Define Female-Friendly
What an industry or brand thinks is “female-friendly” and what really is, may be two different things. When we read about a company that is what I’ll now call “ff,” it’s mainly that they proclaimed themselves so, or held all-women promotional events, or were the first to show women, front and center, in their ad campaigns. Wouldn’t the term for that actually be female-presumptive (aka “fp”)?
That is not to say that women don’t respond to “ff” to a degree. However, if it were really a friendly investment in women, a brand’s strategy would have substance, from product design forward, and go much beyond public relations in serving female-specific ways of buying.
So – who defined “ff” marketing originally? Perhaps a few decision-making men in a room of some brand in a traditional industry who wished it to be the case. With friends like that…
The truth is that brand’s can no more claim to be female-friendly than they can claim to be male-friendly. Only their customers and the fact that they return time and again, and refer friends, can point to the real value of such friendship, and it probably won’t be segmented down perfectly gender-specific lines (sorry to make things hard on researchers).
Anyway.. take the case of Saturn: As I wrote in a recent post, I’m a fan of their initial approach and yes, it was very effective with women, in particular. However, I take issue with a comment in this recent article that Honda, despite being less “female-friendly,” is more successful with women than Saturn. If women are buying a lot of its products, shouldn’t that brand, by definition, be considered a true friend? Honda may not presume their female-friendliness, but their business practices simply make it so.
And… sure enough, Honda has lots of male “friends” too (but I digress).
Certainly, Honda has not gotten as much press as Saturn has about how well their programs speak to women. Nor, have they very visibly done “women’s” events or promotions – as may have been the case with Saturn in the early days. But, it’s what Honda is doing transparently, or in the background, that serves women so well. Women wouldn’t buy the brand if they didn’t find the cars fit their specific practical/functional and design desires, that the customer experience was good, and that the marketing messages were relevant to their lives.
Honda and Saturn could both be defined as female-friendly for the variety of reasons that women tend(ed) to want to own them. But, maybe the lesson is in looking closely at the one that endures: the company that functioned in a female-friendly way without forcing the point.
