The Women’s Market Opportunity: On Being Heard
I just revisited Tom Peters’ 2001 booklet, Women Roar, and a story he told in it (from 1997) made me think that we still, in late 2006, haven’t come that far:
Tom describes a post-marketing to women conference presentation conversation he had with a female executive from an extremely large national bank. She pulled Tom aside and asked him to come have dinner with her and the bank’s CEO the next time he was in California. When Tom asked “why,” she said: “I’d like you to tell him what you just told this group.” To which Tom replied (paraphrased): “Me? Why me? I’m just a consultant and you are one of the most powerful women in one of the most powerful nations on earth.” Her reply: “He’ll listen to you.”
Argh. Is this still true? Say it isn’t so.
If this is the case, where are the country’s/world’s existing male champions of the women’s market focus who can start writing and speaking more about it (in addition to Tom)? Please send me your names/contact info/story and I’ll make a standing list of passionate male marketing to women evangelists. I am especially in search of tales where they may have been strong initial resistance to the women’s market opportunity followed by a lightbulb moment that turned you into a convert!
What convinced you? What was the final straw? Did you attend a conference? Did a female colleague point out a bad ad campaign? After reading books and magazine articles and research galore for a few years, what made you truly believe?
Do otherwise savvy businessmen the world over still need to be persuaded of the women’s market opportunity by Tom Peters, for instance, when there are so many talented, incredibly knowledgeable women in the field today (I can’t even start to name them all, but it you read books and blogs to any degree, you’ve already come across many of them!)?
By late 2006, interest in, and commitment to, marketing to women should be approaching gender parity. I’d love to hear your thoughts, stories, examples…
