Cadillac and Kate Walsh, firing on all cylinders!

Critique: Cadillac CTS ad with Kate Walsh, when you turn your car on, does it return the favor? Now here is an ad that I can get excited about! They creators of the ad may have had the Kate sex appeal in mind when developing this creative for the male market given that the CTS is a model designed for the male market, however, it gets A's all across the gender board in also appealing to women. This liberated and luxurious female message hits all the right chords with women and goes further beyond brand to extend to product appeal. I found myself considering what it would be like to drive a Cadillac even though this is not my auto brand of choice.

SWING gives this ad top marks for smart marketing with women!

Social media, marketers and consumers

Going through my stack of Marketing Magazine's to catch up on, I was leafing through the August issue and came across the interview with Grant McCraken on Circle of Brands. Matt Semansky, staff writer for Marketing Magazine posed a great question in this interview asking "how can marketers gain the trust of consumers in the social media space?". Although I am not sure it was exactly answered by Grant, the proposition is extremely insightful. In a world of co-creation and UGC, consumers are designers, developers and producers for marketers. As it should be. Both marketers and consumers now have skin in the game which begs a greater need for an exchange of trust.

Some time ago when we first launched the www.defineyourself.ca community for women to discuss how they feel about aging, we were criticized by a well known journalist for 'using' women and their views as research for the marketer. At the time it struct me as a highly antiquated observation but I chalked it up to inexperience with social communities as consumer pipelines for co-creation, feedback and ideation. The notion of getting closer to the consumer is just smart business and good for everyone. The formation of a win-win value exchange model opens up new possibilities for an emerging marketplace that levels buyers and sellers on common ground.

Women and their cars

Gone are the days when women stood by and let their husband or father make decisions about their cars. Now women take their purchasing power into their own hands and in Canada they are buying 65% of new cars and influence 80% of all car purchases (source: 2007 Canadian New Marketing Report). So, where does the empowered woman go to find out more about what she wants in a car? Some start at Carsforgirls.com, which is a site that aims to educate women on all aspects of cars. It is essentially a blog with clever and interesting information encouraging women to ask burning questions they might not otherwise feel comfortable doing in a dealership. This site provides supplementary information about cars, road trips and general auto maintenance while having an informal, fun feel appeal.

It seems that some women want to keep the car a fun place to be. Girlslovewheels.com takes the exciting aspects of personalizing your vehicle to a whole new level. In addition to its interesting tips, see 75 unique and helpful tip to enjoy road trips, a substantial portion of the site features items for sale ranging from Hello Kitty decals to decorative car seats. This site also has an entire section devoted to teen girl drivers and their accessories.

For the more car savvy woman or those who like to be a bit more edgy when it comes to their car purchases, go to Askpatty.com. It is an advice based site from the US has the latest car reviews, compares brands of cars and has information on loans and insurance. I especially liked the blog section because it highlights the variety of vehicles women enjoy – not just the minivan! Car loving women have a variety of styles and preferences when it comes to vehicles, from professional Nascar drivers to stay at home moms, women are voicing their opinions on what cars they like and why. For us Canadians, AskAngela.ca is a great source of automotive information and has a handy advice section. So don’t be shy any longer! Price compare and arm yourself with great information before walking into the dealership. Be proud fellow car lovers, be proud. Together we can kill the stereotype once and for all.

Marketing to Women Online: Attracting Your YouTube Audience

Female vloggers (video bloggers) and personalities have relied on the ease and accessibility of popular video sites to build and sustain significant audiences. Many users can produce engaging, entertaining content at little to no cost. But with so much content out there, how can women just starting out reach their audience?

Most have turned to YouTube as their default video hosting and community site; and while it may be easier than ever to upload and share your clips online, drawing people to your content can be a challenge. Is there a set formula for creating a “viral video”, or does the organic nature of the web make it difficult to reach your potential audience directly?

YouTube and other hosting sites such as Yahoo! Video, Metacafe, and Revver offer similar features (search by category, user comments, embedding), but can one site generate a greater audience than others? Like traditional media, content is key – and while YouTube may offer an extensive catalog of videos, a lot of the good stuff can get lost in the mix.

Taking advantage of the reactive nature of the internet means more than just uploading a video and waiting for people to watch. Engaging viewers is just as important. In an August 2006 interview with Wired Magazine, comedian Dane Cook describes how social networking and video sites helped to garner a mainstream audience by maintaining an open and immediate online dialogue with his fans.

Users often produce outstanding content that never makes it to Time’s Top Ten, but there are ways to enhance your view count. Second party services such as Vodpod and SplashCast allow users to showcase and embed selected videos to a customizable, personal video channel. These and similar sites not only optimize organic search engine ranking, but also incorporate your content into their own exclusive communities.

Some may be hesitant about levering open source tools and community sites to establish an online presence. Those now taking advantage of Web 2.0 may express concerns over privacy, security, and public perception; but as internet culture and technology extends its reach across other media, new users are quickly adapting. Lee Gomes of the Wall Street Journal, for example, studied how users engaged YouTube and determined growing trends amongst specific groups. However, as online content continues to grow at a seemingly exponential rate, reaching your audience early becomes increasingly important.

Women. The advertising engine of influence.

Women are savvy to advertising. We know what we like. We know what we trust. eMarketers' recent consumer stats tell that 78% of us trust recommendations from other consumers, 63% of us trust newspapers and 61% of us trust opinions posted online. Popular ones recently cited in an eCommerce Minute article were www.buzzilions.com , www.pissedconsumer.com and www.my3cents.com . Of course there are also the more industry related ones like www.tripadvisor.com . Which consumer opinion sites do you trust?

With TV, Magazine and radio ads moving down the list of trusted sources, what ads are making an impact now? Check out this video spoof on advertising. You are going to love it.

News from the other planet

Revlon is going through some major changes. What's also interesting is that its product line Vital Radiance, aimed at the baby boomers, will be discontinued due to poor sales despite $17 million spending over the last 3 months. Revlon said this was due to (a) their failure to leverage the Revlon name (b) organizational changes.

So, where did Revlon go wrong in terms of marketing? Scanning through the site, it seems to have great ingredients. For an ONLINE shopper, this may be an ideal destination. Colour matching (based on what I am already using), community, spoke models, makeup tips, product details, and much much more.


Sadly, the experience is not replicated in store. Imagine CVS and its shelves and shelves of products (most claim to be anti-aging in some way nowadays!). None of the "greate ingredients" listed above could be replicated in real life.

Like cooking, good ingredients do not necessarily mean good results. To truly understand shoppers behaviours...field observation.

Ah, a mobile Salon shopping trip!

Raison D'Etre

Hello world! Welcome to ongoing, intelligent discussion on how women can have more impact on the products and services that companies market to them: how they are developed, refined and marketed. SWING is dedicated to closing the distance between female consumers and employees and the organizations they interact with by engaging both sides in meaningful, impactful conversation. So whether it's better washrooms on trains or more usable gadgets or why on earth skinny jeans are back, you'll find it here!

And we're off.