It's a frightening time to be a “big brand”. Consumers are faced with overwhelming choices today as there are 10 times the number of products on the shelves than just a decade ago, and there will be 10 times more offerings in the next two years. Confused consumers are now looking to authentic solutions and products that have integrity.
Women make the overwhelming decisions for everything: 94% of all choices relating to the home and family, 89% plan the holiday, 88% buy kitchen appliances, 80% choose a healthcare plan, 75% decide on the new home, 66% of all personal computers, and finally 60% of all new cars are bought by women and they influence a staggering 80% of all car sales. Yes, sadly, a man will ask the women in his life if the car is right and if the colour works.
So why are women missing from marketing plans? Why do big brands still talk at women and do not enter into a dialogue with this vital market sector that is so critical to their company's future success or failure?
Communicating with women is not easy. Women generally don't read newspapers as they find them depressing, women's magazines cater to big brands to sell their advertising pages and have lost their authenticity. Women do not watch that much TV and when they do it's very selective. 40% of the total audience for last year's soccer World Cup final, the biggest audience ever to watch a televised sporting event were women and yet not one advert was directed at them. What an opportunity missed – but very predictable – major brands just don't get it.
Women meet with each other and discuss. Women form groups and forums, which can be two or three up to groups of many thousands. Women communicate about everything. Last year's book clubs are now Internet forums and blog sites such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube to name a few. But these only serve a small part of the need.
The advertising and marketing media is also in the process of radical change. The future trend is all about women's events. Very specialised events that are designed specifically for women. These events must have serious informative content, and offer safe “soft sell” buying opportunities in an environment that has integrity but still offers outrageous good fun.
The future will offer special events that are exclusively for women; it's all about understanding that link between the online and live events. Both are essential to each other. It's also about magazines becoming involved, moving away from their unhealthy relationship with their advertisers and aligning themselves with their readers.
The brands and magazines that survive this perfect storm will be those that recognise that in the next 10 years there will be more women millionaires than men in the western world:
The organic industry after 20 years is growing at 35% worldwide while conventional products are only growing at 2%. Whole Foods, the leading global natural and organic retailer, is now the world's fastest growing retailer. In June they opened the world's largest retail store in Knightsbridge, London. This phenomenal growth of Whole Foods comes because consumers perceive that this group cares about them and their vitality and offers a very unique shopping experience. The result Whole Foods sells 9 to 1, their own packaged products against products offered by major brands.
Retailers get it.
They interact on a daily basis with customers and understand this dramatic change in consumer trends. Internationally there is a radical swing to create a retail experience that is authentic, simple and even entertaining. Even the Wal-Mart's and Tesco's are dedicated to change. The overwhelming future trend – retailers are going to package their own products in their own packaging which consumers will find more authentic and therefore more trustworthy.
While this is all perception – perception rules!
