• A woman’s awareness of her own journey toward sustainable or “green” living, and how she allows for a brand to take steps toward sustainability rather than expecting absolute green perfection overnight.
• Even the toughest critics or greenest mom bloggers remain  open minded and see the greater good in what Walmart and Clorox are doing with their corporate and brand steps toward sustainability.
• There can be huge differences in brand perception versus reality on the sustainability front.  Some brands spend big bucks for mass market ad campaigns but may not really be doing all that much, and other brands can’t afford the big campaigns but are really integrating sustainability throughout their business.  Effectively communicating your brand’s sustainable development along the way may be the biggest opportunity out there!

***

At the root of it all, the results of our study made it clear that it is worth the time for a sustainably-oriented brand to get to know – and gain the trust of – green mom bloggers.

I guess when you have a clubby, tightly-woven, self-perpetuating network, it’s hard for women to break in. It’s a stubborn phenomenon, but I hope we can figure out how to correct it. Otherwise, our industry is tragically losing out on 50% of the world’s best talent!

2) I often write about how important it is to learn the language of the consumer in order to better reach him or her. And, this language lesson seems still more important in our 24/7 too-busy-to-listen world.  That’s why Vanessa Van Petten’s site, Radical Parenting, caught my eye.  How great for parents of teens to find help understanding their kids, not through famous psychologists and researchers – but through the words and ideas of teens themselves!

3) Innovative businesses (often of the “green” or socially responsible leaning) are known to pop up pretty frequently in my region of Vermont, and I recently came across another. Inlu was co-founded by two women who noticed, among other things, that a lot of moms now striving to live more green lives had significant conflict about the number of darned birthday party gifts (with wrapping!) they had to buy on an annual basis.  What they’ve developed is a fun online invitation, cause giving and group gift solution that speaks a “woman’s language” (to reiterate my theme) in getting the job done with less check writing, postage stamps and wrapping materials.  Recycling bins everywhere thank them.

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.

What came up as we talked was the fact that local scale, smaller businesses may well have an offline advantage in reaching women.  The things I mentioned to the writer began to sound suspiciously like the “social media” form we are all so hot on today.

Three of ways offline/local reminds me of online/”social”:

• Short, in passing, nuggets of information. No one REALLY says more than a few sentences to the people whose paths they cross on a daily basis anyway.  So, people often share quick bits of what’s important in their life right then.  Thus, everyone gets a feel and gets to know each other in little ways, over the course of time. (Sounds like Twitter.)
• Conversation of a few can influence many. As Malcolm Gladwell long-since explored for us in The Tipping Point, there really are a relative few very influential (i.e. respected and talkative) people in our respective midsts.  But, hit those folks at the right time with really relevant information, and watch the word spread.  (Again. Twitter, anyone?)
• Brand-planted seeds cause consumer conversations to grow around them. While a brand or small business can’t force the issue, a bit of goodwill via local cause sponsorship (with a long term commitment) does get noticed and filed away for future consumer reference.  If the fictitious Bob’s Garden Spot sponsored the garden-to-table program at the local grade school, for instance, women who are moms would very likely absorb that fact and give “Bob” a visit in the not-too distant future.  (On Twitter, that’d be like giving away lots of goodwill in great links over time, with no hard sell, and watching as more and more people signed up to follow you.)

I love the paradigm of looking in the opposite direction from what you are so focused on right now to see the similarities. Today, so many of us are enthralled with, and distracted by, the bright, shiny object: social media.  How interesting to note that what happens online can seem so akin to those successful mom & pop business marketing methods of yore.

Call it plain, old excellent marketing (which takes an investment and a long term commitment).

Interesting… We seem to be in the middle of a perfect cultural storm of influences affecting this new perspective. I like the way a new report from Packaged Facts/Marketresearch.com describes “The Dad Factor”:

It’s what you get when you take a
typical guy
heading into
Parenthood
add his pre-programmed perspectives
on life
(aka:
generational
essence)
with a new more
modern partner or wife.

