Monster, the online job site, asked job seekers why they left a job or accepted or declined a new position, and found that the reasons varied based on age, gender, and ethnicity.
41% of women, compared with 26% of men, said inflexible work hours would cause them to turn down a job.
80% of African-Americans and 77% of Hispanics said upward mobility was "important" compared with 63% of Caucasians.
Older workers placed more value on competitive health insurance and retirement plans.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Finding and keeping good women
Monday, October 30, 2006
The Most Emailed Article at The New York Times (29 Oct)
"What Women Want? Just Ask"
While women have always influenced decisions about big-ticket household purchases, their direct spending has expanded substantially in recent years...
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Nature or Nuture? Do I measure up?
Hard to miss Dove's latest evolution clip -- a build on its campaign for real beauty.
Dove is trying to send the message that natural beauty, no matter what you look like, is beautiful. The problem is that girls and women don't necessarily buy this. I am not sure we are ever going to change the way girls or women think about themselves. It is natural for girls and women to want to be pretty. It is a primal instinct. Even if we were going to eliminate media influences altogether it would still appear naturally in everyday life, in the schools, on the street.
Although Dove is doing a brilliant marketing and publicity job with this campaign, are they really hitting the mark with the intent to improve the self esteem of young girls today?
We all know that media images are manipulated. To invest heavily in communicating this message is simply underestimating the audience. Most social and peer pressures are much closer to home and certainly impossible to control or manage.
Feeling confident and good about oneself and having a strong sense of self esteem has less to do with outer beauty and more to do with the way we were raised and supported and our role models.
Although we all aspire to "you are beautiful just the way you are, honey..." that doesn't cut it for most.
As one blogger said... "then why didn't Dove put ugly fat women in their ads"? And, they still sell beauty products, don't they?
Monday, October 23, 2006
300 Million: More Women than Men online
On 17th October 2006, the US reached a milestone: Its population grew to 300 million.
- 51.4% Internet users are Female
- 63% aged 3 and older use the Internet at least once per month
- 26% of the Internet user population are aged 50 and older
Monday, October 16, 2006
Nivea's human billboard
I love marketing, I love technology, and I love skincare. But Nivea's recent use of all three - walking and talking human billboard is not my cup of tea.
"The Adwalkers walk about in public places, malls, or other venues where the client's target audience is most likely to be, wearing a high-resolution video screen bearing the client's message across their chests. They are trained to have friendly conversations with interested consumers in order to qualify them for offers and promotional messages."
When it comes to shopping for skincare, women like personal recommendations and a comfortable environment. I honestly do not see myself being stopped in the street and voluntarily engage in beauty talks with a strange guy strapped in a techno vest...then be sent off to an exhibit. I mean, that is 15 mins of my life! Enough for me to check in with my girlfriends about the latest and greatest in the beauty world.
Maybe I just am not a Nivea girl.
Casting Call: Define Yourself
There has been a lot of talk about beauty defined in the media over the last few years. The topic of beauty is undoubtedly one of the most personal and complex subjects know to women today.
SWING is embarking on a very exciting project with a terrific client and we are looking for women with an opinion, -- any opinion-- , on cosmetic enhancement.
• Are you a woman in her 30's, 40's or 50's, not afraid of the limelight, who enjoys sharing her opinions on matters of self image and enhancement?
• Are you the type of personality who believes that while aging is mandatory, it does not mean that you should look OLD?
• Do you see cosmetic injections as a miracle invention and a way to regain control over the aging process?
• Do you feel strongly that cosmetic maintenance or enhancement is a personal choice?
• Are you feeling in need of a cosmetic intervention?
OR
• Are you not sure how you feel about cosmetic injections but are open minded and self assured
If any one of these describe the way you feel and you are based in Toronto, we would like to talk to you.
SWINGThink, a Toronto-based marketing agency specializing in understanding women is conducting a casting call for an exciting campaign on behalf of its client, a well known brand in the cosmetic injectable category. We are seeking women to participate in this campaign to be launched in early 2007.
If this sounds like something you may be interested in, please contact Catharine Fennell, Partner, SWINGThink for more details. Casting call is open until Nov. 8th, 2006.
Sunday, October 8, 2006
Women in the Workplace
In a recent Swing Salon, "Women in the Workplace" emerged as a significant issue. Workopolis.com offers an archive of useful material on this topic.
Friday, October 6, 2006
Beauty, Self-Perception and Others
A fascinating piece on how we see ourselves in others' beauty decisions. Laura Kipnis also wrote a much-discussed book on women and monogamy and how social mores are evolving.
Thursday, October 5, 2006
Gamers re-defined
Did you know that there are roughly 117 million "Active Gamers" in the U.S. in 2006, 56% play games online, and 64% of these online gamers are women.
Sun CTO said "Engineering needs diversity"
A must-read: Sun Microsystems CTO Greg Papadopoulos talked about the need for diversity in the engineering field from a variety of angles: Consumer-focused design, social justice, organizational enrichment and, last but not least, profit motive.
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
A beautiful courtship
To promote and reach the nation, Canada in 2020 has leveraged a range of communication tools on all platforms. You can read, listen, write, watch or attend a forum. There are websites, podcasts, online vmails, blogs, newsletters, RSS feeds..... all beckon you to participate IN YOUR PREFERRED WAYS.
Tell people something interesting is going on and provide them with the right options to find out more. You hate visiting content-rich sites, no problem, how about we deliver newsletters to your door? No time to read, podcasts are here! Want to comment, rant, rave, complain....pick your options, do so in person, in our blogs, in an essay, or even leave a vmail.
Whatever pleases you, my love.
A beautifully simple and effective formula! Put yourself on the receiver side and think FOR them, work WITH them, and create a relationship akin to a good old fashioned courtship.
Canada in 2020
On 13 Sept, we held a Swing Salon on "Women and Diversity". 9 exceptional women - of various ethnic backgrounds and life experiences - and 2 hours later, we were more enlightened than ever. We unearthed and visited many issues that will impact what Canada will be as a nation.
To help create this crystal ball, I strongly recommend a visit to Canada in 2020, an online space to debate issues, events and trends that could transform Canada by the year 2020. It a joint project by the Star, LaPresse, the CBC and the Dominion Institute aimed at highlighting what Canadians think will be the single most important issue facing Canada in the year 2020.
There are many ways to learn and participate:
- Check out the latest essays
- Contribute to the wiki
- Follow the blog
- Download a podcast
- Write comments, submit essays, leave online vmails
- Subscribe to the newsletters
- Attend a debate
....and more.
Monday, October 2, 2006
Impostor Syndrome/Complex: Maybe Not Such a Bad Thing?
ClickZ has a fantastic piece today on the importance of listening. It's a reminder that sometimes it's important to remind ourselves that we may know a lot of things, but we need to be in 'I know nothing' mode if we are really going to hear what customer feedback is saying.
Read on as to why the customer conversation feedback cycle needs listening and humility to work properly ...
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