Wonder Woman – Marketing Secrets for the Trillion‐dollar Customer

Citation

Ellwood, I. and Shekar, S. (2010), "Wonder Woman – Marketing Secrets for the Trillion‐dollar Customer", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 27 No. 6, pp. 565-566. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363761011078325

Superwoman – coined for high‐profile women like Nicola Horlick, the recent superstar asset‐manager, wife and mother of several children. The reality is that every working mother is a superwoman, every day of her life, and she knows it. She doesn't need the label – what she needs is to be supported in the role (p. 79).

Semiotics – defined as “the study of signs and signifiers that people use to interpret meaning from the things around them” (p. 79).

The three segments of women with the highest disposable income, page 3:

1. 1.

   Generation Y women – born after 1978.

2. 2.

   Generation X women – born between 1966 and 1977.

3. 3.

   Baby Boomer women – born between 1946 and 1965.

Wonder Woman is a wonderful book for those whose need is to market successfully to women. In current conditions, worldwide, we learn from this book that those who do not focus on marketing to women are losing a great deal of market share. This is also an important publication for those with needing to understand the many segments of women as they have evolved over several generations.

I call the book “wonderful” because I intend to use it as reference material for teaching and would recommend it as a fine reference to the marketing industry. It provides enlightening disclosure of the need to address women and attract them to brands and retain them as customers. Ellwood and Shekar accomplish this through logical progression, beginning with statements, fully documented, of women's elevation in their financial capacity. Then there is coverage of the biological differences between women and men that provide the background for each gender's behaviors and attitudes. The authors move on to the details of their qualitative and quantitative research that provide for their conclusions and suggestions. While most of the authors' suggestions are right on target, the current economic downturn may necessitate modifications to a small part of their work.

Elwood and Shekar begin the introduction by dispelling 6 myths. For example, one such myth is that “men use online shopping more than women” (p. 2). The truth: “62 percent of women, 38 percent of men shop online” (US Census Bureau, 2005). Another of these cited myths states: “women only buy feminine products.” The truth: “in the US, women buy 61 percent of major DIY products worth $70 billion (Wall Street Journal, 2006).”

The introduction contains statements, fully documented, of the elevation in women's financial capacity. The authors quote Oppenheimer Funds research of 2006 that “in dual income families, 30 percent of working women out earn their husbands” (p. 5).

The challenge for marketers with which the introduction ends is the following: “as a customer group they [women] are powerful but they are targeted less well than men” (p. 15). They discuss here and elsewhere how women oppose marketing via the color pink.

Chapter 1 contains a treatise on “the female brain.” From the authors' quoted sources, we learn that “because men have a higher separation between the left (emotional) and right (verbal) areas of the brain they are less able to talk about their emotions. Because women are left‐hemisphere‐dominated, their higher verbal skills often mean they are interested in careers in journalism, writing, and the study of languages, while right hemisphere‐dominated male brains, with a superior spatial ability, often direct their owners toward architectural or engineering subjects.” It follows that in marketing to women, advertisers can address their language skills and “marketing to girls can therefore use more sophisticated language, while boys will be better with punchy headline statements only” (pp. 19‐20).

After reading the authors' coverage of differences between men and women's brains, the many generations of women to target and, ultimately, suggestions for marketing communications, I was fascinated to read about cognitive dissonance “one of the key ways marketers persuade women is to play on the dissonance or conflict between their attitudes and behaviors, often called cognitive dissonance” (p. 152). Throughout the book, most suggestions seem dependent on emphasizing that women love to be part of networks. This fact and the importance for women of viral marketing and the importance to them of building “long‐lasting relationships” should drive the decisions in marketers and advertisers preparing marketing communications.

The “six key themes for marketing to women” (p. 161) are:

1. 1.

   Put people first, not the product – build relationships.

2. 2.

   Tell stories – they make sense of information and show how the product/service improves daily/family life.

3. 3.

   Create intimacy through warmth and engagement.

4. 4.

   Use emotional marketing themes.

5. 5.

   Show the details to build trust.

6. 6.

   Use semiotically rich language.

The authors substantiate two major concepts that we teach in sales and in sales management, the first of which is cognitive dissonance, mentioned above. Coincidentally, later in the book (p. 172), the authors get into the opposite concept that we teach, which is “cognitive consonance” (p. 172). In chapter 7, we read about the high correlation between the gender attitudes of the customer and the gender orientation of the message (see Figure 7.9).

The concluding chapter, “Touchpoint improvement,” uses this relatively new nomenclature yet does not define “touchpoints” for the lay reader. I went to the relatively new search engine, Bing, and found the following definition: “making the first points of contact with customers.” Chapter 9 does offer discussion of 6 stages in building a powerful relationship with women customers. Figure 9.2 depicts this cycle.

Readers and marketers should not construe the positive facts about women as consumers with women's elevation in careers in all fields. For example, women in sales at the executive level still face a gap. According to Johnston and Marshall, in Sales Force Management, 9th edition, a McGraw‐Hill 2009 publication, “… at the vice president of sales level the average salary gap between men and women is a little more than $34,000 ($170,619 for men versus $136,250 for women).

Sylvia KeyesBridgewater State College, Bridgewater, Massachusetts, USA