Home builders, specifically, need to consider the cultural and generational differences of today’s American Dreamer with a new level of gender intelligence.  And, that intelligence should start with an understanding that home buying decisions are now more likely to be made by women.

A recent article by John McManus of Big Builder, for which I was interviewed, laid it out in these terms:

According to the National Association of Realtors, about one in five home buyers is a single woman, and about one in four single women buyers is below the age of 34. This is not a buyer to ignore. Under-34-year-old females, even in today’s dreadful new-home building market, represent a more than $10 billion market segment. As the cohort balloons and the economy improves even gradually over the next five years, the segment will likely explode.

Since home buying consumer trends tend to reflect on household goods purchasing behavior in general, it is all the more important that the progress necessary to reach this important Gen Y female  be “unimpeded” for a  a wide variety of industries – perhaps even yours.

The American Dream 1.0 is unrecognizable and irrelevant to the majority of twenty-first century consumers.  But, today’s Gen Y female should not be unrecognizable to the brands and industries proposing to deliver the Dream in 2.0 form, no matter the industry.

As I described a woman’s thinking at the close of McManus’s article:

“In this economy, they are looking to do more with what they can actually afford—as small as that may be,” says Learned. “It’s not about showing off, but demonstrating they are wise and deliberate about their investment.”

Serving such a woman as if she were yesterday’s home buyer would be a nightmare.

2) The New York Times Style section yesterday (June 15th) included a short blurb on a shop that now sells unisex clothing, Assembly New York. The shop’s owner, Greg Armas, is quoted saying that “the selection of ‘anti-trend’ pieces” is drawing male and female shoppers, and he goes on to point out that each piece in his store is an authentic article, selected via a different kind of curation and, “gender doesn’t play into it.” Hmmm, anti-trend is the new trend.

2) Dating sites that connect people based on common interests (dog lovers, sailing, etc.) are nothing new, but there’s a new kid on the block that might really interest marketers, in particular: Brand-Mates.  It’s all about putting Barnes and Noble, Banana Republic or Starbucks lovers together to see what bubbles up.  Steve Hall at AdRants was one of the first to cover the launch of this new site.  Its founder, Jay Jacobs, is a marketing/idea guy who happens to be a stellar story-inspirer and teller.  I intend to watch this latest venture of his closely – as I’m already a big fan – and I’ll keep you posted.

- 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.

Perhaps not so surprisingly, the same factor appears to influence home purchases – according to a recent piece by Diane Wedner (reg. required) in the Los Angeles Times:

"Spousal gratification is a big reason men often play second fiddle in making decisions about big purchases, experts say.

‘In 70% of my sales, if the woman likes the home, the man goes along
with it,’ said Paul Britton, a Prudential California Realty agent in
Bellflower. ‘Her approval is key to the purchase.’"

As Wedner points out, the reality of how much women affect home purchases has long-since hit resale agents, but now builders are starting to pay more attention as well.  In a lot of traditional industries, this appears to be the case – marketers are doing what they can to resonate with women at that final stage before a consumer comes across a product, but the focus on how to better serve women should begin at the very initiation of the process with product development and design (or, in this case – builders). 

Check out the article for more, including some great examples of how women influence home purchases at many levels, and a few quotes from me.

The Harley executives interviewed for Krauss’s piece say they are not planning to build a less powerful bike especially for women.  Their claim: that women can now operate any of their motorcycles.  How great is that? 

For instance, the Sportster 883 model was originally designed to be lower to the ground  than other models, which drew a lot of interest from women. When the company realized there was excess vibration and that some customers preferred to ride even closer to the ground, they put rubber engine mounts on all Sportster models and lowered the seat more.

Now – were women driving these changes?  Perhaps.  Will only women benefit or be attracted to such developments?  Probably not.  So, by not touting "women’s model.. over here,"  but just making the changes that core customers demand – Harley-Davidson is serving women without alienating men. Two for the price of one.

Their marketing approach, otherwise, does "call out" women – to be sure.  This makes sense because the industry had been so male-dominated previously and women who had been excluded from the motorcycling industry in years past may need to be invited to pay attention to the brand.  Once Harley has a woman’s attention via promo/marketing/merchandise however, she can then find the right bike for her particular body/riding needs from there.  No "woman" about it. 

For marketing (as opposed to product development) in particular, the storytelling in the "women riders" portion of their site does a fantastic job showing this specific group of customers how riding fits into such a wide  variety of lives.  These personal snapshots give women a sense that there are others just like them who have taken up the activity and love it. I bet Harley could actually do a non-women-specific story section, as
well, and get just as positive a response from both men and women.

Anyway -

Harley-Davidson’s prospective female riders find common ground with men and women who feel "born to be wild" in general, AND they have something to talk about, right away, with other like-minded women who want to build community over the shared interest. 

So, what did my mini-summer school marketing to women session teach you? 

1) No unnecessary "girly-fication" of products (and then you’ll more likely get two customers for the price of one).

