What’s something that most people just don’t understand about your area of expertise?

How thinking big about the connections of cultural trends, consumer behavior research, and other-things-that-don’t-seem-to-relate-at-all can give meaning and help build momentum for even the smallest individual sustainable business steps. For example, the sustainability efforts of, say, a brewery in Kansas can become a more compelling story when tied to local agriculture and responsible water use.

What’s an emerging trend that you think will shake up the sustainability world?

A new focus on developing relational traits — like communications skills and empathy — in business leaders. Pay as much attention to these as we do to the usual linear trait suspects and you’ll see the leadership paradigm shift before your very eyes. (I was just researching this for a thesis, so it’s fresh in my mind.)

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If you haven’t come across them before, the entire series of The Atlantic Conversations is inspiring.  There are a lot of very cool people out there doing meaningful, sustainability-forwarding work.  It was an honor to be included.

So, how to respond? Well, one thing to do is to read up on the tips that are being published in various consumer publications.  Just imagine those faithful Oprah Magazine readers and how much they look to Oprah for her guidance on lifestyle topics from A to Z.  Or, what about the various buying guides (paper copy or app) now available to help green-conscious consumers?

Whatever guidance is becoming more and more available to consumers, you need to make sure your company is at least beginning a plan to tend to those items.

I was recently interviewed in the University of Michigan’s LSA Wire publication on the ways consumers are getting beyond green packaging.  There may be nothing new in that piece to you (and I am clearly no Oprah!), but… just remember that this is the type of thing your customer may now be reading and taking to heart.  Are you addressing the things he or she will be expecting to see?

Interestingly, a comment to that post suggests The Better World Shopping Guide as a good way to review brands before you buy – which had been my second idea of something brands might want to review in considering what consumers use for their own research.   Last week, I met the author, Ellis Jones (a sociologist) and participated in a Goddard College workshop about the guide, and was very impressed by the data gathering and analysis methods.  One difference in what Jones’ measured for “better world shopping” as compared to other guides is that he looked not simply at environmental factors, but also at factors of human rights, animal protection, community involvement and social justice.  You’d be surprised how many brands got a C level grade, or worse, when all those things were included in the equation!

My point is that consumers are getting beyond green packaging.  They are seeing the bigger picture and starting to realize that the “green,” or environmental aspects, of a brand/product may be just one piece of the sustainability puzzle.   So, are you ready for their questions?

Here’s how I was quoted on the effort:

...using an emotional, rather than rational, approach “should work well for both young males and young females.” But she worries that the marketing may be short-selling both the car’s appeal and the younger generation’s values. Cube as “mobile device seems so cutesy, it feels somewhat inauthentic,” she adds.

On this note, I do see a trend in brands trying too hard to be cute/clever with their Gen Y-marketing.  That alone could lead to consumer mistrust and alienation (in not being taken seriously).  As with gender in marketing, generational differences can be very touchy – be wary of making broadbased assumptions.

Here’s one excerpt from the interview:

C.B.: What 5 suggestions do you have for companies to implement so they can more effectively bridge old media with new media and connect with end users?

Andrea:

1- Don’t make it a bigger deal than it is, or you’ll never get started. Get onto the various platforms and follow a few people you already know you respect and see how they do things.

2 – Don’t assume “social media” as next big thing is truly a good fit for your brand. It may not be – just depends who you are trying to reach.

3 – Do share, share and share… links and helpful information you’d pass along to your best buddy in your work-world. Then, when you have a blog post of your own or announcement to make, more people will see it as authentic and helpful rather than self-promoting.

4 – Don’t be afraid to engage a bit with those who seem to question or take issue with your perspective. Interesting conversations and connections usually emerge.

5 – Select 3-5 (tops) key topics you want to be known for sharing about and those parameters will help you decide when to send a tweet or post something on FB. Make 1-2 of those topics the ones that are personal to you. For me, I don’t have any significant work in socially responsible business, but I am personally passionate about it (and would love to someday work within that realm). I also have a thing for fitness/health so occasionally those Tweets will squeak out of me too.

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Thanks for interviewing me, Christine!  For any of you who’d like to join me in my assimilation process, my Twitter handle is: @AndreaLearned.

It was from that question that Carolyn Hadlock of Young and Larramore and I began to develop the Op-Ed piece that published today in Adweek/Mediaweek, “Reaching Recession Dads.”  We had been noticing heavy coverage of the changing male consumer and family roles, and realized there must be significant insight within for brands that may be newly reaching the male parent, as opposed to the mom.  Interestingly, just yesterday, The Christian Science Monitor published a feature that focused on a few recession-driven, re-shaped American families and the surrounding, compelling cultural research.  Here’s a quote indicating the significance of this moment in time:

Researchers say it will be months, if not years, before they have any solid data on what these men are doing – whether they are going to school, staying home with children, or simply giving up. All they can say for sure is that the changes are huge.

“We’ve never seen a gender imbalance like the one we’re seeing now,” says Heather Boushey, a senior economist at the Center for American Progress.

So, why, you ask, am I writing about such things (as I have been already) in my “on women” blog? Because, this cultural shift in gender expectations is not driving women and men further apart, but drawing them closer together as consumers.  These guys are beginning to be more allowed by society, and thus feel more comfortable, using their more feminine sensibilities in nurturing and caregiving.  Men have been transitioning into stay-at-home or more involved fatherhood for some time.  That doesn’t mean they are becoming less manly, but that the definition of a man is taking on some of the best of what had previously been thought of as “woman” territory.

As Carolyn and I put it in our piece:

With so many more men joining the at-home ranks, marketers can’t afford to continue gender-based efforts focused solely on moms. A telling, and humorous, case of lost gender identity is represented by the online “RebelDad.” This particular stay-at-home father and blogger recently took a diaper brand to task for sending him its Mother’s Day e-mail, with the friendly and personalized greeting: “Happy Mother’s Day, Brian!”

Whoops.  Instead, if you’ve learned how to reach women more effectively, in their role as moms and otherwise, you will long since have been clued in on how to reach today’s man – especially in his parent role.  Be transparent – and guided/inspired by the consumers you serve – no gender about it.

In a recession, you just can’t beat two for the price of one.

In my recent interview on Purse Strings Radio, I talk about why more brands shoud be moving away from visibly “pink” campaigns toward marketing to women under-the-radar in order to appeal to a 21st Century gender-converging marketplace.  Listen to my conversation with Purse Strings host, Maria Reitan, to learn more about why I feel this way and how brands can use their marketing to women savvy to reach a more gender neutral consumer.

Finding the right approach for gender-specific marketing can be really tricky.  Some brands go too far with the girlie stuff, and that’s when they start getting into trouble.

If you are interested in more on this topic, my post for MarketingProfs DailyFix blog just posted as well.  Plus, there is a lot of continuing discussion on Twitter. (I can be found there as: @AndreaLearned).

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.

Learned says that when it comes to money, women tend to take a cautious approach and value safety and trust. Wealth management firms, however, typically have used fast-paced marketing messages that focus on status, glamour and other concepts that appeal mainly to men. Those messages may have worked to attract male customers in the past, but Learned is skeptical of their value in the current economy.

[Editorial note: As of 4/20, the podcast is up and I've gotten great feedback.  The interviewer did a particularly good job guiding me to share my marketing to women journey: from co-authoring Don't Think Pink in 2004 and starting this blog, to my more recent research for "Beware The Gender Trap" into how men are starting to buy using their more "feminine" brain traits.]