Hello, people. I've found this Rethinker Manifest (http://marketingemprendedor.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/manifiesto-rethinker-co...), which is based on a Spanish study of women's preferences and behaviour when consuming. Maybe some of these guidelines could be useful. It's a Spanish study, but I'm sure that it can be applied world-wide.
* Women represent the biggest emergent market in the planet, more than China and India together. * To achieve that 51% of the market which makes 80% of the purchasings, it's necessary to connect with woman and speak her own language, redoing all the strategies. * The differences between a man and a woman in the way they are, feel and think are wide enough to be taken into account. * Biologically, the woman's brain has specific gifts. She has a better emotional intelligence, more empathy, she manages the feelings better and has better speaking abilities. * The change experienced by the figure of woman in the latest years has been drastic. Today's women have nothing to do with neither their mothers nor their grandmothers. * The gender differences are to be recognized, utilized and enjoyed. Incorporating the female language into a spot does not mean to be separatists, but bilingual. * Improving society and environment, aesthetic design, saving time, cooperation, collaboration and empathy are the main motivations and values of a woman. * Men shop, women go shopping. When a female comsumer goes out to buy, she starts a journey based on communication, experiences and details. * Women buy in spiral. Before making a decision, they ask, search for opinions and get information (hello, Ms. Gardner ;)). Their goal is to find the perfect answer, motivated by detail and planification. * The new generation of young women (15 to 24 years old) have grown in the Internet era. The digital female natives are not just consumers, they want a more active role and they introduce a distinct female preference. * With a majority of female users, the social networks have reinvented communication, turning it into an act of interchange, of sharing in community. The trademarks need to adapt to this new world. * It's more profitable for agencies and advertisers to build trademarks communication as appealing to women. Women must conceive the image of themselves given by publicity. * Female consumers disconnect from commercials that don't represent women in a realistic and believable way. It's necessary to show women with more authentic perspectives, with which they can idenfity. * There's a lack of fresh, daring and inspiring ideas in publicity about products oriented to the female public. Thus, women escape from publicity that tries to depict an emotion without really producing it, and they'd like to see more humor in commercials aimed to them. * Men and women have different backgrounds and strategies. While men are lineal, women are multitasking and prefer to work at full speed. Men prioritize and women maximize. * Women use to think that people are the most important and most interesting thing in every situation. Men prefer things and theorems. * In a conversation, men compete and women connect searching for points in common. * Better understanding a female consumer is the key to success for a product or service. With a woman in your clientele, you have a faithful ambassador for your trademark (hello again, Sue, I'm sure you know a bit about this ;)).
Cheers
Miguel Angel