women

Big Green Purse

Want More Market Share? Urge Women to Buy 20% Less

May 19, 2008 at 3:15PM By Diane MacEachern | comment

One thing the Marketing to Women conference definitely was not about was reducing consumption.

Virtually every presentation given during the two-day confab of manufacturers, marketers and advertising mavens focused on how to get women to buy more ... and more ... and more. Stephanie Ouyoumjian, Director of Strategy at Publicis, encouraged companies to "have a conversation" with women to build market share. "Every 1% of getting her to talk leads to additional millions in sales," she reported. Laura Keely, Director of Consumer Promotion Marketing for Kimberly-Clark, said the key was "relevance." Women will buy more products if they feel they're relevant emotionally, psychologically, and practically. Gigi Carroll, Senior Vice President of advertising agency Draft FCB, reported on the "millenial" woman - the one younger than 30 for whom having abundant choice is a critical marketplace motivator.

My perspective was substantially different. I took the stage with three basic recommendations I urged marketers and manufacturers to seriously consider. ...

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tags: shopping, marketing, women, buying

Why Marketing to Women Matters to the Green Movement

May 12, 2008 at 9:14PM By Diane MacEachern | comment

Lest anyone doubt that marketing to women is a fast-track way to protect the environment, just review the presentations made at last week's M2W (Marketing to Women) conference in Chicago by Frito-Lay, Motorola, Glam Media (the fastest growing women-oriented site on the Web) and more. Women have the clout to put companies on notice: when it comes to reducing climate change, restoring our air and water, and protecting the health of our kids and families, we can – and will – use our purse to pull manufacturers in a cleaner, greener direction.

Let's do the numbers:

Women account for 85% of all consumer purchases, and we're buying more than cheese doodles and diapers:

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tags: consumption, marketing, women, buying, survey

What We Pass On To Our Daughters (It Isn't Just Good Looks)

May 11, 2008 at 9:13AM By Diane MacEachern | comment

The words, “You look just like your mother!” have taken on new meaning in the chemical age in which we live. According to the nonprofit research institute Environmental Working Group (EWG), we mothers pass the pollutants that have built up in our bodies along to our daughters while they are still in the womb. Consequently, our daughters begin life with a “body burden” of potentially cancer-causing chemicals that continue to accumulate throughout life.

Chances are great that our daughters will pass on to our grandchildren some of the same chemical molecules they inherited from us. The estimated age by which a daughter will purge 99 percent of the inherited chemical varies depending on the chemical. It will take a day to excrete the phthalate plasticizers that soften up cosmetics, paint and plastics, but a year to dump mercury. Our daughters will be at least teenagers but perhaps senior citizens before they’re rid of the common flame retardants and stain-proofing chemicals we pass along. They would be 166 years old before they’re free of their inherited lead.

Meanwhile, their own body burden continues to increase. ...

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