ESPN On The Changing Male Consumer
There are noticeable changes in male consumer behavior today and they are worth noting. Why? Because, when you take a closer look, the differences between male and female buying habits are becoming much less striking.
A recent MediaPost article by David Goetzl discusses how such changes have lead ESPN to a new approach to advertisers and sponsors:
For years, advertisers that targeted women believing they played a “head of household” role and made the majority of purchasing decisions for the family. But ESPN’s Ed Erhardt says that cause-and-effect relationship is changing.
Men are becoming more involved in making household spending choices–perhaps because of the economy–and that could increasingly open doors for ESPN with its male audience.
“Most of the research now shows it is a dual decision,” says Erhardt, president of ESPN/ABC Sports customer sales and marketing.
This shouldn’t be big news and no, it doesn’t mean a huge shift away from all the great marketing to women work you’ve been doing these past years. Instead, my research has shown that women’s savvy ways of buying are being noticed and copied by the men in their lives. As long as we don’t call it “women’s ways” men seem interested in becoming more engaged in household purchase decisions.
Many of the same men are buying skin care, hair care and fashion in ways that reflect a similar shift. Having realized that they sneak their wives’ products in the shower or that they actually do want a fancier pair of jeans now that they’ve worked out so much, these guys want “in” on making those tougher demands on brand (just as the women they know have been doing for years).
And, while the MediaPost article mentions the failing economy as perhaps one reason men are becoming more involved in consumer purchases these days, we could see it coming long before that downturn. Our culture has shifted and men and women are sharing a lot more responsibility for co-managing households and co-parenting kids. In general, workplaces have started to address/tend to this shift (policy has demanded it), but marketers have been a bit slower on the draw.
Let this ESPN news be a lesson that helps you look at your market with fresh eyes. Your market, that has always been “women” or “men,” and all that represented, may have shifted beneath your feet to a less-gendered profile. How should that be changing your marketing?
