Speaking to the Sisterhood

Best Buy needed only one take to nail the TV spot for its School Gear back-to-school sweepstakes. The premise was familiar: Kids clamor so hard for clothes, backpacks, and notebooks that moms do a victory dance when the shopping is done and classes finally begin. But the grand prize was unique: Best Buy delivered and set up a computer system; filled out forms and paid for all school activities fees; funded a $700 clothes and $200 software shopping spree; and after school started, popped for a $500 Parents’ Escape night on the town.

To get kid actors whining for the TV spot, “We just told them ‘Do what you normally do at home,'” says Marg Shadid, president of Finally Inc., the River Forest, IL, shop that created the campaign. “We got it in one take, but it was painful to edit because they were so whiny.”

Call it empathy marketing. It’s part of an emerging perspective that recognizes women’s lifestyle issues, then uses promotion to present solutions and support. Nabisco, Kellogg, S.C. Johnson & Son’s Shout, and retailers like Office Depot and Best Buy are refining their pitches to women. Some, like Shout, are helping Mom keep house ’90s style; others, like Nabisco and Kellogg, are treating women like individuals. Make the brand more relevant to consumers’ lives and loyalty follows.

In their short history as consumers, women have evolved from full-time homemakers (1950 to ’60s) to full-time workers (’70s) to Supermoms (’80s) to stressed-out jugglers of home and job (how are you feeling today?) to individuals who set their own priorities for job and home and make time for themselves. There’s an unprecedented diversity for marketers to navigate, but that’s also an opportunity to build one-to-one brand relationships.

“Women feel they’re being talked at, not talked to, a lot of the time,” says Sharon Fordham, senior vp-marketing for Nabisco Biscuit Co. “They’re approached as gatekeeper/homemaker, but not as individuals. That’s a very fertile area for creating a brand relationship, a personal relationship.”

“Rational selling has been so fact-based, with calorie counts and such, that it’s missing the emotional element,” says Dori Molitor, president of SnackWell’s promotion shop WatersMolitor, Minneapolis. “Decisions are emotional first and then logical. The heart leads the mind, especially for women.”

The wallet leads the mind for brand managers. Women make 80 percent of all retail purchases and buy 82 percent of all groceries. But their purchase power extends beyond the shopping cart: Fully 80 percent of all checks written in the U.S. are signed by women.

“Women’s economic clout today is only the tip of the iceberg,” says Marti Barletta, vp- account director at Frankel & Co., Chicago. “Income and influence emerging today are going to accelerate over the next 15 to 20 years. Clients need to understand that and get more focused on where the dollars and decisions are – women.”

Toss that cookie cutter The first step is recognizing that the classic “women 25 to 54” is not one uniform audience. Marketers are targeting women with a common mindset, rather than pure demographics.

Nabisco created a new profile of its key user before relaunching SnackWell’s this summer with “Live Well. Snack Well.” ads and plans for 1999 promotions that feed women’s self-esteem. Before pitching promotion ideas to the SnackWell’s team, WatersMolitor wrote a portrait of the target consumer “so the brand group wouldn’t listen through their own ears, but as the consumer herself,” Molitor says. The portrait of a confident, successful woman moved “a few women in the brand group to say ‘I want to cry – this is me,'” Molitor recalls. It reinforced the self-esteem positioning. Nabisco plans to participate in women’s expos and use celebrities for SnackWell’s promotions.

“Women celebrities are very attracted to doing promotions that support women,” Molitor says. “Tap their emotional connection, and you can draw celebrities you couldn’t otherwise afford.”

Target practice really kicked in when WatersMolitor tackled planning for Nabisco’s Honey Maid and Newton brands right after SnackWell’s. All aim for the same demographic, but have very different users. “You have to market to the mindset,” Molitor concludes, taking cues from consumers’ opinion of each brand.

Kellogg took consumers’ cues, ditching Special K’s long-time diet positioning after women called to complain about the ads. The new tagline, “Reshape your attitude,” began with focus-groups of women “who spoke very frankly about unrealistic images of body weight and size,” says Kellogg spokeswoman Kenna Bridges. “They couldn’t relate to ad messages using those.” At the same time, “we got unsolicited calls from women complaining about the positioning.” So the brand did an about-face, denouncing dieting and emphasizing healthy lifestyle instead. TV broke in February and print ads followed, via Leo Burnett USA, Chicago. One print ad shows a baby asking “Do I look fat?” and copy reads: “We hear this question from younger and younger girls every day. That’s because they’re the same words they’ve been hearing from us for far too long.”

“Consumers have been calling to thank us for changing the campaign,” Bridges says.

This fall Kellogg created a guideline of “The Feminine Ideal” to help women “set their own healthy lifestyle,” Bridges says. The chart is mailed free to women who call Kellogg’s consumer affairs, and may appear on-pack. Kellogg likely will extend the campaign with other on-pack offers next year. “It has resonated so strongly with consumers that we’ll continue to expand it,” Bridges says.

“There’s actually no such thing as ‘the women’s market’,” Barletta says. “At 52 percent of the population, women are hardly a niche. But there is a right way to market to women. Women make decisions more holistically and are more demanding” than men.

A woman’s place … Women also feel more stressed than men, because they still handle the bulk of household jobs. Reducing that stress is the strategy behind Nabisco’s Holiday Relief program, set for six holidays in 1999.