***

Two specific things I’d note: 84% of dads (in this study) would purchase a product supporting a cause. Much of what has changed in “gender expectations” for parents has to do with a generational shift.

So…marketers should defnitely be integrating this new male/dad perspective into anything they’ve been doing that is mom-focused, AND they should also be aware of how these changes are reflected elsewhere in male consumer behavior.

2) Lucid Marketing recently released a related study finding that the moms who blog“are more active online, particularly with social networking, than the rest of their U.S. mothering peers. They are 71% more likely to indicate being addicted to a social network when compared to moms who know nothing about blogs.” These mom bloggers are also more receptive to marketing communication, so do your homework and your brand could be one to leverage this huge opportunity.

So, as reported by Sana Siwolop in today’s New York Times ("What Do Women Want? A Developer Asks, Then Listens") retail/mixed-use developers are starting to get the hang of this "talking with women" thing. That’s the only way to move forward and reach the women who are shopping in those developments today. As I say in the piece:

“Developers, in too many cases, are still focusing on data points and demographics, and keeping shoppers at arm’s length, which can make it easy to fall back on to gender stereotypes."

The insights that companies like Trademark Property (full disclosure: they are a client) are now uncovering, in terms of really engaging with their women’s market, will also help other traditional industries that may be stuck in their patterned ways of doing business.

Take a look at this clip and you should see that all the things women said they wanted in a retail development make for a shopping experience that anyone would love:

"Soon after the company began working with the women in Allen, it discovered that they wanted something different from what it had built in the past. They favored buildings that were both less prominent and less formal. They also wanted more abundant landscaping, curved streets, meandering pathways, more parking options and a community fireplace, which they regarded as the kind of a flourish that might be found at a resort.

Instead of formal 40-foot-tall fountains, large pieces of abstract outdoor art and drab pedestrian walkways between parking garages and stores, they wanted “calming” water areas, interactive art that children could climb on, walkways that were visually appealing and an abundance of outdoor restaurant seating. "

Wise moves from developers, indeed.

- I’ve just read news of Dove.com’s new more social media-style web site. – Mom-blog, Dooce.com also recently got big coverage for its advertising sales numbers, even given the take-no-prisoners writing style of its founder, Heather B. Armstrong. – Yahoo just launched it’s “women’s site” – Shine, and; – A month or so ago, Wowowow (say that three times fast) launched with the mission of serving Baby Boom women better than all the other sites out there.

What is going on? These sites are not launching because loads of female consumers are begging brands and media entities for them. No, I’d say it was more a matter of advertisers getting all psyched about this “women’s thing” and rushing to do whatever it takes to seem more involved/committed to female consumers. But, women see right through it.

There is a difference between being a “me-too” online presence and actually delivering something uniquely relevant to an as-yet under-served group of consumers (men, women or both). The former is all about the advertiser, while the latter actually bubbles up from consumer needs or interests. In this recent rash of coverage for women-focused sites, I’d say Yahoo’s Shine was most certainly developed as yet another advertising vehicle for the brand, while Dooce.com launched without a thought to all the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of advertising it now sells. Heather Armstrong, it seems, began that blog as her own thing, and her readers LOVE Dooce.com for its irreverence and individuality – and that’s why the advertisers have come a-callin’.

The new Dove.com is a more creative take on a “women’s site.” and that very female-savvy brand knew they had access to a community of women who already loved their products and mission. So, they developed a site that they hoped would better connect those women to one another, but still also lead to selling more products. In a way, Dove stepped back a bit from their Self Esteem and Evolution video buzz, for instance – and took some time to figure out a way to leverage the goodwill they’d created. Now, they’d like to see some sales growth, of course, so it will be worth keeping an eye on. If any brand could make this happen, Dove would be the one.

