Hello, Guys. And BTW, It’s Not News to Us

on Monday, 23 March 2009.

A recent article entitled Hello, Girls in The Economist reported that many American companies are shifting their marketing and advertising strategies more toward… guess who? Women!

The article says… guess what? Women buy 90% of food, 55% of consumer goods and most of the new cars (in the US presumably, although the article doesn't specifiy).

Hello? We’ve known all that for years. Because we’re the ones actually out there doing the buying day in and day out, feeding our families, making our homes livable, and driving.

(Oh yes, we DO drive, in case you hadn’t noticed… and yeah, we can laugh at ourselves, or at least at those of us who have somewhat less-than-stellar motor vehicle skills, who, by the way, are definitely the minority).

But it’s taken a global recession and tattered economies around the world for the corporate, marketing and advertising powers-that-be to take notice of our incredible economic clout.

It’s about time you guys (and admittedly some gals who have managed to break through that still-existent, not-so-invisible glass ceiling that keeps us out of the majority of boardrooms in corporate America and the rest of the world for that matter), opened your eyes and recognised that women play a vital role in making the world go round – in our families and communities, as businesswomen, as politicians, and of course, as consumers.

In fact, research shows that women are increasingly becoming agents for social and geopolitical change.

The Economist article goes on to say that women are valuable customers for several key reasons:

we are loyal and more likely to continue buying a brand if we like it (yep, I’ve been brand loyal to Apple since I bought my first Macintosh Classic in 1990, to Haagen-Dazs ice cream since I first tasted it; and to MAC Cosmetic’s Girl About Town fuchsia/pink lipstick since I first tested it two years ago, my other MAC lipstick favourites include, not surprisingly, Rocking Chick and Full Fuchsia, of which the latter is so new it’s not even on their website yet)
we TALK about the products we like through word of mouth and social networking sites (see Apple, Haagen Dazs and MAC above, and me and my Mac and my MAC lipsticks at right).
“most of the lay-offs so far in America have been in male-dominated fields, like manufacturing and construction. This means women may bring home a greater share of household income in the months ahead and have even more buying power.” (Well, this certainly applies in my case as I bring home ALL the income in my one-woman household; too bad the income is non-existent at the moment lol).

So, hello right back at you guys. Good on you for finally recognising that women have purchasing power, and lots of it.

Hey, while we’ve got your attention, we’d like you to know we’ve come a long way. And you know what? We’re not the same as we were in the 1950s, though some of you still want to treat us that way.

Oh, and here’s another thought: many of us find it a bit patronizing to be called “girls.”

We are women after all, not girls; powerful amazing women who know how to spend and invest wisely… something you might want to consider as you’re putting together your next advertising campaign…

If you're interested in more facts and figures about women the world over, you can find some here.