradley effect” was occasionally invoked by reporters and pundits worried that the certainty the data revealed wasn’t actually possible.  As we all witnessed, the outcome, which crossed traditional demographic lines of age and ethnicity, proved the Obama effect to be far stronger than the Bradley effect.  And the cultural ramifications are certain to reach far beyond the presidential election.

In this new reality, where multiculturalism is a source of pride, our President-elect himself a blend of two races, I can’t imagine that the faces of advertising will stay the same.   I’m not suggesting that Abercrombie & Fitch is suddenly going to bust out with a self-conscious United Colors of Benetton style campaign where every ethnicity is carefully inserted to show a perfectly rainbowed coalition of eerily beautiful teenagers all on the verge of engaging in some hypersexualixed collegiate orgy (at least I hope they don’t).  But the lines of what constitutes the look and behaviors of standard ethnicities will certainly become more blurred.  The kind of cultural costuming that puts forth gangsta-lite hip-hop culture represented on one end of the scale with clean cut preppies sporting half buttoned jeans on the other, and very few digressions in between, simply won’t continue to resonate.

Additionally, look for brands to delve into social consciousness on a level that goes beyond pink packaging in October or simply swiping a credit card for a cause. As marketers are putting together their cause-marketing plans they’ll need to evolve their messages and platforms to speak to an audience who has seen first-hand the power of investing their time, energy and service to create real results.  

For instance, The Members Project, pioneered by American Express, where consumers suggest and vote on where the credit card issuer will distribute millions in funding (this year it totaled $4.9mm) could evolve that strategy to include service days in cities around the world where people can contribute in a hands-on way to further support the dollars Amex donates, connecting their members face-to-face and increasing their impact exponentially.  Those who participated in various initiatives could custom design their card with images from their project, making Amex the credit card services company where service, in all its forms, is a true differentiator.

 

 

In Sustainability Marketing, Grassroots Is Often Greener

As sustainability becomes a key platform, both in business plans and marketing programs, we’re seeing the emergence of a new c-level position, the CSO (chief sustainability officer), as well as practice areas in consulting and branding firms, such as Saatchi & Saatchi “S” to help guide CSO’s and their organizations on how to develop, measure and communicate meaningful programs.

Despite all this brainpower, industries are still struggling to define and communicate standards and consumers remain confused as to how to understand which products and companies are truly green vs. “greenwashed.” This WSJ article re: the environmental impact of reusable shopping bags illustrates the point perfectly.

As average citizens begin to wrap their minds and arms around these concepts, a key source of information and influence is coming from grassroots groups creating their own real-world and online “green” communities.  These movements are gaining momentum and a loyal and engaged following by doing three really smart things:

1) They deliver their message in dynamic, heart-felt, user-friendly terms

2) They offer a clear and easy way to participate 

3) They allow for ordinary citizens to share their accomplishments, both in person and online

While you want to communicate your green and sustainable efforts on your website and in your marketing materials, that’s just covering the baseline -  not enough to create engagement and build trust on a level that puts your brand at the top of the list.  Tapping into some of these movements that have credibility and passion built in demonstrates that your brand’s commitment is bigger than just selling products or engaging in a seasonal marketing campaign, shows that you are plugged in and paying attention to the people and communities that are making a difference, and will provide an informal barometer on how your brand and messaging are perceived, as well as a source of new ideas. 

A handful of examples are listed below, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg.  Seek out and connect with the groups aligned with your product or service area and brand values – this part is critical as anything that smacks of greenwashing will definitely not fly with these folks - and watch your own green movement grow,

Teens for Safe Cosmetics

EcoMom Alliance

One in a Million

Carrot Mob

Run Green Feet

 

Who's Really Driving The Green Product Boom?

Unless you've been living under a plastic rock surrounded by ethanol fumes, it's clear that green products are growing like the proverbial (free range) weed.  Several young Hollywood mothers, such as Josie Maran and Jenny McCarthy are launching eco-friendly make-up (Maran) and non-toxic surroundings for kids (McCarthy) and groups such as EcoMoms and Teens for Safe Cosmetics are gaining media attention for their efforts to use social networks to promote more responsible choices. It may surprise you to note however, that none of these groups include members of the demographic which actually accounts for the leading users of green products today. 

According to a recent survey by ICOM Information & Communications, women 55-59 are more than twice as likely than the average consumer to use green products.  Surely Gen X or Y women came in second, right? Actually, men 65-69 years old took that spot, 1.7 times as likely to use green products than the average American. These are your core influencers and early adopters.  Does your green marketing outreach include them?

PC Has A Cool New BFF. Should Mac Be Worried?

