Today's markets notice an extraordinary phenomenon - `She' is the synonym for `Customer'.The women customer forms a dominant and large portion of the total customer pie. The lady of the house has a crucial role to play in most of the purchase decisions. But, she has always been elusive and a mystery to many account planners and consumer researchers.
There is strong evidence that advertising affects men and women differently. Findings of Poole-Adamson Research Consultants Ltd.1, show that regardless of the medium and even product category, women seem far more likely to respond positively compared to men and that men are relatively indifferent. Simply put, researchers have found that regardless of product category, males may have a greater resistance to advertising than do females. Then it was found that men are more likely to notice what the Sponsor's name is in the first place and to associate it with something of significance. "The strategies used to target women through the media have changed significantly during the past decade," say Robin Widgery and Jack McGaugh.2 The feminist movement has changed the way messages are made and targeted at women. Advertisers all over the world have realized that the modern woman has different and contrasting ideologies, tastes, desires and abilities than the traditional woman, whose role was mainly restricted to managing the house and rearing children. As Widgery and McGauh point out, in the pre-feminist era, automobiles, trucks and even a two-wheeler for that matter, were considered to be outside the traditional women's domain and were considered a purely male decision. But in the modern days, this is no longer true. In fact, as the researchers found, of all new car buyers under the age of 25, women accounted for 61%. In the 26-44 years age group, women made up 48% and 28% in the older age group of buyers. researchers also found that there was a fundamental difference in the perception of males and females while responding to various message appeals related to vehicle purchases. Such findings can be generalized to other purchases also. The differences in perceptions are basically a result of the nature of women. They are generally considered to be more caring, emotional and envious than men. All these factors add up to create an opinion for a message appeal. Thus, advertisers have to weave in these peculiarities into their messages, by probing the various facets of women's behavior through consumer research. |