All in all – I remain a bit of a skeptic (as is my way). So, what’s the cautionary tale for you? Step back and make sure that any site or blog, “community” or ‘social networking” presence you build or become involved in is really driven by the interests of the consumer and not by your advertising needs first and foremost. Otherwise, it may look flashy and get media coverage, but won’t make a lasting connection with anyone.

By the way, do you think that men feeling slighted because they don’t have as many “men’s sites” to sample?

- resent generalization (the women in your market are not "all women everywhere," nor are the Gen Y-ers in your market all alike)

- feel like they are underrepresented (now that marketing to Gen Y is all the rage, the Boomers can certainly say this)

- find ad campaigns irrelevant (most campaigns are irrelevant to a LOT more people than marketers might like to admit)

Now, this is my cynical stance.  I admit.

In an age where the political media thinks it has been a boring day unless a "scandal" has been uncovered and the business media only sees excitement in polarization or obvious one-hit wonder promotions or ads (which a lot of Sunday’s Super Bowl efforts will certainly be considered), it is also only the amazingly "misunderstood" consumers in any shape or size that seem to make the biggest news. 

Yet, aren’t there also many, many examples of perhaps smaller, less sexy brands with ad campaigns and consumer research that hit the nail on the head?  Yes. 

Think about the Sunsilk haircare brand (lots of women hate their ads, and only the very very specific market that the brand wants to reach "gets" the humor).  And, what of some of the recent microbrewery efforts (one of my favorites, because of its Team Wonderbike cause, is New Belgium Brewery)?  They’d have completely misunderstood their customers if they’d only focused on the profile for the obvious, broader segments of Gen X-ers or men.  Rather they go deeper than the usual consumer profile and get to the heart of the matter.  That’s why they can reach their passionate customers so well.

What triggered my post today was an Advertising Age article about new research on Boomers (and how misunderstood they are).  The game I played in my head was to replace the word "Boomer" in every finding with "women" or "single dads" and so on.  Whichever one I picked seemed to work.

Now – this is not to say that such research doesn’t have value, by any means.  I just wanted to point out that, big media coverage aside, marketers may need less help with the broad general  statements and more help dialing  in to their very unique customer bases.

Research that finds that the Gen Y or African American consumer is misunderstood, for example, may make news or be worth discussing, but it actually "misunderstands" the finer point.  Each of us is responsible for knowing an awful lot about our customers.

2) Home designs concepted by Kennecott Land in Utah, show ideas gathered from their women’s market advisory board that would surely be appreciated by men, as well.  As Marketing Director, Jennifer Hurst shared with me, these are but a few of the brilliant suggestions from those women: a) A kitchen that includes the kids. By very simply
adding mutli-level counters, the architect created a kitchen where kids can
cook alongside parents at a counter that’s the right height for
them, and b) A
“family bathroom” concept, where two bathrooms are joined via a pocket door. So, when parents are getting ready for work and kids are getting
ready for school, everyone has their space, but it’s adjoined
so parents can keep an eye on kids. (At other times, a pocket door can be closed and
locked, so each group has their own private bath.)  Inspired by women, serving everyone: It is amazing what details filter up from within a gathering of female architects and female homebuyers in a very male-dominated industry.

3) Embedded charitable giving will soon, hopefully, be more regulated.  According to a New York Times article by Stephanie Strom (reg. required), the U.S Senate is considering legislation to ensure that charity is not being used solely as a sales pitch.  Hmmm.  Do you think that all the random pink products in October, for one, got a few women riled up about questionable charitable donations?  The article cites this example from beyond the pink ribbon world, too: the World Wildlife Federation – which was not aware of this – was among the charities named to benefit through items bought from the Barneys "Have a Green Holiday" catalog.  Such fundraising tactics/marketing efforts are becoming much more common, and are most often very women-directed.  But, if the complaints of women help to get more stringent regulation passed on embedded charitable giving, I’d guess men would be very happy, as well.  Nothing like being able to trust that the promoted organizations really are in committed partnerships with the brands touting cause-related affiliation.