The June issue of Fast Company features a cover story on ultra-hipster ad shop, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, and the company's new $300mm mission to make Microsoft cool.  Alex Bogusky, clad in black t-shirt and jeans, gives a confident smile from the magazine's cover looking legitimately cooler than Mac (from the infamous Mac vs. PC ads) himself.  If anyone can do it, this guy can.  If advertising is the main issue, which, by many accounts, it is.  As Danielle Sacks reported in her story, Apple's humorous and popular 2-year-old "Mac vs. PC" campaign has been widely credited by industry analysts with rebranding Microsoft:

Nothing is doing more to carve away at Microsoft's reputation -- and contribute to its loss of market share -- than the assault launched by Apple two years ago in the form of the "Mac vs. PC" spots featuring The Daily Show satirist John Hodgman. The ads became immediate pop-culture fixtures, spawning more than 1,000 video spoofs on YouTube and taking home last year's Grand Effie, the ad industry's highest honor for effectiveness. "Nobody messes with anyone in the tech industry the way Apple has messed with Microsoft," says Enderle. "It's the first time I've ever seen a major national campaign that disparages a competitor, and the competitor just sits back and takes it. If somebody tried to do that to Oracle, you wouldn't be able to find the body." Gartner media research analyst Andrew Frank credits Apple -- whose annual media spend is less than half of Microsoft's nearly $1 billion budget -- with single-handedly rebranding Microsoft "as a kind of self-conscious and self-absorbed nerd that is out of touch with the normal lives and needs of its users."

I would propose that one thing has done more to carve away at Microsoft's reputation and contribute to its loss of market share and that is Microsoft itself.  The ads wouldn't strike such a chord if the content didn't contain multiple grains of truth.  And those truths can be tracked back to the way Microsoft has chosen to conduct business - releasing Vista when it was buggy and far from ready for prime time and, in some cases, forcing distrusting consumers to make the switch when they purchased new PC's by making Vista the only option. (A major reason we, quite happily now I might add, switched to Macs last summer...)  The huge marketing push behind Vista only served to further infuriate customers who felt the company had misled them as to the operating system's benefits, which sorely disappointed when it came to compatibility and ease-of-use.  

Apple didn't rebrand Microsoft.  They exploited key weaknesses. And rather than addressing those weaknesses, Microsoft, seemingly, has chosen instead to invest millions in creating a new image.  But while Microsoft and Bogusky explore new frontiers of cool, Apple has dialed up the heat again. This time by pouring resources into making superior customer service a key element of their marketing and brand.  See this Ad Age article to get the details...

Can we expect to see PC kicking Mac to the curb anytime soon?  Not unless Microsoft is willing to invest at least an equal amount of capital in making sure their products and service exceed the expectations the market, and this new campaign, will set.  At the very least, they should try to meet them.

Will Avon's New Cause Campaign Hit The Mark?

When big brands get behind causes, it is amazing what they can do.  The Lance Armstrong Foundation's LiveStrong wristband campaign raised $6mm for cancer research ($5 mm from sales, $1mm from Nike donation) and, according to the LAF website, the wristbands are worn by more than 55mm people worldwide in support of cancer survivors.  The American Heart Association's Go Red campaign raised awareness about heart disease in women (typically assumed to be a man's disease, which causes very different symptoms in women) and resulted in $60mm raised and a 55% increase in awareness and, most importantly, inspired 430,000 people to get a check-up.  Susan G. Komen's breast cancer movement is perhaps the most famous, inspiring a range of brands - from BMW to Campbell's to Lee Jeans - to paint their marketing campaigns pink in a (mostly) good way every October, raising huge awareness and funds.  

So, I was excited to read in Women's Wear Daily today that Mark, an Avon brand targeted to the Gen Y set, has developed a cause campaign to help prevent dating abuse and partner violence.  Reality show star and campaign spokesperson Lauren Conrad has designed a special "Have a Heart" necklace, retailing for $22, to raise funds.  The kind of disappointing disconnect is that Ms. Conrad's comment regarding the collaboration makes her seem either woefully unaware of the seriousness of the cause or just unaware that her collaboration is related to the cause at all.  As reported in WWD:

Conrad said, "It's a great collaboration since it empowers women to do what they want and encouraging them to go out there and be their own person."

For whatever reason, Lauren Conrad has become a celebrity in her own right with a huge amount of influence with young girls and teens.  Hopefully by the time the campaign launches in September, her talking points will be back on track because violence against women and girls is a worldwide problem that has reached epidemic proportions as evidenced by yesterday's announcement from the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that he will soon appoint a Messenger of Peace tasked entirely with advocacy for ending violence against women in response to "an increasing and alarming number of women and girls are falling victim to sexual violence in conflict."

One of the benefits, and responsibility, of celebrity is the opportunity to use your influence to bring attention to important causes.  Ms. Conrad and Mark have the opportunity to engage a hard-to-reach group with an important and timely message and I'm hopeful they will make an impact that goes far beyond a pretty necklace.

How Funny Is Your Sports Bra?

