Are you?
If your format is designed to attract women, and I can only think of a few that aren’t, you need to think about how you speak to them.
There’s a reason big brands are changing the way they depict females…
The juxtaposition of the actual rejection letter being read while you’re watching this incredibly talented woman, who has overcome that harsh judgment to reach the pinnacle of her profession is very powerful.
Or take this campaign, designed to speak to girls — and also to the males who help shape their self-image at a vulnerable age:
Self-image repair, this whole campaign to show how marketers photoshop the women we see as ‘ideal,’ probably began with Dove.
“When someone else has done your makeup, and someone else has done your hair, and someone’s directed the way your body looks, and then taken away your imperfections, then there’s not much left of who you really are.”
It obviously helps if you are a woman. It’s always made little sense to me that most programmers of stations aimed at women are male. Some of the best PDs I’ve worked with are women, and there should probably be more in our business.
And the way we judge those women who program stations, or run groups of stations, can stand a shake-up too:
If you’re interested in the topic, read this article in the London Evening Standard, What Women Want: Why Big Brands Are Competing To Sell Us The Feminist Message.
Some of the points worth noting have nothing to do with gender. They are universal truths that you should understand deeply because it will change your on-air content and the way you promote your station:
“Brands know they can’t just talk about themselves or broadcast at people on TV ads anymore.”
“Brands have done a bit of research into what makes ads sharable, and the two biggest reasons are the strength of their psychological effect: the ones that make you laugh, cry, or fall off the chair with shock — just raising a smile is not enough — and those that give viewers a social reason to share.”
The truth is, every format should pay attention to women and learn how to speak to them with respect and authenticity. Women are responsible for most household purchase decisions, including houses (as my son the realtor says, ‘A happy wife is a happy life’) and cars; they account for the most social media usage, and they are much more likely to talk about a brand than are men.
Big marketers have figured out “…that women are society’s big spenders — and feminism sells.”