Laptop Gender Wars
What does your laptop say about you? Mine is a black MacBook. Does it mean something if it isn’t pink or red, or stored in a very stylish case when I travel?
Josh Fruhlinger called me a few weeks back to talk about just that. He’d noticed an oddly and overly female-oriented promotional effort for what looked like a laptop otherwise worth a look by any design-minded laptop buyer (and that means both men and women). This got him wondering about laptop gender.
It was a fun interview for what turned out to be a great article for IT World. One of my common refrains with regard to marketing anything to women was also appropriate in this instance:
“The challenge for so many consumer electronics companies is to be inspired and guided by the women’s market, but not alienate men.”
And, branding expert Denise Lee Yohn, also made several wise points, including this:
“Companies should take care not to over-emphasize the gender orientation of their products. To capture the widest appeal and to avoid reinforcing stereotypes that alienate, they should pursue specific styles and aesthetics that resonate with both men and women.”
So, before you launch a specific and “visible” marketing to women effort for your consumer electronic gizmo, read this article. You may be saved by a little gender-neutrality in delivery – even if the inspiration is the women’s market.