Grocers sign on for account-specific sweepstakes with prize packages that only a mother could love. For Christmas, for example, the grand prize winner gets a shopping spree with car service and gift wrapping; Christmas cards addressed and mailed; housecleaning; and catering. Similar prize packages handle chores for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter, July 4th, and Thanksgiving.

“My prize packages are so easy to put together because I just think about what I’d like,” says Shadid, who designed the program that sells through J. Brown/LMC Group as part of Nabisco’s ASSET account-specific menu. “It’s a self-vent.”

The program replaces Nabisco Takes Five for You, which gave away cleaning services and spa packages through in-store sweeps. That two-year program “focused for the full year on the relief women need,” says Shadid, who handled the campaign for Nabisco. “Women want to accomplish as much as men, but we can’t shrug off responsibility. Society tells women ‘Be whatever you want,’ but if you’re out of toilet paper, you still have to go to the store. Marketers need to look at how to give women some time for themselves, and give back some of their own identity.”

Brands also can tap women’s passion for their kids and community. Shout began sponsoring U.S. Youth Soccer teams in 1997 and continues to expand the program. The brand group had little experience with sports sponsorships, so it brought equipment and apparel marketer Adidas on-board. The two host season-opener barbecues, supply equipment and uniforms, and give away Shout samples at all events, via WatersMolitor. “This gets Shout out of the laundry room and into the neighborhood,” Molitor says. “That creates a connection with the community.”

But marketers should do more than women’s chores. “Address her peripheral vision, those needs beyond her daily tasks that she might not even be able to articulate,” Molitor advises. “Develop programs that consumers can personalize for themselves. Offer something that resonates with women, but that each woman can decide when and how she gets involved. Then it feels like her own experience.”

Pitching the client The trouble with such an abstract emotional sell is that brand managers – especially those single guys in their mid-20s – sometimes don’t understand their audience. Agency execs tell of pitching indulgent prize packages only to have brand managers say “Make it simple. Just give away cash.”

“Working women are strapped for time, not money,” one agency president points out. “Older men have some empathy, but younger guys have no perspective.”

Agencies are helping marketers – and retailers – understand what women really want. When Nabisco pitched grocers on Nabisco Takes Five for You, Shadid asked sales reps to make sure that supermarket buyers had at least two women in the room to hear the pitch. Frankel began a research initiative last spring, dubbed Frankly Female, to analyze trends and research in marketing to women, and then apply them to specific marketing challenges. New York Life signed on this spring for internal and external marketing projects.

In April WatersMolitor began building its own research database, Project Colleen, to synthesize existing research and info from its own focus groups (see box, right).

Women will know they’ve come a long way, baby, when traditionally male-oriented marketers – think cars and computers – get the new religion. It’s bound to be good for the brand.

“When you get it right for women, you improve the response among men as well,” Barletta says. “So we’re not talking about painting the brand pink. We’re talking about the share, loyalty and referrals you can win by reaching out to women in historically male-centric categories.”

Women love to swap opinions with friends, so word-of-mouth is a valuable way to tap women’s relationships with each other. Marketing cues should come from each woman’s relationship with the brand.

“Successful marketers know their consumer in the context of her whole life, not just how she connects with the brand,” Molitor says. “Know her whole life, and you know where your brand fits in.”

So the next time a woman says “Let’s talk about our relationship,” listen. It’s good for the bottom line.

Women are changing fast, and demanding more from brands. WatersMolitor offers these insights on today’s female consumer, culled from the Minneapolis agency’s research database

Project Colleen:

* She demands respect.

She’s educated and well-informed. She makes 80% of all retail purchases, buys 65% of all cars, owns 53% of stocks. Make sure you give her the respect and credibility she deserves or she’ll shut you off before reading the headline.

* She’s an individual.

She’s not only a mom or wife, but an individual with personal interests and needs. Recognize all her roles and where your product fits in her life.

* She’s a dimensional person.

She lives in a complex world and wants more than one-dimensional solutions. Relate to her beyond your product; connect with her as a whole person with diverse needs.

* Stress is her No. 1 pain.

She’s taken an equal role as breadwinner while remaining primary nurturer to the family. Her pain around stress is higher than ever before. Give her solutions to take it on or to escape it.

* Emotions drive most, if not all, of her decisions.

Decision-making is based on rational and emotional triggers. Having a great product to position rationally is only the point of entry into the game. The competitive advantage comes when you build an emotional connection between your brand and the target consumer.

* She’s looking for a relationship.

A transaction is not enough; she seeks a relationship with your brand. She wants a two-way dialogue, she wants to participate, and she wants the relationship to exist over time.

* She wants to trust your brand.

She’s looking for a brand that stands for her self-interests. If your product and brand are consistently aligned with her self-interests, your profits will follow.

* She wants you to take a stand, and be authentic.

She has morals and concerns that go beyond the features of a product or service. She is loyal to brands that support things relevant to her life. Take a stand, but you had better mean it, demonstrate it, and be consistent over time.

* Word of mouth is a key medium.

Women network with other woman. This circle of influence is a powerful medium. It’s alive and vital, and can work for you or against you.

* Value remains primary.

Marketers have taught women to be price-loyal. But price is not always her first criterion. Her definition of value is much more dynamic, dimensional, and diverse. Lowest price does not equal better value.