Women's Wear Daily posted this article on a new campaign from compression athletic gear manufacturer CW-X, known to date in the sports bra world for their print campaigns which display cringe-inducing images, (such a female torso clad in multiple sports bras and duct tape) to represent all that well-endowed women go through to get proper support when they run.  Their newest viral campaign, which ran online in May, "The Apology Letter" takes a humorous shot at minimizing the lechery factor of inadequately supported breasts by featuring a young woman reading an apology letter to all the men (and one woman) who gawk at her on her running route who will no longer have the opportunity now that she is well supported by her CW-X bra.  

When you've only got a few seconds to get someone's attention, humor can be a hugely effective tool.  It's interesting that in many years of working in women's sports apparel, gawking wasn't an issue customers tended to bring up about sports bras.  Mostly they referenced the need for comfort as the bounce factor is just plain painful.  Although I do have a DD friend who needed new running shoes and didn't feel comfortable running on the store treadmill to be evaluated because she didn't have the right bra on and was embarrassed to bounce even though it was just she and the saleswoman in the store - not a gawker in sight.  

The most effective thing about the ad is that the woman runs in place and you can see first-hand that her breasts stay put. However, she is of average size and it would be interesting to see the company extend the campaign with women of a range of sizes.  Seeing a D or above woman pass the bounce test - now that'd sell a ton of bras. A last thought on the creative - including male runners in the gawker category, which was peopled with the "hot dog vendor," "construction worker" high school students waiting for a bus and other over-the-top stereotypes seemed to take a little of the joke edge off and push it into the "all guys are sexist jerks" category and the whole girls-against-the-boys thing in sports is kind of tired at this point.

It was a bit of a challenge to find, but you can check out the ad here.  Note to CW-X: just because the ad buy is over, doesn't mean you should bury it on your website, where I would have sent this traffic had I been able to easily locate it...

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The New Menopause: It Ain't What It Used To Be, But It's Still No Disneyland

Women's Voices For Change is a blog I've followed for a while that provides smart writing and analysis on a variety of topics with a perspective relevant to women over 40 - their tagline is "News, Opinion & Commentary for Women Over 40 - Defining The New Menopause," which is why I was inspired to write a post for them that I would normally post here about the dismal job many companies are doing in connecting with Boomer women.  Grab your sunscreen and a fruity beverage, we're going to Menopauseland! 

Have You Watched A Ford Ad Lately?

There is something about marketing that companies can learn from Ford. Yes, I typed that right - Ford, the US automaker who has been bleeding money for years now. But I'm not talking about running a business - yet. What I am referring to is their new marketing campaign, "Ford. Drive One," which leverages three key lessons in marketing to women extremely well - and not at the expense of alienating men.

1) The campaign is centered around the consumer, featuring multiple spots addressing 4 specific needs: Quality, Green, Safety, Smart (or technology)

2) Employees deliver the messages - not actors or scion Bill Ford (remember how bad those were?) - who work in the areas featured and can tell of the benefits in their own words, connecting the consumers to the real people behind the products vs. some faceless, out-of-touch corporation.

3) The nods to women's needs are there, but they are subtle and contextual. For example, the Quality spot features Elizabeth Baron, a virtual reality and advanced visualisation technical expert at the company, talking about the Ford Fusion and how her work allows them to experience the vehicle how the consumer sees it. As she speaks a young man wearing goggles reaches for a virtual rear view mirror. "Now try it as a small female," Baron instructs. "Different, huh?" she says. Then the action moves on, but the point is made - we're thinking about ALL drivers. And it wasn't about the vehicle color or room for kids or any of the other typical women/mom areas. Pure functionality. Nice.

Not a surprise that this smarter approach to marketing comes with the hire of former Toyota marketing veteran James Farley as Ford CMO. The spots even directly reference Toyota, stating that Ford now matches them in quality. If their product can live up to the campaign, we may see a turnaround yet. Read more about the campaign here.

Are women 25-54 your target audience? Take this test:

Go to a public place - say a grocery store or a mall. Find a 25-year-old woman, maybe in the Food Court. Everyone's gotta eat. Then find a 54-year-old woman. If the Food Court runs dry there's always Nordstrom. Everyone ends up there eventually. Now, take said 25-year-old and 54-year-old, find a restaurant - casual but not overly nice - not the Food Court - and get a table toward the back, where its quieter and you can get to know each other. Resist the urge to stimulate conversation. Let the women take the lead and see how far the discussion gets without the phrases "my mother" or "my daughter" coming up.

Now, go to a race, perhaps a 10K or half-marathon. Review the age group list and find a 25-year-old and a 54-year-old (women, naturally). Head to the refreshments post-race and cop a squat on a patch of grass. Ask how they feel about running and try to get a word in edgewise.

Is this an exaggeration? Of Course. Slightly. The point - thinking about women in broad demographic terms, like 18-49 or 25-54, is just so, well, old media. We know so much more now - about life stages and psychographics and personas - and the Internet has allowed us to target those on such a fine level that it is surprising to see a company, especially one as savvy as Yahoo!, launch a new site targeting 25-54 year-old women, called Shine, as if they were developing a TV show or magazine and didn't have the power of the medium they helped define at their disposal.

Go figure.