2) Whether marketing to men or women, consider storytelling.   Even though men and women like to think they are rational with their purchases, EVERYONE responds to the above, beyond and around emotional richness of personal, relate-able stories.

Harley-Davidson has clearly put a lot of effort into learning about
their customers and training their staff (as per the article’s mention
of women’s market sales training specialist, Delia Passi) to better reach women as they want to be reached.  Perhaps their success is motivation enough for you to do the same.

From my latest HuffingtonPost piece:

Developed by Kaplan Thaler Group, Trojan’s "Evolve" campaign
caught my attention, first and foremost, because it is a new way of
selling condoms: using a more masculine-humor that isn’t sleazy or
pseudo-romantic to tell it like it is (people will meet in bars and
sometimes this will result in sex — it’s a fact, Jack). This should
work very well for both men and women in the target demographic
(sexually active young adults between the ages of 18 and 34). While
older people may or may not get the humor or respond to the situation
depicted in the campaign, marketing is all about being extremely
relevant to the product/service’s core consumer. Trojan seems to have
done that extremely well with this effort — in tone, content and
imagery.

"80% believe eating healthier would be easier
if cost weren’t an issue; yet 85% said their actual eating habits were
not influenced at all, or only a little, by the cost."

Hmmm.  I am not a mom, but I am certainly aware of the news about increasing cases of childhood obesity and diabetes.  On the human behavior front, what do you think would inspire or motivate the moms represented by this study to change their health/nutrition-related decisions, especially with regard to their kids?  Is the bottomline the cost of nutritious foods, despite what women claimed in this study?

Hey Nora (Nora Lee, author of The Mom Factor), will you share your perspective?

***

On another note, Nora and I discussed moms and single women on her "Coffee with Mom" podcast recently.  Listen up if you’d like our take on how marketers can reach those segments more effectively.

As the saying goes: think again.

Instead, as reported by Packaged Facts, the publishing division of MarketResearch.com, half of all U.S. households are headed by unmarried adults, 43% of all singles are 45 and older, and nearly two-thirds of single women are 35 or older.  These more "mature" single women view their lifestyle as a choice and not a sign of failure, and prefer to see themselves portrayed (in ad campaigns, for example) with friends, family and doing anything but pining away at home alone or in some sad dark bar. 

A few key pointsof the Packaged Facts report that jumped out at me (being both a marketing type and a 40+ year old single woman):

• After married couples (who make up 61% of home buyers), single women are the next largest group (22%), accounting for nearly a quarter of all homes sold in the United States in 2006.  By comparison, single men buy only 9% of homes.
• Especially in cities, single women look for safe, well-established neighborhoods while single men want plenty of space "for their toys" (according to Rosy Wansor, a ReMax agent interviewed for the report).
• Women, both single and married are more likely to do yoga (9% each of single and married women, versus 5% of single and 3% of married men).  Men (single and married) are more likely to participate in weight training.
• Single women are more likely than married women to favor sports with a social component (inline skating, martial arts, volleyball) and are also more drawn to outdoor/extreme sports such as rock climbing, snowboarding, and surfing, etc.

One more of the many insights in the report: Most marketing to childless singles focuses on 18 – 24 year olds, but the vast majority of childless singles who live alone are older than 35.

Hmmm.  Who knew?  I sure did.  If you need a reality check on today’s single woman and how to reach her, read this report and/or just get in touch with me.

P.S. There is a great quick-look at the report’s contents in a MediaPost article, as well.

“In 2005, 51 percent of women said they were living without a spouse, up from 35 percent in 1950 and 49 percent in 2000.

Coupled with the fact that in 2005 married couples became a minority of
all American households for the first time, the trend could ultimately
shape social and workplace policies, including the ways government and
employers distribute benefits.”

In “Catching the Eye of Single Women,” (from the January 2007 issue of FUEL) I take a look at the marketing implications of these new stats. Here’s a snippet:

Although single women are as unique in their backgrounds, influences and buying habits as any other consumer group, there is one thing they would all like: visibility in the marketplace. Like mothers and baby boomers, single women desire to be recognized and appreciated for the economic influence they yield.

But unless you talk to them and explore their lifestyle, you’ll never really understand that being without a mate is not the overarching issue. It’s about brands letting go of dated assumptions and stereotypes. Just as ad campaigns now reflect moms as whole beings with many things to do in a day besides making their husband’s shirts white or baking cookies, brands must reflect the ways in which single women choose to live their lives, and how their lifestyle influences everything from parenting and housing to work style and politics.

As one 59-year old woman puts it in the aforementioned NYT article (“51% of Women Are Now Living Without Spouse”) written by Sam Roberts there can be a pleasant surprise at newfound freedoms:

“The benefits were completely unforeseen for me,” Ms. Fidler said, “the
free time, the amount of time I get to spend with friends, the time I
have alone, which I value tremendously, the flexibility in terms of
work, travel and cultural events.”

To learn more, check out:

- my past blog posts on the topic

- Single-Minded: How Singles are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After by Bella DePaolo, Ph.D.