Marketing to women: who's doing it right?

When addressing women with marketing messages, companies generally tend to think pink.

But this has backfired in recent times as women become brand aware.

Further perception and interaction with what women really need is urgently required to make a marketing message effective.

Nassim Ghrayeb, CEO of Yougov Siraj, says that many companies are doing well when 'selling' to women, but only a few are succeeding in building brand loyalty among women.

Even among those a lot of the brand equity rests in the history of the brand and length of time in the marketplace rather than making use of more updated marketing strategies.

Building a brand

Two brands that seem to be marketing well to women and getting results according to Ghrayeb are MBC and Galaxy.

MBC 4 established its 'I Matter' initiative, to provoke young Arab women's opinions through discussion forums.

The initiative was clear evidence of the group's determination to bring its brand as close to women as it can. The programme received some 2,500 participants from Saudi Arabia, where it initially launched.

Similarly, having lost touch with its core consumers, women between the ages of 25 and 45, Galaxy relaunched itself as an 'indulgence' brand that understands the relationship between women and chocolate.

The company has been urging its consumers to fall in love with its silky taste, while promoting itself as a symbol of indulgence, femininity, and sensuousness.

Furthermore, the brand was linked to certain female-friendly activities such as films and reading. Some of the movies Galaxy was linked to include Bridget Jones' Diary, The Devil Wears Prada, and most recently Sex And The City.

Women in return have rewarded Galaxy with sales figures that totalled those of Ferrero, Green and Black's, and Lindt combined, according to UNS Worldpanel data.

Research needed

Yet, what makes brands succeed is not merely understanding what women want. According to Ghrayeb, marketers should move away from defining women in a two dimensional way and take bold steps to understand something beyond these dimensions. They need to focus on research rather than the actual marketing itself.

'Fundamentally it boils down to how well you understand the segment, and probably as importantly what it is that you understand about it. Increasing numbers of brands do not necessarily focus on understanding the right needs of any segment, not just women,' says Ghrayeb.

His perspective is that in the misguided search for 'cultural' insight and relevance, clients often overlook the fact that their target audience are human beings, who have a number of considerations in deciding on their behaviour, generally processed at a fairly subconscious level.

Common mistakes

Advertising and marketing experts argue on a number of common mistakes that marketers in the region fall into.

Thinking pink and over-feminising is the most common among these. It's a stereotype that has long been taken, despite the fact that women do not simply respond to pink products and colourful designs.

Laziness is what usually describes brands that tend to adopt a pinkish marketing attitude, as it indicates that no research has been undertaken before forming the marketing. This implies they are not investing enough in their consumers.

Dan Healy, CEO of research company Real Opinion, believes that perpetuating old stereotypes kills any chance of communication with women.

He argues that the new generation of women has evolved and so have their aspirations, outlook and motivations. The challenge is for marketers to go that extra step to try to ensure that a connection is formed through their marketing.

Adapting commercials developed for other regions, complete with a disjointed voice over, results in a rather bland campaign in many cases as Healy says.

In order to stand out and connect with any group, marketers need to be creative and contextualise their message with the actual lives of the target audience.

'In the past it has been largely an issue of appealing to the target group based upon demographics [eg, women of a particular age in a region]. Research has shown there are many sub-cultures developing, reflecting the diversification of media in the region and in particular the internet which allows them to pursue their own unique interests.

'A better understanding of who their true target group is and where they are spending their time will help ensure a more efficient marketing spending,' Healy adds.

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